Nice People 13: Nice Save

Generali

chewmylegoff wrote: »

Enjoyed a 3 hour breast feeding lecture tonight. It was thrilling.

The highlight was the chocolate hobnobs.

Don't make my mistake and ask if it's okay to use formula. They don't like heretics at the NCT.

None of the class wanted to speak to me after that.

chewmylegoff

vivatifosi wrote: »

I've never understood why the first rule of selling... that it is generally cheaper to retain customers than attract new ones, doesn't seem to apply to insurance or utilities.

Surely it's only cheaper to keep existing customers when they have to continually make proactive purchase decisions to remain your customer.

Insurance, bank accounts, mobile phones, sky TV, broadband - existing customers are a lazy cash cow who will rarely bother to switch to save money so you try to fleece them once you have them on the hook. Most people seem willing to tolerate surprising levels of abuse from e.g. their bank before even considering switching because it's perceived to be a lot of hassle to change.

When you go to buy groceries, for instance, you are forced to make a decision when you leave the house as to where you will shop. You cannot just keep paying the direct debit and receiving the same product which you don't really like but which provides your basic needs. (Well I suppose you kind of can if you do on line deliveries but anyway...)

silvercar

Locket with photo of OH's maternal Grandfather in as young man. Short length of 9ct gold chain. Norwegian silver brooch of a viking type beast. Silver cigarette case that is totally black - will have to take cleaner to that I think! Other bits will go off to Oxfam, pretty but you can't keep everything! I'm going to keep the Tiffany bag though - might take photo tomorrow if get time - it's just a bit of fun!

Sounds a nice clutch full. There is an old style way of cleaning silver. Something to do with tin foil and baking soda. I have a sonic cleaner and a silver cloth that works quickly.

Please do post a pic of the tiffany bag.

CKhalvashi

Doozergirl wrote: »

GDB knows someone who designs seat colourways. He could put you in touch!

I'll mention it next month, at shareholders meeting.

We're trying to do as much as possible domestically (in Georgia) at the moment, and whilst numbers and systems are my strong point, design certainly isn't.

We can't do a lot with the final design until the main numbers are thrashed out yet, as whilst we're very interested in the UAC product, the whole project is still dependent on favourable finance lease terms, compliant with Georgian tax law. The manufacturer needs sales at the moment just as much as their product is the best there is from a financial PoV, so there are huge bargaining points to be had on both sides.

With the actual business plan, for most of it the numbers are there (although historic data), and for several of the destinations it's going to be a case of throwing an aircraft on a route twice a week and seeing what happens, before varying days/times as per customer feedback.

Around 35% of the airlines cost of a return flight from London is APD, which makes reducing other costs vital if we're to compete long-term with traditional holiday destinations like Spain and Turkey. Being just 190nmi from band A isn't so comforting, too.

CKhalvashi

chewmylegoff wrote: »

Surely it's only cheaper to keep existing customers when they have to continually make proactive purchase decisions to remain your customer.

I'd agree with this.

This is the basis on taxi apps; once your payment details are stored and as long as the prices stay reasonable, you're looking at 2 clicks and your taxi is there. This is also the basis for providing a taxi app for customers, as repeat business was up by some 60%, as people aren't just jumping off a train and hoping a taxi is there now, they're proactively booking it on the train, paying by card (automatic when set up) and they know it's there when they arrive.

Insurance, bank accounts, mobile phones, sky TV, broadband - existing customers are a lazy cash cow who will rarely bother to switch to save money so you try to fleece them once you have them on the hook. Most people seem willing to tolerate surprising levels of abuse from e.g. their bank before even considering switching because it's perceived to be a lot of hassle to change.

I'm guilty of this on the bank account, purely because the business banking is all with HSBC and I don't want to change it (their customer service is excellent for a start). My personal savings are elsewhere, as their rates are rubbish.

With everything else, I'll call at the end of the deal after researching the market and demand a discount. If this is not granted at the time, retentions usually have the problem sorted and relevent discounts applied, even though I had no real intention of switching in the first place.

When you go to buy groceries, for instance, you are forced to make a decision when you leave the house as to where you will shop. You cannot just keep paying the direct debit and receiving the same product which you don't really like but which provides your basic needs. (Well I suppose you kind of can if you do on line deliveries but anyway...)

With online deliveries, I proactively order everything, after seeing what is on offer in that particular store in that week.

It's usually Tesco, but if there are new customer offers, I will use elsewhere.

chewmylegoff

Generali wrote: »

Don't make my mistake and ask if it's okay to use formula. They don't like heretics at the NCT.

None of the class wanted to speak to me after that.

I asked what the point of religiously sterilising everything that goes near the baby was if you weren't going to also sterilise the mother's nipples but didn't get a satisfactory answer.

Our NCT 'teacher' is ok actually - I don't think she really gives a toss about what anyone does. I expect she just likes talking about baby stuff with people. She has been very balanced and just tells you to try stuff and stick with whatever works.

Tonight was a specialist "breast feeding co-ordinator" who was a bit annoying in terms of style but not too pushy and generally it was all ok but I thought rather pointless.

My main gripe is that the NCT in general appears to think that the word baby is not allowed to be combined with an article. "When washing baby, make sure you do x". It's not an effing character in dirty dancing. THE BABY. T...H...E!

Generali

chewmylegoff wrote: »

I asked what the point of religious sterilising everything the goes near the baby was if you weren't going to also sterilise the mother's nipples but didn't get a satisfactory answer.

Our NCT 'teacher' is ok actually - I don't think she really gives a toss about what anyone does. I expect she just likes talking about baby stuff with people. She has been very balanced and just tells you to try stuff and stick with whatever works.

Tonight was a specialist "breast feeding co-ordinator" who was a bit annoying in terms of style but not too pushy and generally it was all ok but I thought rather pointless.

My main gripe is that the NCT in general appears to think that the word baby is not allowed to be combined with an article. "When washing baby, make sure you do x". It's not an effing character in dirty dancing. THE BABY. T...H...E!

LOL yes, ours used to do that to. It's incredibly irritating.

Our teacher was very firmly in the knit-your-own-yogurt-using-your-leg-hairs camp. She was Californian but frankly was too left wing for Caledonia let alone the US.

I suspect that she got her politics free with a copy of the Guardian one Bank Holiday weekend.

CKhalvashi

chewmylegoff wrote: »

I asked what the point of religiously sterilising everything that goes near the baby was if you weren't going to also sterilise the mother's nipples but didn't get a satisfactory answer.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Brilliant!

zagubov

chewmylegoff wrote: »

I asked what the point of religiously sterilising everything that goes near the baby was if you weren't going to also sterilise the mother's nipples but didn't get a satisfactory answer.

Our NCT 'teacher' is ok actually - I don't think she really gives a toss about what anyone does. I expect she just likes talking about baby stuff with people. She has been very balanced and just tells you to try stuff and stick with whatever works.

Tonight was a specialist "breast feeding co-ordinator" who was a bit annoying in terms of style but not too pushy and generally it was all ok but I thought rather pointless.

My main gripe is that the NCT in general appears to think that the word baby is not allowed to be combined with an article. "When washing baby, make sure you do x". It's not an effing character in dirty dancing. THE BABY. T...H...E!

Mothers milk contains specific sugars that allow the baby to be colonised by benign bacteria picked up from the mum. I have to say "the baby", can't bring myself to say "baby".

You've got a science degree, you could try to get them using the proper scientific term - the neonate.

lostinrates

silvercar wrote: »

Sounds a nice clutch full. There is an old style way of cleaning silver. Something to do with tin foil and baking soda. I have a sonic cleaner and a silver cloth that works quickly.

Please do post a pic of the tiffany bag.

That's how I clean my silver. Its not perfect but its bloody quick.