Unit 11

Unit 11

Customer Relations in Business

P1 - I will describe three different types of customers and their needs and expectations.

Restaurant - 1 internal, 2 external

Waitress - this is an internal customer, because it is a member within a business. They still get the same service as an external customer even if in organisation.

Their needs:

- Good equipment provided within a restaurant - e.g. uniform, shoes, pen, paper, so she/he will be able to provide the best customer service and will be a happy employee

- Number of shifts related to the part time or full time job (part time at least 2 shifts in a week)

Their expectations:

- Good wages - the same amount of money which is wrote on payslips, honest employer

- Rewards - may expect to be rewarded for their good job

Tourists - this is an external customer because does not work within organisation and not related to the restaurant, people from other countries, usually does not speak English.

Their needs:

- Be understood - English language might be not their first language or they do not speak English at all, translator should be provided

- Patience - Customer service have to be patient and listen carefully to the customer requirements

Their expectation:

- Excellent service - customer is expecting an excellent customer service, quick food for a good price.

Disabled people - people with special needs and requirements. 

Their needs:

- Easy access - ramp should be provided by a restaurant or a security guy to help a person.

Their expectation:

- Excellent service - customer is expecting an excellent customer service, quick food for a good price.

P2 -  I will explain the benefits of good customer service.

There are 3 beneficiaries to good customer service:

To customer 

- Customer need to be well informed, menu should be provided, price, availability of product, if its fresh, needs and expectation of customer have to be met, customer need to be treated with respect and that will give me happy and satisfied customer with the purchase they made.

To business organisation 

- Reputation is very important for every business, if all the employees are satisfied with a job there will be less number of sickness, low turnover of staff is a benefit for a business, which means the employees are very well trained and everything they need was and is provided so they do not need to change the staff they have because is well experienced.

To the employee 

- Positive feedback from customer or employer will be highly motivating for an employee, this will make him/her feel satisfied and happy, they will know that the job they do was well done; promotion for employees is provided and they could get a higher job position by their good job, positive attitude etc.

P4 - I will explain what contributes to consistent and reliable customer service.

Internal customers should:

- be aware of the scope of their job - it is important that employees know what do to, what are their responsibilities in particular job, they should not step outside of the area of their authority.

- have good product and service knowledge - staff should provide an advice and right information about the product they sell.

- be aware of the types and quality of the business's products and services - sales person should have an ability to advice on product by using their personal knowledge, customers feedback.

- a positive attitude or behaviour - the staff should behave with a good manner to every customer, will to help and smile.

- timing is important in a customer service - should have a knowledge when to approach a customer, not be late for meeting and appointments, returning calls, be on time for delivery.

- lack of accessibility/availability of a business's products and services - knowing how to handle with customer disappointment, be able to find alternative product to not lose the customer.

- meet the customer's needs - listening to the customer to know about their requirements, find a product that they are looking for, find out if everything that customer needed was found.

- how to work under pressure - stay calm and not panic when it's busy time in a store, do not over-task yourself, tasks should be done in kind of order and try to work as quickly as possible.

- how to deal with customer's problems - listen to the customer carefully, do not interrupt while customer talks, check if you got all the point of customer's problem, be able to help in a good manner, if the problem is bigger than your limit refer it to manager.


P5 - I will describe how customer service can be monitored and evaluated.

Monitoring customer service means that you need to be ensured about positive attitude of your staff, ensure if your staff work effectively and be sure that customers are satisfied about the customer service provided.

Evaluating customer service means to review the information and evidence before a conclusion.

There are couple of different ways of monitoring customer service. I will list some of them below:

- Fromal customer feedback - the organisation should provide questionaries or comment cards for customers so they can write a feedback about a seller and about an organisation, how they were treated etc.

- Informal feedback - some of customers may not want to give written feedback, so company should expect the different ways of reaction of a customer about a seller, how they were treated etc, you would expect different comments from customers.

- Mystery shoppers - some organisation hire mystery shopper to check if their customer service is well provided by sellers.

- Complaints and compliements letter - this could also be a way of written feedback, compliement letter is the positive feedback which owner of organisation is expecting, complaint letter is the negative way of feedback which owner want to reduce.

All organisations should monitor these areas in a business:

- price of products

- speed of service/delivery

- the way the service is provided

- range of products

- product features

- packaging

- catologues/websites information

- return procedures.

P6 - I will outline how improvements to the customer service in an organisation could be made.

You need to be able to use all of the positive and negative feedback to identify customer service improvements. Be ready to make changes to your customer service provided. Company reputation is the most important thing for an owner.

Staff turnover and managers turnover would be necessary of feedback from customer still coming up negative. Experience of staff and manager is vital. Analyse all customers feedback, check questionaries and customer cards.

You can also hire a mistery shopper to find out how you customer service is provided. They may also check your competitor's customer service.

Set new aims and objectives for new staff.

You should have staff meeting every week and ask them for any ideas they have, how they are feeling in the environment.

M1 - I will explain how different customers' needs and expectations can differ.

All over the world we have different customers, with different needs, expectations, habits or different kind of style. Customers I have chosen are waitress (internal), tourists and disabled (external).

Waitress needs to be very patient in order to customer such as disabled or a tourists. Disabled people need more patience and special equipment e.g. ramp to have an easy access to get in or out the restaurant. Staff need to give them an opportunity and help with the access and find them the most suitable table to sit and to have a lot of space around them. Disabled customers need to feel that they are important customers in the restaurant. There also should be a disabled parking provided somewhere near the restaurant or in front of it.

Waitress also needs to be patient for a customer such as tourists. They usually do not speak English or speak just a little bit. They are expecting that there would be someone in the restaurant who will try to translate or understand them. They need to feel happy and waitress should be calm and friendly to them. They always expect high standard food, good price, excellent customer service.

All of customers expect excellent customer service, good food for a good price. They also expect the restaurant to be clean and kept very tidy. Toilets need to be provided for both male and female and special toilet for disabled people. Happy and helpful staff is needed in restaurant. Without a good staff, atmosphere and good food of course, clients will not be happy and the restaurant would not prosper in good condition and would not be rated as a high standard restaurant.

M2 - Role play

M3 - I will analyse the importance of customer service to different businesses. 

There needs to be proper way of communication provided between customer and company which provide the service. Good customer service would give a lot of benefits to the company. It is important that the company would give very good training for all of the employees. The main point is to keep the good customer service to existing customers. The customer need to know that he/she can trust you and need to feel treated fairly. If they feel like that the owner of the business can make sure that the customer will come back for more service. Customer need to be greet when come in, be sure that he/she can ask for help and solve any problem they have, get an advice when customer wants. Not only advertisements can help you to get more money. If good customer service is provided it will get more clients to the organisation. Opinion of existing client is also very important so they could bring friends or family to your organisation. Customer satisfaction is really important for an organisation.

When the business do not offer good customer service, the company will not get more income or profit. A lot of people is claiming about poor customer service or not trained employees in different organisations. It is essential when recruiting a employee when a person look at the small details, they may be really important for the business in the future. Poor training could bring any damage to business that we could not repair in the future. If employee would not be trained properly, he/she would not understand customer's requirements, which could frustrate the customer that they could not find any help in a business. Frustrated customer is lost for ever.

Every business need to encourage the employee by giving them an excellent opportunity in the company. Policy and laws has to be right and provided to the employee as well as quality of a products explained, because some of employees does not believe in products they sell.
D1 - Part of a role play


M4/D2 -  I will explain and analyse how monitoring and evaluating can improve customer service for the customer, business and employee. 


Now I am going to explain how an organisation can make improvements to customer service for customers.

There is a lot of different ways to improve customer service to benefit a customer. You need to make a customer feel very important for your organisation. You need to find out customers requirements and willing to help them as many times as they need you. If they are satisfied with your service they will come back and leave very good feedback for your business and your sales staff.

The organisation can change the following:

- price
- range of products
- packaging
- quality and reliability of service
- speed of delivery


Im going to explain how an organisation can make improvements to customer service for employees by using Frederick Herzberg's management theory to achieve employee job satisfaction.

The theory of Frederick Herzberg tell us what factors in organisation that cause employee satisfaction and dissatisfaction. 

Leading to satisfaction:

- company policy
- supervision
- relationship with boss
- work conditions
- salary
- relationship with peers

Leading to dissatisfaction

- achievement
- recognition
- work itself
- responsibility 
- advancement
- growth

Staff need to be determined and motivated to do the job. They also need to be very well understand and rely on a manager or boss. They need to feel support from an employer. If you can see that the employee is satisfied and he/she is happy about what they do it means that you get on of the best employees. He/she will do the job properly, which means that you should start about a reward or promotion for this kind of employee. But if your employee is not satisfied with the rules and regulations at work and they work in environment they do not like at all you will no get good sales with this person. This will lead to bad customer service, no knowledge about a product. They also might not be happy because they have a problem with communicating with other staff or managers. 

Lastly, I will explain how an organisation can make improvements to customer service to benefit the business.

Organisations can make improvement by providing excellent training for their employees. They need to know what the can do and what they cannot. They need to know all information about the company and the service or products. They also need to know who they need to speak to when they have a problem. They should not hesitate to talk to manager, supervisor or boss. 


Lots of people would not make complaints they will just stay unhappy. But the most important thing of an organisation is to keep a customer happy. Even if they purchase a small item, greet them with a smile, ask how are they feeling. These all would make then feel better and you will gain one more customer to visit your organisation again. It is also important that every employee is happy to work in organisation. There should be good relationship between workers and manager as well as owners. Sometimes business just need to sort out small things and this all will benefit either customer, business and an employee. 

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Unit 10

Unit 10

Personal Selling in Business


Personal selling is when businesses use people to sell their products after face to face with a customer. The main objective of a business is to make money/profit. And how they do it? By selling products or services. 

P1 - I will describe a role of sales staff. 

Roles of sales staff are different in different organisations. I will give examples of some primary roles of sales staff:

Selling goods/services - they need to provide the best possible customer service, need to be a good listener to know what are the customers need, be polite and knowledge of product/service is needed. 

Establishing customer requirements - need to know price and availability of a product, need to listen for the futures that customers require, maybe they look for some offers such as additional benefits like buy one get second half price or buy one get one free

Matching goods/services to customer requirements - knowledge of customer requirements will make everything easier for you and finally find the product that customer want and need.

First point of contact - greeting and welcoming customers in nice and polite way when walk in to the store.

Provide information - need to provide information about the product or service that customer requires.

Developing customer care - care about customer, ask if they feel okay today, what they are looking for and how you can help them

Gather feedback - ask about written feedback, give out a form or ask them if they can go onlie to give you feedback

Promoting product - if new products are around the store, get known about them and offer to the customers

Cross sell - seller can offer extra product to the customer that is related to the product they are buying

P2 -  I will identify techniques used when making personal sales.

Cold calling - customer does not expect a call, unexpected call to make a new business, offer product.

Face to face selling - this could be a call to gather a feedback or to offer a new product and offers within the store.

Drop-in visits - to sell a product to a small shop or a householder, 'door to door'.

Telemarketing - call potential customer by phone, usually from a call centre.

Inward calls - calls which are responded to the customer enquiry.

Outward/Outbound call - call to the customer to sell product or service.

P3 -  I will explain the knowlegde and skills used when making personal sales.


Good sales habits - greet, contact, respond to every customer in positive way, say "Good morning/afternoon", deal with customers, smile and keep up positive attitude, listen to the customer.

Good sales technique - offer up sale or cross sale, be honest, offer products that might be interested for a customer.

Product knowledge - make you job easier and more successful, know full range of product, such as: features, price etc.

Keeping up to date - knowledge about new offers coming.

The ability to close a sale - the knowledge of how to persuade the customer, show the product they are looking for and make them to purchase it.

Rewarding and motivating staff - people with enthusiasm are happy people, should be reworded for their effort,

Inwardly motivated to sell - sales person should be keen to achieve goals, should be happy about their work, well self motivated, should be rewarded as well: bonuses, extra holidays.

P4/P5 - Role play

M1 - I will explain the role of sales staff and the techniques they use.

As a sales person you should always smile, be ready to work, have a good knowledge about the products you sell and help the customers to find what they want. You should always work well to get an excellent feedback from a customer you served. 

Sales people are very important for every business because they are facing customers problems or requirements and help them to find what they need and want. If your business has got very well trained and honest sales people this allow you to have more profit and make more money as well as you will get a good reputation and good feedback about your business.

Initial contact - this is a very first point of contact with every customer that comes to your store, this is very important that sales people deliver an excellent customer service to the customer and this will give you and your business a chance that the client would come back to buy more items from your store or to use your service again. 

Promoting products - sales person should know how to promote a product, he/she needs to talk nicely and use good language to encourage a customer to buy a product.

Advise a customer - sales person should advise a customers in order to their requirements and needs. 

Sales staff use different types of techniques to encourage a customer and to get a sale. Here is a list of them:

Cold calling - customer does not expect a call, unexpected call to make a new business, offer product.

Face to face selling - this could be a call to gather a feedback or to offer a new product and offers within the store.

Drop-in visits - to sell a product to a small shop or a householder, 'door to door'.

Telemarketing - call potential customer by phone, usually from a call centre.

Inward calls - calls which are responded to the customer enquiry.

Outward/Outbound call - call to the customer to sell product or service.



M2 - I will compare the selling skills and process used in different situations. I am going to write about two situations, one is over a phone and the other is face to face. 

In both situations over a phone and face to face, sales person should greet a customer with a good manner, because a customer will feel important for an organisation. It makes a good impression on a customer and they could feel more welcome. You need to listen your customer very carefully and have very good listening skills, by that you will be able to help a customer. When you will no listen your customer properly, they might give you details wrong and that will be just a waste of time, and you also may give them information about a wrong products which will lead a problem such as, customer might go to you competitor. As an example, when customer want to buy a phone he or she would tell what kind of phone the customer is looking for and then you will be able to tell them what kind of phone you have and if the one they want is available, its features that the customer is looking for. It is obvious that you need to have very good speaking skills which will help you to understand a customers correctly and give them out the information they are looking for. You need to use special type of language, to persuade and encourage a customer to buy such a product. Positive attitude and good knowledge about a product is also very important. You are also may ask questions to get lots of information about a product a customer wants to purchase.

D1 - Part of a role play

D2 - I will evaluate the preparation, skills and process of a sale that has been made in my role play.

In my role play I had to prepare three scenarios, one of them was a phone call to make an appointment, the other one was a drop-in visit to give an information about my service to the customer and the last one was a phone call to confirm that a customer is going to accept my offer and use my service.

Me and my partner were very confident and we clearly knew what we need to prepare and how we need to demonstrate our skills. We practiced a lot before the teacher was filming it. We were very nervous but when it came to a situation we relaxed and get on with it really quickly.

In the first scene, my customer (Kim) called me to ask of she can make an appointment to discuss about my service and about her wedding. I greeted her and I asked how can I help her. I wrote down the time and date of an appointment with a customer. I asked for a contact details and remind date and time of an appointment. 

In face to face seen I also greeted my customer with a smile. I asked if she wants something to drink, and then I gave her cup of coffee. I asked my customer if she has any ideas about her wedding, she replied that she has no idea, she did not find anything interesting for her in magazines yet. I presented her my service, in details, what we do, what kind of service we have, how much money do I take etc. I told my customer to have a think and give a call in couple of days and tell what she has decided. 

In last phone call scene my customer called me, I greeted her as always, asked how is she etc. I asked my customer if she had a think and what she decided. She told me that she is going to accept my offer so I told her to come to my office to discuss about the details of her wedding. She gave me time and date when she is available to come and I noted it down. 

We did a very good job together. I am really proud of myself and my partner. I did not know that we will be really confident with this task. We achieved most of our criteria for this task such as identifying need of a customer, give out proper information, listen carefully to customers requirements, did up or cross sale. I think I showed good customer service skills which I gained at work. Previous experience helped me a lot with this task. The think that I could improve next time would be more of up or cross selling and give more detailed information and I should have ask her more questions.  

Unit checklist

Here is a link to my checklist. Project units checklist!

Unit 16

Unit 16

Business Enterprise 

P1 - Personal SWOT analysis 

Strengths

- Good ICT skills

- Good Customer Service Skills

- Cash handling skills

- Good Maths skills

- Confident

- Team work

- Well organised

- Good memory

Weaknesses

- English

- Impatient

- Determination

- Poor at handling stress

- Short temper

Opportunities

- Able to speak in two languages

- Able to use Microsoft Office Software

- Work experience (Shelter-cash handling, customer service, using till etc.)

- Move to an Access course in Business next year

Threats

- Easily get distracted by friends in the classroom

- I am sometimes overworked because of my job and some of coursework

P2 -  I will explain what rules and regulations are and give examples of them.

Rules and regulations

There are many different rules and regulations for online business. It is a very good idea to start your own online business. If you have a high street shop, you can start your online business to increase your sales and also to expand your business on the market and it will give you a chance to get more customers to get more profit. On the other hand, when you open your online business you will have to pay for tax, copyright, privacy of your website and also for the security. You need to find out about state tax laws and what you will be charged for. When you do your online business, you have to understand rules of copyright. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act says about information you need to know about copyrighting law. The essential part of online business is privacy of customers’ personal details. To protect your customers from identity theft or other customers’ information, you should know about privacy law. Most businesses collect personal details of their customers and online businesses do the same. You have to learn how to keep them safe. You also need to learn how to keep your computers protected.

These are examples of some of rules and regulations in business:

• The Employment Act - this Act is divided by 19 sections, is telling about dispute resolution, minimum wage, employment agencies and union member expulsion.
• Distance Selling Act - The Consumer Protection Regulation give rights to receive clear information about the product or service , this information has to be confirmed, a cancellation of 7 days period and protection from payment card fraud. 
• Trades Description Act 1968 - makes an offence for a trader to make false statements about goods or service, supply or offer to supply any goods to which a false trade description has been applied.
• Sex Discrimination Act 1975 - is an Act which is protecting men and women from sex or marriage discrimination. It concerned employment, training, harassment or education.


P3 -  I will describe how small businesses prepare to marketing and sell products or services online

There are different benefits and impacts of marketing products or service online. Such as creating a website, advertise your products or service on sites, sending emails to customers or use social networks.

Creating a website will be a good idea because your service will operate 24/7 and you will have good access and can control the content of website e.g. do some offers, add new stock, sales etc.

Advertising products or service online is similar to social networks and it might cost some money, example of this could be Pay-per-Click with Google this may be cheap or expensive

Sending emails to customers cost nothing to send and you are still in touch with all of your customers. You could send them vouchers, new offers or just update and say what is new in your service. You save money for your business by sending emails and customer can receive your email at any time. 

Social networks are free to advertise on such as Facebook. You can target any potential audience and this is very effective use of time and money.

Marketing online is the best and the easiest way to advertise you products or service, to gain more customers and to save you money and time. By lowering your costs you will have more of customers and will get better and higher profits. You can save money and expand your business to make it  more effective and more successful.


By having a bright, colourful website I might get larger amount of potential customers because this website will catch the eye of everyone. Marketing online will give me a chance to reduce my costs (objective) and help me to expand my business by saving money, which is one of the aims of my business.

My business provides full and partial service which customers can choose from and what is suitable for them at most. My services could compete with my competitors. My business does not have an office but I will be able to meet customers in my virtual office which I will be renting for business meetings. As I am new on the market my prices should not be high as my competitor so I take 10% of overall budget for partial service and 15% of overall budget of full service.

Strengths

• Value added service - by providing exeptional client service and adding value to the client's wedding. I can create a competetive advantage in the marketplace.
• High motiation level - having high motivated staff members will allow me to focus my efforts on more important tasks.

Weaknesses

• Lack of funds - I should think about my business plan and my expenses and ask for a loan from the bank.
• No market information - being relatively new there is no in-depth market information available to base the decisions.

Opportunities

• Strategic relationships with hotel managers, catering managers etc. - these strategic relationships will lead to repeat business and sustained long term growth.
• Price strategy  - lower prices, discounts, vouchers will help me to gain more customers.

Threats

• High competition - I am new on the market, my competitors are more experienced and they have got lots of money.
• Renting a property - I might not have enough money at the beggining to rent a property for my business.

Market research

I am aiming my service to people who are going to get married and want to make their day an unforgettable experience. My competitors are Absolute Perfection, Tigerlily Weddings and Sarah's Wedding Services. Customers will get free initial consultation whereby I and my customers could decide on timescale and budget. I am going to make sure that nothing is overlooked and every details is checked. I will spend time on building relationship with customers so they will know that they can trust me.

Promotion plan

The philosophy of my business is to create weddings that are not only visually stunning but unique and individual and completely tailored to each bride and groom. I have looked at websites, prices and philosophy of my competitors businesses. My primary research will be a survey. I will prepare 10 questions which people who are going to get married will be able to answer it. I am also going to use leaflets to advertise my company and give out my business cards. I will advertise my company in local newspapers and radio stations. I will sing up for search engines so people will have a quick access to my website. I will also advertise my business on Facebook. 

P4 - I will describe financial issues that can affect preparation for a business.

John Lewis Partnership has got foundations such as: Waitrose Foundation, John Lewis Foundation, John Spedan Lewis Foundation and Golden Jubilee Trust. They all raising money from sales to help to the environment such as farms, education or seniors etc. They not getting any funding. They get money for the company from the all products they sell.

Cancer Research UK is getting funding from events, donations, legacies, volunteers, direct giving, goods they sell in their shops. They do not receive any funding from government, so it is really good idea to help them get more money by donating online. You can make a single donation or do it as a direct debit.

North Middlesex University Hospital get funding by volunteering, The League of Friends and Donations. Also they get fund from patients, local community and local businesses. The League of Friends and volunteers are people from local community who share their free time with patients, visitors and staff. They organise fundraising events to get more money. You can donate by buying a check and send it to the hospital on this address:

Ailsa Bawn, Deputy Director of Finance
Finance Department
North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust
Sterling Way

London  N18 1QX


P6 - I will explain the sources of advice and support available when preparing for a business.

Individuals

• Solicitors/Lawyers
• Accountants
• Teacher
• Mentor
• Parents
• Friends
• Current employer

Solicitors/Lawyers

They are help you to get right legal advice that you may be concerned about. They try to give you the best possible solution but it might be costly. When you decide that you want a legal advice it will help you to avoid crises. You need to choose a solictor first. Then he/she will ask you a lot of different questions regarding to your business to cover the areas such as company structure, business premises, finance, taxes, insurance, cash flow, goods/services, licenses, employment etc.

Accountants

They will help you to layout you business plan and give you advice with funding. They will think about what you have already that could maybe useful to start your business. They will also consider if you are a qualified person to get a loan in order to you business. You business plan is the most important thing that accountant will use to work out if your business will be

Teacher

In early years of education you need to make up your mind and think about what you want to do in the future. Your teachers may help you with this by giving you different advices. When they teach you they get known more about you and your skills and qualities. They can help you to find your first job so you will be more experienced.

Mentor

A mentor is a person who can give an advice in area they have knowledge in. You can have an appointment which such a person. It can be formal on informal. You should ask a lot of questions as their answers will be based on their experience.

Organisations

• Department for B.I.S - Business, Innovation and Skills
• Bank
• Foreign Office (legal advice)
• Local Authority (council)
• C.A.B - Citizen Advice Bureau
• Business Centre 



Department for B.I.S

This is a department for economic growth. They invest in skills and and education, promote trade, innovations and help to start and grow a business. They also protect consumers of regulations. They are modernising company law, control defence, improving the health ans safety business, increasing UK's exports etc.

C.A.B - Citizen Advice Bureau

"We help people resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing free, independent and confidential advice, and by influencing policymakers"

CAB advisers can write letters and make phone calls to service providers on their clients' behalf. They can help people prioritise debts and negotiate with creditors. They can also refer clients to specialist case workers, who are able to represent people at court and tribunals.


When starting up my own business I will use both individuals and organisations to get advice. 

Firstly I will ask for some help and ideas my family and friends. They may give some idea how to raise money to start up my business.Then I might ask my teachers for help as they are well experienced. I will also ask mentor who have a knowledge in my business area. He or she would give me advice and tell me how to start up a business, what documents I need, how to promote and advertise. 

I will also go to the accountant to help me with my business plan and where can get the funding from. Solicitors might cost some money but they will help a lot when starting business such as  as company structure, business premises, finance, taxes, insurance, cash flow, goods/services, licenses, employment etc. and it will be worth to go there. 

I will also make an appointment to Citizen Advice Bureau to get help how to negotiate with creditors. 

M1 - I will explain, using examples, the benefits of starting a business.

There is a lot of different benefits when starting your own business, but still you need to know that you always take a risk as well. There is a big number of different business that you can get into and open it by yourself and start to be self-employed. Benefits are as follows:

- You are your own boss means that you do not need any permission to ask anyone when making a decision about a business, but still you are the most important person and you are responsible for your business
- You are making your own money - you sell your own products, you make them, advertise them to encourage people to buy it, you should be very responsible for the money you are earning, you should keep some money for a business when the bad times will come and the rest you keep for yourself.
- Success (dream) - you are a father/mother of your own business, you should be ready to take a risk, you have no one to blame, if everything goes okay do not forget to thank your employees because they are a part of your business.
- By having your own business you learn new skills, gain new experience and this would help you a lot in the future to maybe expand your business, some owners what more and more, this would be done by working hard 

Those examples are only some benefits, when you will start as a self-employed you will see that  at the beginning you can rely on yourself. It is not easy to set up your own business. I will give an example of a person who's business is growing and growing everyday. 

Richard Branson

Richard Branson is a British investor who found a Virgin Group and is a chairman of more than 400 companies withing Virgin Group. He started with a magazine called 'Student' when he was 16. In 1972, he opened a Virgin Records, later known as Virgin Megastores. In 1980s his Virgin brand grew up rapidly as he set up Virgin Atlantic Airways and know it is expanded to Virgin Records music label. He is the 4th richest citizen in UK with estimated net worth of US$4.6 billion.

M2 -  I will analyse the different aspects that will affect preparation for business.

Financial issues and risks 

All companies cares about a customer. The privacy is very important for every business. They should not release any of personal details of any customer to any company outside of organisation for any marketing purposes. Organisation need to treat all the personal information as a confidential. All businesses collect money through different method payments such as PayPal, debit cards, vouchers, membership cards etc. Charities raise money through donations. Some charities allow you to donate on the website. Hospitals are getting money from government which is raising through taxes. All organisations should have returns policy,

Rules and regulations

• Statutory Rights - meaning Consumer Rights. When you buy anything the Consumer law protects you. (Entire Agreement - "These Conditions govern our relationship with you. Any changes to these Conditions must be in writing and signed by both parties. In this way, we can avoid any problems surrounding what John Lewis and you are expected to do. You confirm that, in agreeing to accept the Conditions, you have not relied on any representation save insofar as the same has expressly been made a term of these Conditions and you agree that you shall have no remedy in respect of any representation. Your Statutory Rights are not affected by these terms and conditions. Nothing in this Clause shall limit or exclude our liability in respect of any fraudulent or negligent misrepresentation whether or not such has become a term of the Conditions.")
• Limitation of Liability - is a clause that specifically states that the liability of each shareholder for the company's debts and obligations is limited to the par value of company fully paidup shares. ("We will not be liable, in contract, tort (including, without limitation, negligence), pre-contract or other representations (other than fraudulent or negligent misrepresentations) or otherwise out of or in connection with the Conditions for:
• any economic losses (including without limitation loss of revenues, profits, contracts, business or anticipated savings); or
• any loss of goodwill or reputation; or
• any special or indirect losses")
• Data Protection Act 1998  - confidential information is information that is not publicly available, that the law protects from misuse or improper disclosure by a person who is under an obligation to keep it confidential. ("We will treat all your Personal Information as confidential (although we reserve the right to disclose this information in the circumstances set out below). We will keep it on a secure server and we will fully comply with all applicable UK Data Protection and consumer legislation from time to time in place.")
• Returns Policy - return your item in the if possible original packaging within 14 days. 
• Limitation of Liability - e.g."Cancer Research UK hereby disclaims all warranties and conditions with regard to the Material and any good or services supplied on relation to the Website, whether express or implied or statutory (including all implied warranties and conditions of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose). In no event shall Cancer Research UK be liable for any indirect, punitive, special, incidencial, or consequential damages whatsoever even if Cancer Research UK has been advised of the possibility of damages including, without limitation, damages for loss of use etc."
• Data Protection Act 1998 - "We will use your personal information:

- to provide you with the services, products or information you have requested;

- to create an account for you if you register with us;

- for administration purposes

- to further our charitable aims, including for fundraising activities."

• The Freedom of Information Act - "was passed on 30 November 2000. It gives a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities, with full access granted in January 2005.  The Act sets out exemptions to that right and places certain obligation on public authorities."
• Data Protection Act 1998 - "Any information given to the Trust in connection with the NHS Foundation Trust status will only be used for that purpose. Names of Members will be included on a public register unless we are notified in writing that you do now want your name to appear on a public register. Personal details will not be released to a third party without your written authority. The information will be stored and processed with the Data Protection Act 1998."

Unit 12

Unit 12

Doing business online

P1/P2/P3/P4- I will describe three different organisations which operate online and also I will explain how they operate their activities online. I will explain the issues of a business organisation would need to go consider online and explain the operational risks for a business organisation operating online.

John Lewis Partnership

The John Lewis Partnership is a private company, employee-owned UK partnership which operates John Lewis department stores, Waitrose supermarkets and a number of other services. John Lewis Partnership is a retailer which was founded in 1929 in London. It is a Private Limited Company and it is in a private sector. All shares are kept in the company. The products they sell include clothing, cosmetics, housewares, food and direct services.

John Lewis Partnership’s aim is to “be a business where our leaders feel confident with, and have full understanding of the diversity in their teams, so that they can ensure Partners have a consistent, equitable, and motivating experience of the Partnership”.

http://www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk/csr/our-employees/opportunities-for-all.html

Website design features

Funding

John Lewis Partnership has got foundations such as: Waitrose Foundation, John Lewis Foundation, John Spedan Lewis Foundation and Golden Jubilee Trust. They all raising money from sales to help to the environment such as farms, education or seniors etc. They not getting any funding. They get money for the company from the all products they sell.
Source

Financial issues and risks

This company cares about every customer. The privacy is very important for them. They do not release any of personal details of any customer to any company outside of John Lewis Partnership for any marketing purposes. They treat all the personal information as a confidential. John Lewis has got many different payment options. They collect payment through PayPal, debit cards, vouchers, membership cards etc.  They do return policy via Royal Mail or myHermes website or via John Lewis shop. 
Source

Rules and regulations

• Statutory Rights - meaning Consumer Rights. When you buy anything the Consumer law protects you. (Entire Agreement - "These Conditions govern our relationship with you. Any changes to these Conditions must be in writing and signed by both parties. In this way, we can avoid any problems surrounding what John Lewis and you are expected to do. You confirm that, in agreeing to accept the Conditions, you have not relied on any representation save insofar as the same has expressly been made a term of these Conditions and you agree that you shall have no remedy in respect of any representation. Your Statutory Rights are not affected by these terms and conditions. Nothing in this Clause shall limit or exclude our liability in respect of any fraudulent or negligent misrepresentation whether or not such has become a term of the Conditions.")
• Limitation of Liability - is a clause that specifically states that the liability of each shareholder for the company's debts and obligations is limited to the par value of company fully paidup shares. ("We will not be liable, in contract, tort (including, without limitation, negligence), pre-contract or other representations (other than fraudulent or negligent misrepresentations) or otherwise out of or in connection with the Conditions for:
  • any economic losses (including without limitation loss of revenues, profits, contracts, business or anticipated savings); or
  • any loss of goodwill or reputation; or
  • any special or indirect losses")
• Data Protection Act 1998  - confidential information is information that is not publicly available, that the law protects from misuse or improper disclosure by a person who is under an obligation to keep it confidential. ("We will treat all your Personal Information as confidential (although we reserve the right to disclose this information in the circumstances set out below). We will keep it on a secure server and we will fully comply with all applicable UK Data Protection and consumer legislation from time to time in place.")

Job roles in John Lewis Partnership

In the navigation bar we can click "Jobs in Partnership". John Lewis Partnership has got many different job roles you can apply for. You can look for jobs in UK, Scotland and Wales. You can find jobs in different areas such as: Graduate, Builiding and Services, Head Office, IT John Lewis, John Lewis Branches, John Lewis Distribution, John Lewis Manufacturing Other, Partnership Services, Residential Clubs, Waitrose, Waitrose Distribution, Waitrose Farming and Waitrose Supermarkets. You can also choose what hours you prefer whether it is part-time or full time job. 

Organisational structures 

John Lewis Partnership has got Hierarchical Organisational Structure with a Chairman of the Board on the top, 4 directors and Deputy Chairman of the Board. It also has many different departments. 

Cancer Research UK

Cancer Research UK is a cancer research and awareness charity in the United Kingdom formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. Cancer Research UK is registered charity in United Kingdom which was founded by Harpal Kumar in February 2002. This is a Non-Governmental Organisation.

Cancer Research UK’s aim is to “save lives by preventing, controlling and curing cancer”. They do this through funding world-class research into all aspects of cancer, providing information and influencing public policy.
http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-us/what-we-do/

Website design features

Funding

Cancer Research UK is getting funding from events, donations, legacies, volunteers, direct giving, goods they sell in their shops. They do not receive any funding from government, so it is really good idea to help them get more money by donating online. You can make a single donation or do it as a direct debit.

Donate!

Financial issues ad risks

Customers can get into the website and donate, as they also can shop online. People can create an account on the website and start to look for what they want. They have different prices of delivery.

Delivery prices

Rules and regulations

• Returns Policy - return your item in the if possible original packaging within 14 days. 
• Limitation of Liability - "Cancer Research UK hereby disclaims all warranties and conditions with regard to the Material and any good or services supplied on relation to the Website, whether express or implied or statutory (including all implied warranties and conditions of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose). In no event shall Cancer Research UK be liable for any indirect, punitive, special, incidencial, or consequential damages whatsover even if Cancer Research UK has been advised of the possibility of damages including, without limitation, damages for loss of use etc."
• Data Protection Act 1998 - "We will use your personal information:

- to provide you with the services, products or information you have requested;
- to create an accountfor you if you register with us;
- for administration purposes
- to further our charitable aims, including for fundraising activities."

Source 1
Source 2

Job roles

There a lot of different job roles in Cancer Research UK, including: Administration, Finance, HR, Marketing, Retail etc. (click on a job role, it will move you to the website with a description)

• Administration & PA
• Business Development
• Event Management
• Facilities Management
• Finance
• Fundraising
• Health and Safety
• HR
• IT
• Legal
• Marketing
• Public relations and communication
• Procurement
• Public Health Policy
• Retail
• Science and Research
• Web and Digital

Organisational structures

North Middlesex University Hospital

North Middlesex University Hospital is one of the most London's busiest acute hospitals. Over 20 years they served more then 250 000 people who is living in the Boroughs of Enfield and Haringey and surrounding areas such as Barnet and Waltham Forest. They provide excellent customers service and have big range of specialist which are pleased to help you at all times. The specialists include Stroke, HIV/AIDS, Cardiology (including heart failure care), Hematology  Diabetes, Sleep Studies, Fertility and Orthopedics.

Their aim is "to deliver is high quality clinical care, outstanding customer care and efficient organisational systems and processes."
http://www.northmid.nhs.uk/


Website design features

Funding

They get funding by volunteering, The League of Friends and Donations. Also they get fund from patients, local community and local businesses. The League of Friends and volunteers are people from local community who share their free time with patients, visitors and staff. They organise fundraising events to get more money. You can donate by buying a check and send it to the hospital on this address:

Ailsa Bawn, Deputy Director of Finance
Finance Department
North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust
Sterling Way
London  N18 1QX

Financial issues ad risks

North Middlesex University Hospital is getting money from governmet which is raising through taxes.



Rules and regulations

• The Freedom of Information Act - "was passed on 30 November 2000. It gives a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities, with full access granted in January 2005.  The Act sets out exemptions to that right and places certain obligation on public authorities."
• Data Protection Act 1998 - "Any infromation given to the Trust in connection with the NHS Foundation Trust status will only be used for that purpose. Names of Members will be included on a public register unless we are notified in writitng that you do now want your name to appear on a public register. Personla details will not be released to a third party without your written authority. The information will be stored and processed with the Data Protection Act 1998."

Job role

There are many different job roles in NHS Area. Here is a list of them:

• Administrative & Clerical
• Allied Health Professional
• Biomedical Science
• Clinical Services
• Dental
• Estates & Ancillary
• Executives
• Healthcare Assistant
• Healthcare Scientists
• Medical
• Healthcare Scientist Trainees
• Midwifery
• Nursing
• Occupational Therapy
• Pharmacy
• Physiotherapy
• Professional Scientific & Technical
• Psychology
• Radiography
• Speech & Language Therapy
• Students
• Apprenticeships

Organisational strucutres

"The trust is led by Actin Chair Lynne Cantor and Chief Executive Julie Lowe, supported by full-time Executive Directors and part-time independent Non-Executive Directors, appointed by the NHS Appointments Commission. The Executive Directors are responsible for the daily running of the organisation and together with the Non-Executive Directors have a collective responsibility for setting the strategic direction of the Trust, ensuring its achievement against performance targets and upholding high standards of governance and probity.
Specifically the role of the Trust Board is to manage the Trust by:

• Setting the strategic direction of the Trust within the context of the Government and the NHS priorities
• Regularly monitoring the Trust’s performance against its objectives
• Providing financial stewardship through value for money, financial control and financial planning and strategy
• Ensuring the Trust provides high quality, effective and patient focused services
• Ensuring high standards of corporate governance, personal conduct and compliance with statutory duties are maintained
• Ensuring there is effective dialogue with the local communities on plans and performance and that these are responsive to the community’s needs."

P5 -  I will show screen shots of my storyboard. This post will include a storyboard. It is a plan which will show what I want my website look like (colour position, logos). I will also include name of my business and make sure that this name is available so I will not infringing on other business copyright. I will do a written checklist to make sure I have covered everything I wanted.

STORYBOARD

Home Page 

About Us

 Why do you need us?

Our service

Contact us

Colour scheme:

Green, Accent 6, Lighter 40%
Green, Accent 6, Darker 25%

Font:

Calibri (Body), 11


Business and website name:

Name: La Perfection
Website name: www.laperfection.co.uk

Checklist:

• Logo at the top in the middle on every page
• Sign in/register box on every page
• Menu bar (colour changes when clicked)
• Home page includes: LOGO, sign in/register box, menu bar, picture, banner in the middle, a little bit of information about business.
• About us page includes: LOGO, sign in/register box, menu bar, information about the business
• Why do you need us page includes: LOGO, sign in/register box, menu bar, checklist with information why do you need us
• Our service page includes: LOGO, sign in/register box, menu bar, explanation how service looks like
• Contact us page includes: LOGO, sign in/register box, menu bar, address and opening times, box to leave a message with contact details

P6 - I will describe the benefits to a business organisation of marketing a product or service online.

There are different benefits and impacts of marketing products or service online. Such as creating a website, advertise your products or service on sites, sending emails to customers or use social networks.

Creating a website will be a good idea because your service will operate 24/7 and you will have good access and can control the content of website e.g. do some offers, add new stock, sales etc.

Advertising products or service online is similar to social networks and it might cost some money, example of this could be Pay-per-Click with Google this may be cheap or expensive

Sending emails to customers cost nothing to send and you are still in touch with all of your customers. You could send them vouchers, new offers or just update and say what is new in your service. You save money for your business by sending emails and customer can receive your email at any time. 

Social networks are free to advertise on such as Facebook. You can target any potential audience and this is very effective use of time and money.

Marketing online is the best and the easiest way to advertise you products or service, to gain more customers and to save you money and time. By lowering your costs you will have more of customers and will get better and higher profits. You can save money and expand your business to make it  more effective and more successful.


By having a bright, colourful website I might get larger amount of potential customers because this website will catch the eye of everyone. Marketing online will give me a chance to reduce my costs (objective) and help me to expand my business by saving money, which is one of the aims of my business.

P7 - I will outline positive and negative impact of online business society.

Employment - online business could increase an unemployment because when you have an online business there is a less number of people needed, but still you could give a job to someone e.g. in IT functional area.

Shopping district - when you have online business you do not need expand you business with stores, you just need one place 'Head Office' where you can have all of the people needed and all the stock you need to send or you receive. By having online business there is no need to pay rent, bills around all stores and salaries for all staff in your stores.

Personal interaction - when having an online business personal interaction 'seller-buyer' is impossible, they usually contact each other buy email only, customer can order anything from website and receive by post, but these kind of impact would be dangerous in order to scam or fraud.

M1 - I am going to compare website features of three organisations, which are John Lewis Partnership, Cancer Research UK and North Middlesex University Hospital.

John Lewis Partnership 

Cancer Research UK

North Middlesex University Hospital

Differences between websites:

- The websites provides different useful links
- Colours and design is different on each website
- They obviously have got different information on their website
- Some websites has got videos, some has not
- Different pictures- Logo of North Middlesex University Hospital is in the top of right corner, John Lewis Partnership and Cancer Research UK are in the top of left corner- Purpose of John Lewis Partnership website is to gain more clients to buy products, Cancer Research UK is to inform about their donations and about killing cancer and North Middlesex University Hospital is to inform as well but the patients within the area about their service.

I think that all of them are achieving its aims and objectives. But in my opinion Cancer Research UK is doing it very, very well. They always will help people with cancer, they will always support them. This is their aim "to help". They still do marathons to raise money. They also raise money through the website, where you can click to donate some money. 

M2 - I will analyse the benefits to business and customers of having a business online.

Benefits for a business

We could find a lot of different benefits to our business by having it online. It is easy to set up, when you have online business you do not need to rent any office instead of that you can have just home based business. People would prefer to shop online than go to the high street shops. By having an online shop you will get more potential customers because most of people are more likely to use internet, where they can find everything. They can access online shops on their mobile as well. And you can easily get more customers worldwide. It is also easier to operate and control online business than a store. By having online business you can reduce your operating costs, so you can offer cheaper prices on some products, this will allow you to get more clients. It is also cheaper to advertise an online business, you can advertise on Facebook, send emails which is free. You can access your online business at any time even if you are on your holiday.


Benefits for a customer

Online shop as a time saver - people rather order something online than go to the store to buy it. You just need to go to the website of a retailer you want and purchase you item, pay for it and wait for about 3 to 5 working day to get it to your home. 
People with mobility issues are more likely to shop online because they might find it difficult to got to shop, when it shops are usually crowded. 
You can order your item at anytime you are able to and anywhere you want. Online shops are open 24/7. You do not need to wait in the queue at the shop. All you need to do is just choose the item you want and pay for it. 
Online shops are offering different types of payments. You can type in your card details or pay through PayPal account.
Most of online shop have a lot of different offers and discounts which you are able to get. It might be also cheaper to buy some items online. 

It is obvious that we can find some negative ways of online business. For example if you purchase your item online you have no chance to try it on before you pay for it. Some people buy a lot of items online, trying them at home and then go to return it to the store. 

M3 - I will explain how the website assists in achieving the aims and objectives of the business user. 

As an example I am going to use a website of Cancer Research UK. Cancer Research UK is a cancer research and awareness charity in the United Kingdom formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. Cancer Research UK is registered charity in United Kingdom which was founded by Harpal Kumar in February 2002. This is a Non-Governmental Organisation.

Cancer Research UK’s aim is to “save lives by preventing, controlling and curing cancer”. They achieve their aim by achieving their objectives through funding world-class research into all aspects of cancer, providing information and influencing public policy.

Cancer Research UK helps people with a cancer. They are a very well know charity across the UK. When you get into their website you will find videos and get know how they try to kill cancer, pictures and the most important thing is a donation button. On the website you will find 4 different ways to donate to help them kill the cancer. 

M4 - I will analyse the consequences for society of an increase in online business. 

We all know that people are more likely to buy items online instead of to do it in store. But we need to think a little but carefully here. If the number of people buying online would increase rapidly that means that high street shops are in trouble and this would be a completely disaster for them. People who has no mobility issues should buy items 50/50. Some of them online and some in store. If high street stores would not gain the amount of money and profit they need to gain every month they will bankrupt. They would need to close the stores and they would be full in debts because they wanted to keep the business going. 

Online customers would still find benefits and reasons why they will keep to shop online, as follows:
- No queues to pay for an item
- Some products might be out of stock in store, but not in distribution centre, where they come from when you buy online
- You can have an access to the website whenever and wherever you want
- You can be multitasking by ordering in many shops you want at the same time.

If high street stores would not  be able to pay rent, bills the police or any other organisation would tell them to close the shop and move out from the current place. People need to think about shopping online before all of the high street stores will get close.