November 14, 2008

The key principle points that I came across were…

1. Negative consequences sometimes change behavior, but they do not change attitude.

2. Only positive reinforcement strategies produce long-term attitudinal change.

3. Negative consequences do not improve the behavior of impulsive children and frequently increase the frequency and intensity of misbehavior.

4. Cognitive control of behavior can be learned through the use of appropriate positive reinforcement systems.

5. Positive reinforcement systems must be incremental in nature such that the child can directly observe even small improvements in behavior.

6. You must always reinforce the final compliance with adult authority no matter how long it takes to get there.

Explanation is my next post!!!

October 13, 2008

The following are a few strategies, I have learned for writing complaint letters that are certain to get some action:

1. Get the name and postal address of a very senior person in the organization responsible for the product or service that you are complaining about.

Address the complaint letter to the senior person. This ensures a serious response.

2. Do not use an email. Emails are usually handled by customer service people hence getting a serious response is a doubt.

Use a formal written complaint letter and dispatch it using a postal / courier service. Such letters when they reach the senior most person’s office, triggers a bureaucratic process that ensures that the right people will see your letter, and will act on it.

3. Start the letter with a heading placed at the top of the page that indicates information such as the account number or the customer number or product number or any such service/product related details.

This simply makes it easy for the recipient to determine the actual file that holds your data/bills.

4. Make sure that the letter is not longer than one page, two at the most.

The only purpose of such complaint letters is to ensure that the recipient understands the point.

5. Draft the letter using a positive tone since its being written to a senior person.

6. The letter should include all the specific details that the recipient will require to solve the issue:

• Specific dates
• Time and place (if applicable)
• Names of people you dealt with in this regards

7. If the complaint refers to some more people who are in the loop, send them a copy of this letter. This makes sure that you will get some serious response.

8. End the with a paragraph that indicates that if your issues are not resolved/considered, you have no other option, but to choose another service provider. This means the Company will lose you as a customer which no company likes.

Lastly remember to follow-up by phone calls or e-mails after the letter is dispatched.