Volksrust Recorder - Column / Rubrieke10 Recorder 21 August 2015

ChangeYourStory

With Jacques de Villiers

Ps. 73:25 'Wie het ek buiten U in die hemel?Buiten U begeer ek oor niks op die aardenie."Twee belangrike stellings word hier gemaaknaamlik:1. Wie het die Psalms buiten die Here? 2. Hybegeer ook niks anders op aarde as die HereGod nie!Dit is baie duidelik dat die Here baie belangrikis in Asaf se lewe en dat hy die Here sien as

die enigste belangrike Persoon in sybestaan. Asaf se stelling sê vir ons dat hy 'nlewende verhouding met die Here Godgehad het en dat dit nie net 'n lippegodsdiens was nie, maar dat die Heresentraal in sy lewe gestaan het. Die apostelPaulus het net so verander nadat hy totbekering gekom het toe hy Jesus Christusop die Damaskuspad ontmoet het. Hy sê:Gal 2:20 "Ek is met Christus gekruisig, en

Volksrust SemeBusiness Column

For further information:Jacques de Villiersjacques@jacquesdevilliers.com082 906 3693

Die waarde omGod as Vaderte hê

Willem Hüsselmann - 082 415 7725Freddie Kapp - 017 735 4444Johan Botha - 082 335 7274Ashraf Moola - 082 558 5515Ahmed Chotia - 082 554 4886

A great customer experience must be at thecentre of every part of the business.Alex Fourie is the founder of iFix – asmartphone and device repair service forout-of-warranty gadgets. It’s grown from adorm room to 14 stores around the country,and services 10 000 clients a month. Whatsets this business apart is that 75% of itsrepairs are through word-of-mouth referraland the company has an issues ratio of lessthan 2%. That’s practically unheard of inthe services industry. So how is Fouriegetting it right? The short answer is excellentcustomer service. The longer answer isbelow.In the time since launching as a first-mover,to now being a major player, how have youkept ahead of the competition?The markethas grown and changes hugely in the lastfew years. We carved out a niche bypositioning ourselves as a premium servicesfocused on convenience, a great customerexperience through service, and fastturnaround time as we understand thefrustration of having technology problemsor not being connected. We arecontinuously looking for ways to innovateand improve our service for a bettercustomer experience, because the minuteyou stop, someone else will take your spotand the company will suffer.How has your company changed to improvethe customer experience and cope with newcompetition?To deliver on our premium service we’veinvested time and resources onsystematising and streamlining everythingin the business for the best customerexperience. We’ve become verticallyintegrated and created our own internalsupply chain that is centralised and tracked.Compared to 2010 when repairs would takeup to 72 hours, today 95% of our repairs aresame day/ We also provide spin-off offeringslike insurance for out-of-warranty repairsbecause we’ve identified a gap – networksfocus on selling airtime and data,manufacturers focus on selling devices, butthere’s a gap for quality repairs that don’tcost a fortune.With so much business coming fromreferrals, what goes into an impactful brandexperience?We hire A+ players on all levels even though

the systemisation means that the businesscould operate successfully with B players.A+ players are always five steps ahead inanticipating problems and finding solutions.They’re proactive and make decisionswithout asking for permission first – we’veempowered them in that way. The systemalso enables them to anticipate problemsbefore they arise, like being notified when adevice has been at the store for more than24 hours, so they can contact thecustomer.We also reverse train ourtechnicians out of their network habits,which is cost-savings first, customer second.Here it’s always customer first. This isachieved through substantial on the jobtraining and living our culture.What would you say is the secret sauce insuccessful branding?I come from a music industry backgroundwhere I was very involved in marketingbands and their tours. I learnt that theindustry is very subjective and driven bymarketing: Band A and band B can bothrelease good songs, but one will be moresuccessful than the other and it comes downto the way you package and present thesong, album and band. It’s the same in theservices industry and I’ve used that samephilosophy for marketing iFix. We put a lotof effort into designing great looking stores,a slick website, active social media presence,and take advantage of brand ambassadorshelping spread the word. At the end of theday, when you’re dealing with people’sprizes possessions, you want to give them asense of confidence, trust and security inyour service quality and promise.(Article published on Standard BankWebsite)At the Business Chamber we strive to createa sense of confidence and trust in ourBusiness Community. Come and join us onthe 8th of September 2015 for our first AGM.Come and meet new business owners as wellas some well established business ownersin our District. For more info contact us on.

When marketingthrough word of mouth

ék leef nie meer nie, maar Christus leef inmy. En wat ek nou in die vlees lewe, leef ekdeur die geloof in die Seun van God wat mylief gehad het en Homself vir my oorgegeehet. Fil. 1:21 "Want vir my is die leweChristus en die sterwe wins."Daar is by Asaf niks belangriker, en hy begeerniks anders, as die Here in sy lewe nie.Die Here se inspraak en verordeninge iswaaarvoor hy lewe! Hy sê in vers 28 "Maarwat my aangaan, dit is vir my goed om nabyGod te wees; in die Here HERE het ek mytoevlug gestel, om al u werke te vertel." Ditspreek van iemand wat nie probeer om sysonde te verdoesel of goed te praat nie, wantom naby God te kom beteken eerstens datGod se lig in sy lewe inskyn en alles ontblootwat God nie behaag nie. 1Joh. 1:5-8 God islig, en geen duisternis is in Hom nie. As onssê dat ons met Hom gemeenskap het en indie duisternis wandel, dan lieg ons en doennie die waarheid nie. Maar as ons in die lig

wandel soos Hy in die lig is, dan het onsgemeenskap met mekaar; en die bloed vanJesus Christus, sy Seun, reinig ons van allesonde. As ons sê dat ons geen sonde het nie,mislei ons onsself en die waarheid is nie inons nie. Wat is vir u belangrik vandag? DiePsalms sê in Ps. 63:2 "o God , U is my God,U soek ek; my siel dors na U, my vlees smagna U, in 'n dor en uitgedroogde land, sonderwater."Daar is reiniging van sonde, versoening metGod, herstel, vreugde, blydskap, vredeaanvaarding en genesing by Hom. SoekHom op, want daar is niemand anders wat ulief het en u belange op die hart dra soos Hynie. Jer. 29:11 "Want Ék weet wattergedagtes Ek aangaande julle koester,spreek die HERE, gedagtes van vrede ennie van onheil nie, om julle 'n hoopvolletoekoms te gee".Groete in sy Naam.Ds. Jan Keyser

Follow the call(Slowly)I love the sentiment behind this quote byJoseph Campbell, “Follow your bliss and theuniverse will open doors where there wereonly walls.”But, for most of us ‘following your bliss’ is abit of a Grail quest, isn’t it? It is nearimpossible.I hear motivational speakers and authors saythings like follow your bliss, find yourpassion, figure out your purpose and go forit.It’s easy to sprout this stuff when you’reearning R20 000 for an hour talk. But, formost mere mortals who are stuck in the day-to-day grind of eking out an existence,‘following your bliss’ is not an option.When you’re stuck solidly in survival mode,it is nigh impossible to think about followingyour passion.But, this is not to say that we shouldn’tstrive for our calling. Finding something todo that really makes you happy is a sureway to discovering your bliss.The problem with a calling is that mostpeople think it is an all or nothing deal. Thatyou have to leave your job to write the novelthat is just dying to get out, that you have toleave your family to travel or go to thewilderness to find yourself.I blame Saul’s ‘Road to Damascus’conversion for the illusion. He basically lefteverything he stood for on the dusty roadand followed Jesus.There was no easing into the thing. It wasan all-or-nothing deal for him.

Now many of us don’t ever have aDamascene experience. And, if we did, weprobably wouldn’t have the wherewithal tofollow our new-found passion in any case.Or the courage to commit to an irreversiblepath.Even if we did know what our bliss was wedon’t follow the call because we fear thatwe have to sacrifice everything to do it.There’s no rule that says following yourpassion is a zero-sum game. Who says thatyou can’t ease into your calling?For example, is it inconceivable that youcan follow your passion of being an authorwhilst still working? These authors kepttheir day jobs and produced memorable art:Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland), BramStoker (Dracula), Franz Kafka (The HungerArtist) and Frank McCourt (Angela’sAshes).Work it out. If you just spent an hour a dayand knocked up 300 words (An A4 page) inthat time, you would have 109 500 words inone year. That’s close on 50 000 words morethan the average novel (60 000 words).Who says you can’t ‘find yourself’ bygoing to the ‘wilderness’ one weekend amonth. You don’t have to give up familyand friends and your lifestyle to do this.So figure out what your calling is and thentake small steps to following your bliss.Because success after all is in the journeyand not in the destination.