How many of us made the following mistakes before?

• Gave the wrong mailing address
• Gave the wrong phone number
• Gave the wrong e-mail account

The above information can be considered our personal information. Something that we SHOULD know. But i’m sure most of us have made at least one of the above mistakes…..i know, it’s considered a very careless mistakes but human beings are not perfect after all.

Today, i received 5-6 phone calls….sort of like my record in a single day. And guess what, 4 of them were wrong number. It was very very annoying and frustrating for me. I was working halfway, and then suddenly this guy called me and spoke to me in Malay, looking for someone called Aida or something. Then an auntie called… looking for his nephew or something in Hokkien ….and the worst of the all was to a male caller…looking for someone called DIANA when i was bathing halfway!

I still remember many years ago, people can become quite annoyed when they received letters which were not meant for them…but maybe their neighbors. Most were nice enough to pass the letters to the neighbors or back to the postman. But nowadays…most people live in condos and apartments….and most people would just leave the letters somewhere convenient for them if the address was quite far from their location.

And now, nearly everyone has a mobile phone. And it’s quite normal to get the wrong calls……or worse, prank calls. And mobile phones are always by our side……these prank calls can be quite annoying especially if you are busy with something.

So the next thing is e-mail. Wrong e-mail will just go into the junk folder. But even now, you can see that there are more and more spam mails here and there – and i consider chain e-mail as one of them. The good thing is….we can have multiple e-mail accounts…. but the bad thing is……… if the spammers hit our main e-mail account…things might get a little bit out of control soon. Oh, and imagine that you are those people who are always on the move ….carrying an Apple IPhone or PDA Phone…or worse..a Blackberry. I’m sure you will feel “amused” with the constant beeping of “new e-mail alerts”.

So the next time you give your information away…please give the correct one… in order to make other people the victims of your own carelessness.

I was watching a Singapore TV program on Astro channel AEC. It was about a famous chef from China, currently the owner of 2 large restaurants in Singapore. He became a famous chef at quite a young age.

What happened to him was one day, he prepared some of his best dishes for 3 food pundits (erm…i don’t know what’s the correct term for such individuals). The first and second complimented him for the food, but the third actually told him the rice should be softer, and the taste not as good, bla bla bla.

Do take note that the 3rd person was complaining about the food in a positive manner, rather than saying things like “The food sux” or “You’re a hopeless cook” or “How can a human being eat this?”

Of course, just like everyone else, the chef was pissed chef’s feeling was hurt quite badly….or maybe not his feelings but his ego. He flew back to China soon after that, only to have the third pundit called him up…and told him to get back to Singapore to become the chef of a new hotel.

Many years later, the same chef prepared a special meal for the old lady in order to thank her for what she said at that time. Those harsh words actually helped him to realize that he needed to improve further. Those words actually woke him up.

Nowadays, it’s very difficult for us to get an honest feedback from other people especially those in sales/marketing. People tend to give you bullshit and nonsense what is nice to hear….and to be honest, they are also giving you what you would like to hear. But those will not help you to improve more. They will definitely make you happier for a short period of time but that’s about it. Nothing more than that. The things which will make you improve more are those harsh words….which, sadly, are very very rare in this era.

Giving people what they want to hear might make them happy and feel more confident……..but that might also add fuel to their already egoistic nature. Giving people what is good for them, might hurt their confidence…..but if they are willing to let go of their ego, and understand the true meaning of the things you said…then i believe they can really go a long way. Because that’s how we improve – to know our own weaknesses, and to correct them.

I know it’s easier said than done….but no harm giving it a try. Hope it helps.

p/s……..i’ve talked something similar before this – When you’re doing things wrong, and nobody is telling you that.

Last Thursday, I woke up to a morning filled with dark and gloomy clouds. It certainly wasn’t a very pleasant morning to begin your day….well…for one, it was a very nice weather to continue sleeping.

After 30 minutes of preparation and 20 minutes of dozing off inside the bathroom, I started driving to the office.

10 minutes later, the sun suddenly appeared among the dark clouds, shining brightly. And surprisingly, I felt soooooo good. I’ve always loved morning sun, but I didn’t expect myself to be THAT happy. The sunlight actually brought a smile on my face.

And not for the first time in my life, I’m happy to be in this lovely world, experiencing the wonders of the world, and the wonders of life.

I’ve always believed in something – that we can choose how we feel at any particular moment. True, ups and downs are normal in life. But there will always be something….even if it may seem very small…unimportant…which will actually make you smile and brighten up your day ….and most importantly, make you feel good.

Think about it. What are the things that have made you smile lately? Is it the smile and laughter of a cute baby? or a stupid joke made by a friend of yours? or a silly behavior of politicians (oops)?

Hope it helps. Oh, and by the way, the sun disappeared soon after that and it was cloudy all day long.

Now 1 of our MB justified why he wanted to spend RM 3.43 Million to buy Mercedes E200 Kompressor cars and not using Proton Perdana cars.

http://www.nst.com.my/Thursday/Frontpage/2301531

What a joke! So the next time we know, so-and-so will justify why he/she needs to spend few millions to do something totally useless? How about using the millions to help the poor, to build facilities for the people and not to buy cars just because some other politicians have better cars? =_= I reall a bit “za dou” when I saw that news.

Well, honestly, Proton Perdana IS NOT a good car……it’s PROTON after all. It’s not so cost efficient…and it’s not cheap for a car that range (and a lot of “people” including those in our IRB office, don’t use proton cars. I only see cars which looked like HILUX / X-TRAIL / etc….. but why do they need such cars…i donno).

So if he HAS to use proton cars…….fine….that’s because it’s our national car. But if he has to buy new cars…why not go for Toyota Camry , Honda Accord or even Mazda 6…. there are soooooo many options for him to choose. Why must he goes for Mercedes?

And about the claim that politicians in city fly in helicopter……er….to be honest, i don’t see that much helicopters in the KL sky. I only know there will be sirens here and there during PEAK HOUR, asking us to move aside by our friendly traffic police.

As a result, poor souls like us…have to move INCHES from where we were…just to make few additional INCHES so our big shots can go through. =_=”"” Why don’t they choose a better time to travel? =_=

Last but not least……. amitabha…. no offence intended for anyone here.

Marketing Tips 101 – Fulfil the promises you made to your customers, and you will gain their loyalty.

Marketing Tips 102 – Good things travel fast via word of mouth…but bad things travel faster.

Last year, I’ve had this bad experience of dining in an Italian-based restaurant in Avenue K. It was my 2nd time eating there. The food was quite good, though a bit pricey. That was why i asked the waiter whether the previous discount was still valid – 30% for Citibank card holder. He said yes. So my friends and I sat down, ordered our food and eventually went to the counter to pay our bill.

Funny thing was…when I handed my Citibank card, the discount was only 10%. I asked the cashier to check properly since the other waiter told me it was 30%. So the cashier asked the waiter to come, and the waiter actually acted stupid and said no, he did not say that. My friend and I looked blankly at each other. And the cashier has this look on her face that I really hate – it’s as if I was trying to cheat her.

I’m not someone who becomes angry easily especially in public places…… but at that moment, i said loudly at the cashier and the waiter “If you said it wrongly, then you should apologize. I am OK with it. But you didn’t, and your expression is trying to say I lied. Sorry, THIS IS THE LAST TIME I COME HERE. And you don’t expect my friends and colleagues to come here too”.

I paid and walked off. Since that day, none of my friends go there anymore.

This is a classic example of customer relationship went wrong. What the waiter should have done was to apologize and things would not be as bad as it has become. But well….things like this do happen a lot…. such as the shop telling you if you buy A, you’ll get B for free……but in the end, they said there are some technical issues and decided to give you C instead.

People should really start learning the 2 marketing tips above – I’ve learnt them both from the legendary Seth Godin.