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Before you realise it summer will be back, so it’s time to start thinking about the fabulous apparel, jewelry, and fragrances that will make you shimmer. This season, it’s all about the perfect glow - inside and out.

For frolicking in the surf - or simply sunning poolside - bikinis are back, but with a twist. You still have time to get your body toned for the season, but when you’re ready to shop, you’ll find a variety of styles and prints that complements your figure. Look for variations on red, from petal pink to fire engine red to deep burgundy. Basic black is never out of style, but consider stepping out of your comfort zone and embracing colors and patterns. For example, UjENA bikinis incorporate prints ranging from stripes to bold florals to fanciful conversation hearts. If you’re not quite ready for prime time, tankinis are still in fashion, but pass on the boy shorts. And don’t forget your pareo or sarong for those trips to the beach club.

Accessories will play a huge role this summer, with diamond jewelry once again taking center stage. When selecting your diamond jewelry, however, go one or two steps beyond sensible and on to memorable. Earrings, necklaces, and rings that pair diamonds with other precious or semi-precious gems make a statement. So look for diamonds and sapphires, diamonds and amethysts, or diamonds and topaz.

A woman’s style isn’t complete without her signature scent, and summer is a wonderful time to try new designer fragrances. Give Giorgio Armani’s Acqua di Gio a whirl, or take a whiff of 24 Faubourg by Hermes. Chanel and Givenchy are classics, but try Ungaro or Max Azria for some fabulous fun.

Beauty always comes from the inside out. During the summer, your body needs plenty of water and fresh foods to look its best. And don’t forget to nourish your soul as well. Indulge in good friends, great books, or whatever replenishes your spirit. When you do, you’ll know that your fabulous apparel, jewellery, and fragrances simply showcase your exquisite inner and outer beauty.

Why should you bother?

Good customer service is the life blood of any business. Although new customers are very important good customer service will help generate customer loyalty and repeat business. With each satisfied customer your business will secure many more customers through word of mouth and you should always keep in mind that if you are not taking proper care of your customers there is always a competitor that will.

A customer satisfaction survey will help by not only identifying problem areas but will also demonstrate to your customers that you care and are proactive in looking for ways to improve the service that you provide.

Where to start?

Objective - As a first step decide what the main objectives of the survey are, in that way you will be able to retain focus and find it easier to decide what questions to ask.

Analysis - Having completed the survey consider how you will analyze the answers.

Bare in mind that ‘closed’ questions (where the respondents are asked to choose from a limited number of responses) are easier to analyse than questions that are ‘open’ (where the respondent can reply in anyway they want).

Much will depend on the predicted volume of respondents, the higher the volume the more important it is to have an easy method of analysing the results.

Opportunity – As well as obtaining valuable market research data keep in mind that customer surveys are also a good way to publicise aspects of your service that your customers may not be aware of.

Before you publish the survey confirm that the questions you have asked will provide you with market research data that when analysed will help you make informed decisions.

Next, read through the survey from a marketing view point, check that you have phrased each question so that every opportunity has been taken to promote your business?

The ideal question will perform the following three functions:-

• Market research - provide valuable feedback to help you improve your customer satisfaction levels and in turn your business
• Marketing - promote aspects of your business
• Information/Education - advertise a service that you provide that your customers may not have been unaware of

For example:- Do you find the in-store baby changing facilities useful?

By asking this question not only will the store receive good feedback on the facility they provide but they will also advertise their baby changing facilities and promote themselves as a family friendly store beyond those customers who have a specific need for the facility provided.

Warts and all – to benefit most from a customer survey you need to be prepared to accept criticism.

A well designed customer satisfaction survey will enable you to identify problems so that they can be addressed; regular customer satisfaction will prevent complacency and give you early warning on where you might be losing out to your competitors initiatives.

What questions should you ask?

Although it is a given that each business is likely to have specific and unique factors that are important in providing good customer services there are common areas that are relevant to all businesses be they a physical store, online internet store or a service industry. The following are key areas to providing good customer service.

Communication - Are you confident that you make it easy for your customers to communicate with you?

When a customer telephones is the phone answered promptly; are enquiries about products or services properly handled? A good business will make every effort to ensure that whatever the customers query it is resolved by the right person, quickly, politely and fairly.

If a problem is not resolvable immediately do you promise to respond in a given time period and do you deliver on your promise?

Use a customer satisfaction survey to check that your customers find your staff to be helpful, courteous and knowledgeable.

Location – Are you doing everything you can to ensure that your customers find it easy to visit you, if a physical store, does it have good access and is it conveniently located?

Making it pleasant, making it easy - For an internet business it is important to ensure that your website is aesthetically pleasing and easy to use.

Physical store or online website, is the store properly laid out, can your customers find what they need and is there sufficient information and help on hand to explain how a particular product works?

The right quality products – In addition to measuring the quality of the service that you provide you should ensure that the products and services that you provide do in fact match your customers’ requirements.

Value for money – Cheap or expensive is rarely a good measure, value for money is.

Do your current customers consider the products you sell or the services you provide as value for money, if not, why not?

Speed and attention – No matter what the business, the majority of customers will want to be dealt with quickly but attentively.

Are you doing everything you can to avoid any delay?

Good businesses will try to treat each customer as an individual, does yours? Customers appreciate attention but only if it leads to a quick and satisfactory resolution of the query.

Demographics and Specific issues – Take the opportunity to profile your customers, for example what is their age group and where do they live?

The more knowledge you have of your customers the better you will be able to target your business.

Encourage customers to highlight their specific problems and provide contact details.

What next?

Having completed the survey analyse the results.

Trends – Look for common and specific areas where the customer service is found wanting.

Ask yourself if any criticism is valid, be honest to yourself, is there anything that can be done to properly resolve, or at the very least, minimise the problem?

Training – Are all employees properly trained and do they have sufficient knowledge?

Where customer service training programs have been implemented have they had the desired effect and improved the customer experience?

Follow-up – If a customer who has completed a survey has raised a specific issue ensure that they are contacted and their complaint addressed.

Don’t lose a customer by squandering an opportunity to resolve a problem.

Continuously Monitor - Make changes based on the survey results and then re-measure by issuing further surveys.

If you are concerned about customer satisfaction and would like to view a sample survey for a store that will demonstrate some of the above advice please view the Sample Customer Survey

Introduction

Mobility - it’s only in actual fact achievable to recognize the value of what mobility signifies if your capacity to move around freely can be affected, then it takes on a whole different meaning.

Having lived with somebody who’s partially disabled provides me with an insight into the kind of worries that people with disabilities have to deal with. When you are have the ability as well as sure footed there is no real awareness of of the limitations of not having thorough mobility of your person. Regardless of which no one is particularly concerned unless it has to do with them themselves. Many of us take it entirely for granted when everything performs as it ought to and we get on with living our lives concentrating on making money, raising a family, having a good time and other such mainstream everyday things. In truth quite often we don’t even like to look at those who find themselves handicapped and having difficulties because it makes us aware of our own vulnerability which reminds us of our mortality. Next time you see another person who is in a wheel chair, detect your own reaction to that human being, and be aware of how a person refrain from eye contact and diligently get out of the way. Those that use wheelchairs everyday say how people they speak to will speak with the carer and ignore them as if they’re useless too deaf.

Early Disability Devices

The first type of disability aid that most people will be familiar with is the walking stick. For some, it will be something to make them feel more secure on their feet when they suffer some impairment in walking. If a person has a broken leg or hip then crutches for a period of time will be needed and later a stick until full mobility returns. When I broke my hip I found the most frustrating thing was that I could not carry a cup of tea from one place to another so I improvised with a trolley on wheels which I could push along. When you have to use two arm crutches as I did to get about, there are no arms left to carry anything. For non spilling things you can use a bag to carry your things in which can be attached to your crutches, but not cups of liquid. Recently when visiting my husband in hospital I watched while the nurses unpacked a Zimmer frame on which they attached a plastic box with a tray for a lid. It was fixed like a basket on a bike. The patient had to practice pushing it along, and I realised it was because he lived on his own and needed to be able to transport things but couldn’t manage without two handed support. These types of early aids are common for people as they get older and lose their youthful mobility because of age related challenges. They’re also needed if you have endured accidents and injuries so that temporary mobility is affected.

Independence

One of the major frustrations for people becoming disabled is their loss of independence and freedom to be able to do what they want, when they want. If a person becomes disabled after years of normal living and independence there will be a great deal of frustration and a need to make adjustments to the new situation. However, whatever the disability experienced there are a vast range of aids to help people live as independent a life as possible.

You can get a a lot of different mobility scooters to customers retain their power and independence.

In the Home

When suffering loss of mobility or normal functioning whatever the reason, the first task is to create safety and functionality in the home where the level of disability determines the type of support needed.

One of the first things to consider is the degree of comfort while resting. Correct support in bed and while sitting in a chair will allow the muscles to relax properly so that the body will function as well as possible. There are a range of Orthopaedic beds which allow for many different positions from lying to sitting and the best examples are the hospital beds where you will find electronic buttons to change the position of a patient with ease. Chairs can also be found that will allow for different positions and even a vibrating and massaging function incorporated into the frame. A friend of mine had a chair specially made which reclines, vibrates and massages in three different places and also tips forward when you want to get out for ease of standing up. When we visit we all want to have a go in it as it is such good entertainment.

The next test when disabled, is the function of toilet, bathing and dressing. There are a huge range of aids to chose from such as commodes and other toilet necessities, grab rails for showers and baths. My mother is severely arthritic and cannot get into the bath anymore, so she has a seat which lowers and raises her in and out of the bath. There are also walk in baths and then specially adapted showers with stools and slip mats to aid the sufferer. Also because my mother is partially sighted she could not see the numbers any longer, so she has a set of speaking weighing scales.

Having managed the getting up, washing and dressing as well as maybe a good rest in the special chair, moving around the home will be next on the agenda. Depending of the level of incapacity it might be that a simple walking stick or Zimmer frame will support mobility. As well as grab handles in the bathroom, handles can be mounted alongside entrance doors and steps to help with negotiating different levels. Just because people suffer some sort of disability it doesn’t mean that they want to leave their homes, but when they live in a house and have stairs to negotiate then the use of a stair lift is a wonderful invention. Severely disabled people may need a wheelchair in the house which requires a lot of room and probably larger doorways to accommodate it.

The next activity for independent living is food preparation and dining. Standing can be a problem so a high stool to perch on might of value. Otherwise do as much preparation as possible sitting at the kitchen/dining table. If a person has a problem with holding cutlery and kitchen utensils, there are specially adapted items with larger handles for ease of use. With arthritis in the wrists, lifting items such as kettles and saucepans can be a problem, but there are available cleverly designed kettle and teapot tippers for ease of pouring. Using a food processer and electric gadgets will save a great deal of time and effort when preparing meals. Another simple aid which my mother found very useful is a grabbing stick or ‘Reacher’ that picks up items to save bending down. 560

For the latest deals on the four wheeled scooter check on line and check on comparative deals.

Maintaining the home is sometimes challenging for a disabled person. Obviously there are washing machines, dryers and dishwasher to aid with tasks in the home but you can also get remote control vacuum cleaners that are radio controlled with a joystick or key pad such as for toy boats and aeroplanes. Long handled brushes and dusters help with hard to reach corners particularly the microfiber dusters that attract dirt and dust to them.

Other items available for people who experience some level of limitation may be lever type handles for taps to make them easier to use. If a person has lost their grip there are special items to open cans, bottles and jars. Because my mother is partially sighted she has large buttons on her telephone and speed dialling so she can stay in touch with her family who are spread far and wide. She can order goods by phone which means with such aids she is able to retain her independence and stay in her own home. It seems that whatever the disability there is some clever invention to help overcome the problem.

Outside the Home

To enable a person who is disabled to live as normal a life as possible then aids outside the home are just as important as those inside. Wearing an alarm cord around the neck is a wise precaution so that if a person does get into difficulties while outside they can call for help. To be able to move around easily outside may only require a walking stick or a Zimmer frame for support but where mobility is more restricted, wheelchairs or electric scooters may be necessary. My mother used to love to garden but now the arthritis and osteoporosis has taken hold and her eyesight is impaired, she is severely limited in any activity outside. On a good day however she does have a garden stool which enables her to do some weeding and tidying of the flower beds. There are even wheeled seats for moving along the edge of flower beds when weeding. Long handled garden tools can be used to avoid bending or kneeling and raised beds will allow even wheel chair users to tackle the garden plot. Ramps may be installed to allow a wheelchair to move from one level to another, and sit-on lawn mowers are a possibility if you have a big enough lawn.

There is a relatively new product on the market called Flexiloc which is a modular system of tough polyurethane tiles that interlocks to form ramps of any size. It has the advantage of being able to run straight, turn corners, be used indoors or outdoors and has a good grip surface that is more comfortable than conventional surfaces. It can be used as a temporary solution where a permanent ramp is not viable and is easily dismantled to be reused again and again.

If a disabled person relies on a wheelchair then automatic gates and garage doors which open remotely is a big help. Cars or vans used for transporting electric scooters are usually specially adapted vehicles with ramps or lifts to allow the mobility scooter to be loaded up. Sometime cars may have to be adapted to allow for the lack of functioning of particular limbs. My husband cannot manage the foot pedal movement required for gear changing so we have switched to an automatic car to enable him to still drive.

Finding the perfect medical mobility scooter you need is essential when making such an essential purchase.

There is a huge range of mobility scooters available both new and second hand. The mobility scooter is mostly a four wheeled vehicle which travels between four and eight miles an hour. However for the electric scooter there seems to be more three wheeled versions which travel at a maximum of six miles per hour. The speed is determined on the weather, the terrain and riders weight. A three wheeled scooter is inherently less stable and unless greater manoeuvrability is required it is better to get the four wheeled variety. Some scooters can be completely folded up to go into the boot of a car. The scooter usually has a chair with arms mounted over the battery enclosure with handlebars like a bike for turning and controls in reach of the hands. They are very easy to operate and comfortable to ride. The chairs vary with the amount of padding and enclosed back, usually the more expensive the more padding there is.

As well as the open versions of mobility scooters there are enclosed ones to protect the passenger from rain and wind. These come with lights, windscreen wipers, full suspension, mirrors and lockable doors as with a car and can cover larger distances. I have seen them in my local area travelling along the road rather than on the pavement.

Home Remote Controls

Where an individual is physically unable to get about inside or outside the home the use of remote controls is a valuable aid. Being able to manage and operate your entertainment centre remotely is only one of the possibilities. The availability of remote controls for opening and closing of blinds and curtains, switches for electrical equipment such as ovens, lights, cooking appliance and washing machines, is a boon. For people who cannot easily answer the door there is a keyless door entry system designed to fit most latch locks which enable the elderly, the disabled and partially sighted who have difficulty using keys, to manage their security remotely.

One story I read in the paper a few weeks ago was of a young man who was so obese, in the region of forty stone, that he could not move out of his bed. He had an entertainment centre in his room remotely controlled and he ordered food online to be delivered to his house. There were three healthcare workers in attendance at all times to turn him in bed and see to his bodily needs; as well as people to prepare for him the food he had ordered. He was waiting for a stomach operation to staple his stomach together to reduce his intake of food. And all this was paid for by the tax payer. My feeling was that if there was no one to take such good care of him he would soon lose weight because he would not be able to get about and eat all that food.

Having read that story I question the value of having remote controls so easily available, because the forced activity of getting up and out of your chair to change channels is at least exercise to keep your circulation going. However for people who cannot move around easily then remote controls are a boon I am sure.

Conclusion

For the people who have been born with a physical disability, may never know what it is like to be completely mobile and they may forever yearn to live an ordinary life. For those who were once completely functional, when they become disabled they have to come to terms with their loss as well as face up to their own mortality. If the time comes when you are no longer able to do all the things you used to do, then be sure there are many imaginative devices to help you preserve as much self-sufficiency as possible.

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