Dare to dream !

Customers love convenience and hate problems. They engage your business because they are hoping you will help them with their problems, and not because they think your business can give them more problems. After all, they are paying you for that…I’ve yet to hear anyone who actually pays someone to give more problems.

That’s why if your business is not helping the customers to fix their problems…then you should really start to be afraid of losing them. And if your business is actually giving customers more problems than they already have, then forget about “you should really start now”…instead, it should be “you MUST change your business now”. Otherwise, you will lose your customers. No doubt about that.

***** Beginning of rant *****

And this was what happened to me the other day. I went to Best Denki @ KLCC to shop for my company’s annual dinner lucky draw prizes. I was there for 10 minutes, and nobody actually came forward to ask me whether I need any help. I then approached one of the employees there after running out of patience.

Me : Hi, I actually need some help here.

Employee : Yes sir, how can I help you?

Me : I need someone to serve me. I’ve been waiting here for 10 minutes.

Employee : Sorry sir. What do you need? Maybe I can help.

Me : Ok, I have RM xxxx budget for my company’s annual dinner. I need like 25-30 items, and here’s the breakdown of the estimation.

Employee : Hmmmm.

Me : So for one of the prizes, I need a 32 inch LCD TV. Also, if there’s any other item which can give me more free stuff, even better.

Employee : Okay…I will have to look around. Not very sure.

Me : Also, I will need a digital camera. Do you have any camera to suggest?

Employee : Oh, I’m not in-charged of camera. I’m only in-charged of the TV and the theater system. I can direct you to the person in-charged in the camera department.

…… he then showed me to the camera guy, and disappeared….forever. The same thing happened few times, I was being passed from one person-in-charged to another… and from what I heard from them, all the departments are independent from one another and there’s no cooperation whatsoever. If I were to buy a camera, and a TV, I will have to list down the items by myself and get the best price by myself, and finally, get the final list of items to try and get for more discounts from the store manager.

What’s the difference then, if I were to just go to Low Yat and buy the items separately, rather than buying everything under one shop? The purpose of shops such as Best Denki is to make it convenient for customers to get everything in a single place. I think they got their direction and objective completely wrong.

Of course, I became quite pissed off with the service (and near to 0% discount) and left the store. Today, I went to Harvey Norman to look for the sales guy I know and he settled everything for me. I just told him, I’ve shortlisted few items and I need a camera, an IPOD, this n that, and total up to so and so many items, and I only have this budget. Suggest to me what can I get and which one is actually better than the other. And also give me the best price possible. When I’ve shortlisted everything, I told him to try to discount a bit further so that I can fit few more items in. And he did it after a quick check with the system.

The entire ordeal lasted only for around 2 hours. And the discount was very good.

***** End of rant *****

I settled all my needs in a single place, without any fuss. Problem solved, no hassle and convenient for me. This is how such businesses should be run.

So the next time you want to start a business (or planning what to do with your business), think for the customers. Does your business exist to help them fix problems, or to give them more problems? Erm…if it is latter, then you better close down your business. If it is the former, then you should ensure your business IS practicing the right model – the model which will make your customers happy (fix their problems using hassle-free methods).