Businesses exist to help customers with their problems, and not giving them more problems than they already have. This may seem like a simple theory which anyone can tell if they bother to use common sense, and yet it is something that most businesses, big and small, failed to do.

For example, a customer needs to claim for a medical fee. It would help if the business concerned can make the entire process of approving the claim as simple as possible. Things like 12 hours or even 24 hours approval certain help. Imagine what would happen if the claim process is 1 month long and the customer is required to provide not only photocopied receipts but also original ones, handed to the company’s office by the customer himself. To make things worse, the company’s offices don’t operate on weekends.

Talk about helpful customer service

Another example, a customer recently lost his wallet to a robber. He called company A to cancel all his cards, and also to ask for an insurance claim (to cover the cost of the card replacement). Company A said yes, it can be done. The customer was relieved and thanked company A for it. Few weeks later, the claim was rejected. Why? Because the customer did not provide the original supporting documents (including the official bank statement which is required to cover the cost of the lost ATM card – worth RM 12). The customer was furious because he still could not get his credit cards back and he, who has been the customer for 5 years, was forced to show so many documents for something worth RM 12. He called the company up, scolded them and cancelled the membership on the spot. The company lost a very loyal customer who used to spread the good words about this company to his friends.

The above 2 examples, I believe, might have been experienced by many of you before. When we’re in trouble, we expect the companies which we’ve paid to help us, to…well…help us. Instead, what we get is processes and unnecessary procedures, which only give us more headaches than help. I must admit that it’s not wrong for these businesses to have processes and procedures, but they need to abstract them from the customers and not troubling them.

Look, if your business is giving me more headache than helping me, then I will just go to another business and you most probably won’t see me AND my friends. End of story.

It's important to network with other people

People always say that it is important to have good contacts during good and bad times. And I believe so. After my recent experience, I’ve realized that having a good list of contacts is a very important asset. A priceless asset.

After the announcement from the bosses, I immediately sent out SMSes and Instant Messenger messages (YM, MSN, etc) to my contacts that I need help and maybe ideas. I’m glad that a lot of them have replied me with kind messages and some offer to keep a lookout for opportunities for me, and some even told me which company is hiring.

And for those who prefer to keep to themselves (some geniuses are like that), maybe it’s time for you to get to know more people and spread your network.

Last but not least, a big thank you to every single one of you who have offered to help out. Whatever the outcome, I’m just glad that most of you have responded to my ‘SOS’ message.

I’m a big Japanese anime fan and it all started when I was a little boy. My father’s friend owned a video shop and he lent me a lot of Dragonball videos for free. And it all started from there.

20 years later, the name Dragonball is still very popular in the world of anime and maybe that is why someone came out with an idea – “Why not make a REAL Dragonball movie?!”

Thus, the result is the movie Dragonball :Evolution.

After watching the trailers, my only response – I kept laughing as if this action movie has become a comedy. I can go on and on about why this should not be made into a Dragonball movie….but well, it’s better if you go find it out yourselves. If you’re a Dragonball fan, you’ll either feel disgusted or amused.

Son Goku and Bulma - they do look pretty funny

Anyway, what I intend to say here is that it is never easy to change something which other people have strong feelings on. This movie is one example. There are millions of Dragonball fans worldwide and all of them know what Dragonball is and all the special feelings associated with the franchise – Son Goku is a Japanese! And and Bulma is a Japanese also!! And Master Roshi is supposed to be bald! To change such feelings is never easy and most of the time will backfire.

Another example is KFC. KFC is famous for fried chicken but I recall that few years ago, they tried to be creative and came out with Fish burger. It was a total failure. Same goes for Nandos, the so-called grilled chicken specialist. I’ve tried to grilled fish and my friend tried to grilled beef before……..they sux. Actually, those things are not really THAT bad if they are being sold by other people. The thing here is that, our mindset has been set, and the feelings associated with these businesses have been set – Nandos for SPICY grilled chicken, Kenny Rogers for HEALTHY grilled chicken, Burger King for large burgers, Dragonball for spiky-haired guys that can fly around in the sky and can change hair color at will, etc.

From here, you can see that there are feelings which we associate with certain names….some ever since our childhood days. That is why it’s never easy to change the feelings associated with a famous brand name. It’s pretty risky too because if you can do it very well (like Transformers…which actually didn’t really change THAT much. They’re still robots…not human), then your product/work will be very popular but if you don’t do it well……….it’ll become a laughing stock and expect millions of hardcore fans to boycott you before your product even got launched.

If you are going to change these feelings…..you better be prepared and make sure you have a well-thought plan. 

Chinese New Year will soon be over at the time of this writing. I still remember that many years ago, when I was still a young boy (ok..it’s not really THAT many years ago), my friends and I used to send Chinese New Year greeting cards to each other. Some of those cards were from outer space abroad while others were from my schoolmates. It was a very nice and heart-warming thing for me since I was able to read all those nicely written cards….one by one. I particularly fancied those cards which were from girls have lots of written content.

Why?

Because, to me, those cards were valuable - they showed sincerity because each was written (not typed)…and each required some time and efforts.

Coming back to the NOW, such greeting cards are no longer popular. Kids nowadays prefer to send e-cards or electronic greeting cards. It’s not entirely bad, since they’re saving a lot of trees. But to me, these cards lack sincerity. Well, they can basically copy paste the content to all those e-cards, or they can just send a single e-card to a multiple recipients.

Can this be considered sincere?

For businesses, the traditional greeting cards are still being used, but nearly all of them are been printed and not hand-written. This does improve readability since you will be surprised at how poor some people’s handwriting is. But again, to me, this lacks sincerity since one can easily create tonnes of those cards as long as one has $$. Maybe a good combination is to have customized messages printed on each of the card.

Similarly, when you send an email to a few people (whether you’re inviting them for a dinner, or proposing a business deal, or trying to sell them your products), a “standard” content will always sound and look not-so-nice and thus, inefficient. However, a customized content which is suitable for that particular recipient, will be much more effective.

Let’s face it, everyone prefers (and wants) to deal with people who are sincere. If you are sending me emails which are not unique at all, I seriously would not pay much attention.

Oh, and don’t think you can cheat people by trying to make it as unique as possible. Because some people WILL know if the email is not sincere…and you wouldn’t want them to know that.

That’s why it’s always better to spend some time and efforts to show your sincerity. Remember, in a world where competition is stiff….being sincere will help you a lot.

The other day, I drove pass Shell station and my friends started discussing which company has the better fuel – Shell, Mobil, Caltex or Esso (Petronas is not applicable)? A lot of them said Shell because it can actually last longer. And everyone believes so.

Then I asked them. Did they actually try that out or prove that theory/belief?

Nope. None of them did.

Honestly speaking, I’m one of those Shell supporters because my bro-in-law told me that Shell can actually last longer. From where he heard that from, I’ve no idea.

Well, that’s the power of word-of-mouth. If someone says you’re good, a lot of people will believe you are especially if it is very difficult or troublesome to prove otherwise. If someone says Shell is good, a lot of people will not be bothered to test it out by driving their car out…pump using Shell’s fuel….and go around to see how far they can go. It’ll be too troublesome and time consuming for us. Also, that is not our job…that’s the job of the folks from Mythbusters.

So if you’re planning to come out with a product, try to make it a good one or at least an OKAY one…but make everyone believes it’s good. Also, make sure it’s not easy to prove that your product is actually not that OKAY. People will be too lazy to prove your product is not OKAY.

Last but not least, never underestimate the power of word-of-mouth. It can either be your best ally in marketing…or your worst foe.