Our arrival was just over twelve hours late. With a wind chill well into double digits below zero and the snow falling so heavily the windshield wipers could barely keep the windshield clear. The driver guided the limo under the heated portico in front of the resort. Learning my lesson many years ago, it is my practice to arrive no less than 24 hours in advance of a speaking engagement, and today that practice paid off handsomely. Although it was close to 1:00 am, there was still time to settle in and relax before my late morning presentation. That is, if my reservation had not been given away, as some hotels have a practice of doing.

The doors opened automatically and an attentive young man graciously offered a warm welcome, took charge of my overnight bag, and led me to the reception desk while inquiring how my day had been thus far. As we approached the desk a clerk tendered a sincere welcome and stated, You must be Mr. Wisner. Since there was only one room available and one reservation that had not arrived, it was a pretty good guess that I belonged to it. The warmth of the building was only exceeded by the warm welcome the staff afforded me. I felt more than welcomed, but I felt like family.

The first step in providing delightful customer service is to Relate to the customer. Both of the resort personnel in the aforementioned story began to build rapport the instant they made eye contact with me. They were building a relationship with me.

Some sales people have a natural ability to relate to others. Many sales people know the importance of relating to their customers and therefore focus on developing the relationship. All too few are exceptionally gifted in relating to their customers. Here are some tips to relate to your customers:

Use their name as often as is comfortable. Dale Carnegie said; The sweetest sound in the world is a persons own name. Dont get carried away with this technique. Overuse of a persons name can be annoying.
Make appropriate eye contact. Whenever talking to a client, look her in the eyes. If you find yourself looking out windows or at other distraction, the customer is likely to feel uncomfortable or that you dont care about them.
Be sure they are comfortable. If your customer is not comfortable, they will not be as apt to give you their full attention.
Get them to say yes. The best way to a positive relationship is to be positive. Ask your buyer questions that will elicit a yes from him.
Treat them like they are important because they are. Customers are a sales persons life. Treat every customer as a valued customer. The reason most buyers stay with a supplier is, because they care.
Smile. Have a great attitude. If you have a positive attitude, your customer is more prone to having an upbeat attitude. Positive attitudes or just like smiles. The more you give it away, the more you get in return.
Focus on what they are saying. The reason most people cant remember the name of a person they just met is because they were not listening to what was being said. They were thinking about what they were going to say in response. There will be more on listening in Part 2 of this series.

The best way to deliver delightful customer service is to relate to your customer. As Sir James Barrie said; Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves. When beginning an interchange with a customer, first focus on building the relationship. Dont even think about your needs. Simply focus on how you relate to them. In my years of travel, most of the personnel working the check-in counter are very personable and approachable. They were good enough. Few have displayed the ability, or desire, to relate to me and truly care about how my day was progressing. Being good enough is never enough when it comes to offering delightful customer service.

The people, who welcomed me into this resort at the foot of Pikes Peak, related to me in a way that made me feel comfortable and welcomed. Think about situations wherein you have experienced delightful customer service. Then think about how the sales person related to you. How do you relate to your customers? Do they think you care about them? Would they say you have a great attitude? Would they say you provide delightful customer service?

Terry Wisner, the "Partnering Pro," International Speaker, Consultant, and author, shares his experience and knowledge through energetic, entertaining, and enlghtening presentations and seminars. Do you want to experience improvement in; Customer Service, Teamwork, Leadership Skills, Communication Skills, or simply Self-Improvement? Then, visit Terry at http://www.terrywisner.com or http://www.p2s.us and learn more about Partnering and how it can help you and your organization succeed.

Astrology is the science of the planets and stars and it has been used by different societies to explore the relationship between human beings and the universe since time immemorial. It gives us an insight into how the universe and the planetary positions influence our lives. This is possible through the study of horoscope or a birth star chart. The time of birth is the starting point of anybodys life and so it is of paramount importance to get the time of birth recorded accurately. The birth sign indicates the position of the sun during your birth. This sign along with other signs like the Ascendant, Moon sign and signs of other planets influence your deep spiritual growth, energies and also your character. So it is of paramount importance to get your birth time right so that astrologers can read your horoscope precisely. It is really needless to say that without accurate birth time, very few astrologers could succeed properly in their prophecy.

So, when was I born? Real astrology starts from here. But most often than not, people seldom get a totally correct birth time. The time keeping during the birth process often is neglected (naturally!), and there are many other sources of errors, too. Recorded birth times may be incorrect by 10 and more minutes. To be really sure, you require a mathematical correction of your birth time. But how to get your birth time correct to the exact second? Vedic astrologers calculate the birth time scientifically. This service is based on the dates of major life events. The result is accurate to the second and can be used in any horoscope or any individual astrology chart. Many astrologers recommend this rectification service.

Today, there are probably only five persons in the world who are able to calculate the exact birth time back to 1 second accuracy. That is a unique ability and Vedic astrology cannot be done completely accurately and properly without having the totally accurate birth time including hour, minutes and seconds. The Vedic knowledge is more than 5000 years old and there are many important informations found in the original Sanskrit scripts of Astrology. The secret formula of birth time calculation has been rediscovered in the texts of the Vedic sage Parashara. According to him, Vedic Astrology is a science of ultimate precision and every physical atom is guided by astrological law.

Astrology and horoscope has been made accessible online by a famous astrologer called Dr. Heinz Krug through his website birthtime (dot) info. He is one of those rare five astrologers in the world who can correctly determine the birthtime of any person to the exact second. So, one does not have to toil hard to find a good astrologer because now he or she can have the correct birthtime with a mouse click from the comfort of home. It is fairly simple for the clients. You would merely fill in a form with dates of your major life events and send it through the website. And your data will be sent on time. What's morethe site also offers money back guarantee.

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Theme parties are always great fun for any child's birthday party.

Does your child have a favorite movie, book, TV show, favorite character, or maybe your child likes animals or has a favorite sport or past time. Well how about using one of your child's favorites as the theme for their birthday party.

Planning Your Party

If your child is old enough, sit down with them and ask what kind of theme they'd like for their party. Then, keeping your budget in mind, as well as space limitations and preparation time, choose a theme and start making plans.

Once you've decided on a theme for your child's birthday party, you'll find that everything begins to fall right in place.

Kid Birthday Party Invitations

You and your child will have lots of fun putting together a creative invitation for their party.

When wording your invitation, try getting into your theme and have some fun. Use words and phrases that fit your theme.

If you're having a Princess birthday party, you might make it a "Royal Invitation from the King and Queen."

For a Pirate birthday party, write your invitation on a piece of brown paper bag crumpled up to look like old parchment. Draw a map to your house and have "X" mark the spot. Then write something like this, "Aaarrrhh, we be celebratin the birthday of Captain (your child's first and last name) and ye be invited."

Interactive invitations are lots of fun and help to get your invited guests involved in your theme right away.

For a Dinosaur birthday party you can send along a small box with a small plastic dinosaur "buried" in glacial ice (wrapped in cotton). Then the recipient can "dig up" the dinosaur.

For a Princess birthday party you could have your invitation rolled up, tied with a purple ribbon and hand delivered by someone in appropriate costume.

Be creative and have fun with your invitation. Remember, it's the first impression your guests will have of your up-coming party. Get them excited so they can hardly wait!

Kid Birthday Party Decorating Ideas

With your theme in mind, you can keep your decorations simple by using balloons and streamers and by putting pictures on your walls that you've cut from magazines.

Or you can be a little more creative by turning your living room into your theme location.

For a Dinosaur birthday party put blue and white helium filled balloons on your ceiling to form a sky with clouds. Then hang dark brown, light brown, green and orange streamers from the ceiling to the floor to make a jungle. Wrap some of the streamers together to make your jungle thicker.

For a Princess birthday party create a special throne using a chair and decorating it with bright red and purple balloons and streamers. And maybe even use a colorful pillow.

Again, be creative and have fun.

Kid Birthday Party Game Ideas

Most party games can be slightly modified to fit your theme. For a Blue's Clues birthday party Pin the Tail on the Donkey can become "pin the tail on Blue."

For a Princess party, Musical Chairs becomes "The Royal Musical Ball" and you can play appropriate music.

And speaking of music, music that is appropriate to your theme is perfect to use during your games. Simply start a game when your music starts. You can easily find CDs for most movies and TV shows.

Kid Birthday Cakes

There are a lot of great recipes available for theme birthday cakes, or you can easily pick up a frosted cake then add "edible cake toppers" for your theme.

Using edible cake toppers is a great way to create a colorful, professional looking theme cake for your child's birthday.

Kid Birthday Party Food Ideas

If you're serving food or snacks, keep your theme in mind and be creative.

For a Princess birthday party, serve finger sandwiches, candy sushi, royal colored jelly beans, grapes, sparkling apple or grape juice or a "royal punch."

For an Incredibles birthday party, label your food. Ketchup becomes "super sauce", carrot sticks become "energy sticks" and you can even have a mini "hero sandwich."

If you're using an underwater theme like Finding Nemo, serve "peanut butter & jellyfish" sandwiches, Gold Fish crackers and "tuna fish" sandwiches.

Be Creative

Even with a limited budget you can be creative and come up with lots of fun kid birthday party ideas... Put just a little effort into your plans and your child will fondly remember this birthday party for years to come.

And don't forget to take lots of pictures and shoot lots of video of everyone having fun.

Mike Dougherty "Grandpa Mike" has lots of experience putting together successful birthday parties for his children and grandchildren. For more information take a look at http://fun-kid-birthday-parties.com you'll be glad you did.