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e-Book on Russian Women (Part 1) by: Annas Agency® Introduction It is of course wonderful to be writing this second edition of my first book. The first edition, has many clients will remember, was written when we where a much smaller organisation operating for a small pool of clients in South Africa, Australia, Britain and the North Eastern USA. There have of course been significant changes since then. We are of course, no longer the same agency we were. Annas Agency® is now a thriving commercial enterprise. We are no longer the small agency we once were In 2003 USB commissioned a case study to understand our success in the market. They identified many reasons why we are so successful, but the main reason is clear ' 'Superior customer service at all times'. If you visit our Investor relations and look at the section on brand guidelines, it is easy to see that we live by this simple premise. We believe, if it not helping the customer, we will not doing it. The other critical success factors highlighted in the study include: We are recognised around the world the world as experts in this industry. We the only agency continuously working with elite law enforcement agencies to police this industry and protect consumers In the case of South Africa, we striving to draft legislation which will protect clients and isolate fraudulent agencies 'Superior customer care at all times' ' we are the only agency to operate along a code of conduct and offer full refunds to customers. We received three awards in 2003; the Brent Award for Customer Care, the Strategos.com Ethics in Business Award and the ARMA Agency of the Year award. Owners of the Miss Russia World® event thereby giving us access to the most beautiful and sought-after Russian women in the world. This international beauty spectacular will be broadcast worldwide from the Lost City at Sun City in South Africa. The winner will go on to represent various charitable causes in the CIS Investor Relations ' We manage our business as a business. Our investor relations' page gives investors and potential investors access to key performance data. Our annual results are audited. Brand Equity ' The Anna Reddy® brand name is associated with names such as NYC6th, Feminin, McCarthy Group and Trinity Entertainment. Our brand is managed via strict brand guidelines. Strong customer focused western management team including, a former management consultant from one of the worlds largest consulting firms, a former executive from one of the worlds largest oil companies, a successful entrepreneur in the fields of strategy and energy, and a professional Russian singer and pianist Co-founders of the Association of Russian Marriage Agencies (ARMA) ' a globally recognised authority on regulating the Russian Marriage agency industry. ARMA provides guidelines for all members agencies and is the ONLY such association. All member's operate along a code of conduct which protects customers. To verify the authenticity of ARMA please feel free to contact South Africa's Directorate of Public Prosecution on www.ndpp.org.za, which has links to Interpol. Founder of the Anti-Trafficking-Movement ' a movement, which educates women about the dangers of dealing with un-ethical agencies and the potential dangers thereof. This movement strives to introduce sought-after women to sincere men from around the world. Reality TV ' In collaboration with Trinity Entertainment®, a new reality will be launched in the summer of 2004 which will follow one man has he tries to find his destiny in Russia. If the man is successful winning the heart of his women, the will receive a designer wedding, house in the state of their choice and a car. The event is fully sponsored. The show will be broadcast live both on satellite and via the web. Diary of Natalia Smirnova ' Natalia is an actual woman in our catalogue. Everyday she sends us a copy of her diary, which we publish on our site. Every week, our resident psychologist provides commentary about the diary. This gives clients an unparalleled understanding to what Russian women need, want and feel during this process. Marriage Support ' We provide marriage support in the form of wedding advice, free recipes for women and wedding planning services. Media Relations ' We are the only agency to have developed a detailed understanding of the Russian Marriage Agency industry via a series of commissioned studies. Our research is used by most major government and media departments Cleary our organisation has grown very large. However I still manage the most important part of the company - customer care. The other principals manage the other parts of the business, but to me, customer care is our organisation. I learned this from the famous Sam Walton. He believed that no matter how successful one becomes, ONE MUST ALWAYS KEEP THE CLOSEST POSSIBLE CONTACT WITH OUR CLIENTS. Raymond Ackermann also said the same thing in his famous book. It is true. I do not believe in hiring people to answer phones. There is nothing more important than speaking to a customer. Even though we have grown so large, we do not forget the people who took us to the top ' Our customers. It is for you we run this business and for you who we will strive to deliver outstanding service. Even though it is now 2 years since we started, I always like to talk about the beginning and the values we have kept from those early days. I remember when I first met my husband's friends. The conversation soon moved to where we had met and how lucky we where. My husband told me the next day the office conversation dealt solely with me and how wonderful I was. Anyway a few of his friends thought it would be a great idea to meet someone kind like me. These were sincere and kind men so we saw no reason in trying to help them. Since we did not know much about Russian Dating agencies we simply provided a few names we knew. This was over two years ago. The first friend lost almost $200 to an agency, which took his money and never bothered to work with him. The other friend also lost money but went through such a long process he stopped trying for almost a year. The other friend pointed out that all information on the internet was so false that men were being duped into wasting their money. Information sites, which claimed to provide the facts actually provided opinions and subjective 'analysis' of what was happening. The embarrassment of being the sole reason for these aborted attempts was reason enough to try to help them. We first needed to put together a 'portrait' of a RW and then find some information which could help his friends. This is where this book started. Without knowing it at the time we started a very exclusive match-making service for just three clients. We are happy to say that we were eventually succeeded in finding partners for each man. We will not lie and say this was an easy process. It was long and difficult. But the news of our success spread and we were soon getting requests from friends of friends. We are happy to say that the first 3 couples are now happily married and 2 have a child. Before long my personal attempts to find a career were postponed indefinitely as my impromptu agency took off the ground. Anyone who has ever been to South Africa will understand how many close ties the country shares with Britain and Australia. Before long this so-called 'friend-of-a-friend' network brought in business from Australia and the UK. Since most of the men were from my husband's social circle they tended to be executives and we were able to offer them fairly tailored services. Things really changed for us when a major Western mens sports magazine decided to do a piece on young executives lives out of the office. We were asked to come in and do an interview. The image that always stays in my head is the look of utter surprise when the reporter saw how young we were. He had always had the stereotype that 'Older men married young Russian women'. My husband and I young. At this moment we realised the how many lives we could change. It would be fair to say 'Annas Agency®' was born on this day. In our effort to really help as many women and men as possible, we have tried to create a unique agency. Every agency posts subjective 'research' which is really an advertisement for their business. Every agency claims to be the best on the internet. Every agency claims to have '5000 of the most beautiful women'. And every agency is not playing according to any industry rules. In late '2003
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