Friday, October 31, 2008

Customer Service Delight Or Disappointment?

I take my hat off to the taxi driver who took the initiative to install wireless modem in his vehicle. One action and he’s able to differentiate himself from the herd. He has transformed himself from a cab driver to a businessman.

He knows his target market well and what this specific group of people needs. He provides that need and hooks them. His customers are happy, and he’s happy.

But how many people can see beyond the investment he’s made? Not long ago we hear many noises complaining about the need to install seat belts that are eating up profits of small bus operators. Yet they fail to see that’s only a one-time investment, but the benefits from longer-term business and more referrals make them the ultimate winners at the end of the day.

Thinking 3 steps ahead of your customers, anticipate what want and provide for that need sounds like common sense and logical, yet in reality, it is not that commonly seen and experienced. That’s why that man has to be saluted for being so proactive and knowing how to tap into this group of business men who are truly time-starved.

If this is such a killer tactic, then why isn’t anyone doing this besides him? Are they only focused on their short-term issue of cost that they either didn’t see the long-term advantage; or they saw it but didn’t dare to do it because they fear that it won’t last and customers will flock away?

Perhaps this all boils down to one question: How hungry for business are they? I’m referring to all businesses and not taxi drivers.

Earlier, I brought my cable TV set-up box to a retailer near my home and was told that they have run out of stock. The shop assistant then offered to check for stocks at another outlet, and I was glad they have what I needed. But, I was to go there to get it myself.

I asked if they can bring it over to this outlet, and they said no because they were short of manpower. The man even told me that there is only one guy manning the shop. I gave him a look of disbelief as I knew there’s usually more than one person in the store. I voiced out my query and he felt that he had no choice but to call them again to request the stock transfer, only to be rejected a second time.

That’s it. I only had one option – go over to that outlet to get the box myself. They aren’t going to entertain a potential customer by providing a service. They’re simply telling me – take it or leave it. I left.

I doubt they’re hungry for business. Or maybe they aren’t earning a penny for extending such a service. Or maybe, they know they have the upper hand as I seem to be the one who’s desperate and not them. If this is the case, they could be right. So it all depends on how unhappy I am with them to decide if I’m going back to get the box when new stocks are in. 

I guess, when it comes to commodities, what wins customers over is customer service. The reason why I choose to buy a handset at a particular retail shop is not because it has a nicer set. It’s all the same, isn’t it? It’s because of their service.

Last night, I took a cab from Novotel Clarke Quay Hotel to Robertson Quay Hotel. Yes, laugh at my stupidity if you want for you’ll be totally forgiven for this. I’d like to hit myself too. It was only after I reached my destination then I knew how “near” these two places were. However, the taxi driver didn’t communicate this to me.

Because my sister and I were having sore feet from all the walking and searching, we decided to take a taxi. We ended up alighting at The Quayside. The taxi driver said he didn’t want to make one round, so he asked if he could drop us there, telling us the hotel is just next to it. I saw the sign reading “Gallery Hotel” and I repeated my destination. He said “yes, the two hotels are beside each other”. Fine, we alighted.

And we were lost.

After a few enquiries with passer-bys, bartenders and what-have-yous, more walking around and perspiration, we finally found the place. To my amazement, it was just across the river facing Novotel hotel. And we had made one big round to a wrong place. In 10 minutes, my wallet was $8 (thanks to the $3 CBD surcharge!) lesser for a trip that didn’t bring me to where I wanted to go.

Did the taxi driver provide a service that is worth that price I paid? In my opinion, absolutely no.

Which leads me to ponder over this question: How close is our PM Lee’s vision to have excellent customer service in this country as one of our unique selling points? Rather should I ask how far?

I Feel “Burned” After Watching

Stuart stood there waiting for me while I was in the restroom. When I came out, he told me he heard a few people walking past him and commenting that they “felt cheated”. Viola! They had voiced out my opinion. 

“Burn After Reading” should be burnt, really. I thought it was a comedy and was prepared to laugh till I cry, but I hadn’t prepare myself to be “shocked till I want to cry”.

I did have some hysterical moments, although they ended along with Brad Pitt’s premature demise in the movie.

George Clooney’s paranoia gave me the creeps, but his “childishness” probably tickled me more.

But nothing beats how ridiculous the movie ends. Actually I should have got the hint of the crappiness of the movie when the CIA head instructed Brad Pitt’s body to be burnt and disposed of, to the loud gasps of the two girls sitting at the pew next to me, along with mine. Gasp!

My disbelief rose when the two jokers actually drove to the Russian Embassy to trade off some “classified information” for money! I mean, Russian Embassy? Seeing Vladimir Putin’s portrait hanging on the wall is like the “icing on the cake” if I may put it this way. 

By the time the movie ended, I was totally disillusioned.

I had so made up my mind to watch this movie that I went all the way to see which cinema suited our time that day and went forth. At one point, I was slightly swayed by another show “Nights in Rodanthe”, but still I didn’t give up Brad Pitt and George Clooney.

“Burn After Reading” is all about expletives that replace the function of punctuation marks and mid-sentence pauses in most of the conversations, multi-triangle relationships and affairs and bizarre events that somehow found relevance with each other with an ultimate ending – to raise funds for a gym employee Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) to pay for her extensive cosmetic surgery. So much for self-esteem!

Doing my best to be optimistic about this movie, I found consolation in the actors’ and actresses’ portrayal of those characters. Tilda Swinton has a convincing depiction of a “cold stuck-up bitch” as her lover’s wife describes to be while John Malkovich somehow manages to get me feeling he deserves the demotion more than anyone else does in the movie, not even the useless head of CIA. 

As for Brad Pitt, well, let’s just say he tickles me whenever he’s on-screen. So does George Clooney on certain scenes. As I’m writing this, I recall a movie review that said “Brad Pitt saved the movie”. Guess I see where this person’s coming from now.

I’m not even sure if I would recommend anyone going to watch this movie. But I guess, if it’s purely for entertainment, why not?

Just make sure that you’re prepared to watch something that just doesn’t make any sense at all.

So in a sense, it is a comedy after all. 

Friday, October 24, 2008

Boundaries From Dad

My dad should be given the “Meritorious Award”.

That day he was pestering me to teach him how to leave comments in a forum. My dad? Leaving comments? Only months ago I was showing him how to use the wireless modem to go online and check his email. But now, he was asking for directions on saying his piece on the internet.

Okay, this isn’t a big deal. Why the award?

He wasn’t learning about how to put smileys on a forum, but he wanted to voice out his opinion about current affairs on the Straits Times portal. The particular issue he was reading pertained to the news on a man who was fined for sleeping on the bench in a park.

I looked at him in astonishment, which seemed to please him tremendously. He prided on the fact that I was amazed with what he was about to do, as if he had found something that I hadn’t already known. I asked him what he wanted to say, but he chose to keep mum. Fine with it, because I knew fully well how “courageous” he is when it comes to such things.

He always prefers to err on the safe side of things. That is a nice way to put it actually. I don’t think he will like to be labelled as someone who is afraid to step on the toes of anyone with authority.

He can recite the names of all our Ministers and what their portfolios are by memory. He knows who our MPs in our neighbourhood are.

He’s the one who pesters us to put up the national flag during in August for our nation’s birthday celebration. He’s the one who reminds us to follow the traffic rules and “use the zebra crossing, girl”. I know it’s for our safety, but what he said later made me think twice: “Don’t let the police catch you. They’ll fine you.” OK, Dad, I got you.

When I was young, I love to tease him that the government should confer a “General” title on him and give him all the “stripes and crabs” to decorate his shirt. Guess what was his reaction? He merely laughed and waved my suggestion off, but his body language told me that he was actually considering that to be feasible! Gosh!

Looking back, I guess my character was somewhat influenced by him. I realised that I’m someone who will also draw boundaries quite clearly. I hold myself responsible for what I say online, and due to this, I seldom engage in words that are of an attacking nature. There are pros and cons to this I observed.

The advantages that come with it are articles that are more neutral based and hold more objectivity. The downside is probably the lack of controversy, which as we all know, tend to sell.

Well, I guess there are no two ways about it. Though I’d love to have the cake and eat it too, I can only wish for readers who appreciate my style of writing and sharing of my opinions! Which, fortunately, gauging by some emails sent to me, were still encouraging!

Thank you all for reading! Please feel free to leave some comments and let me hear you too. 

Monday, October 13, 2008

How To Light Up And Grab Attention Immediately!

I was engrossed in reading a book while the TV was playing the Taiwanese singing competition. Suddenly, I hear this sultry voice that gave the song she was singing a special touch. Involuntarily, I looked up. “She’s good,” I thought to myself.

Why did I do that? Because there was an immediate and intense attraction.

How many of us have experienced such an attraction before? Imagine this scene. You are somewhere chatting with your friends in a busy café, noises were everywhere. All of a sudden, the sound level dived. It’s as if everybody had stopped talking and doing something instead. You turned, and you saw what provoked the silence. It was a dashing, drop-dead gorgeous woman sauntering in, looking for a seat.

How many of us have had the chance to be “this woman”? Do you know how it feels like? Can you imagine how it would feel like?

I’m illustrating this scenario because it probably is one that is easiest for everyone to relate to, and say “Ah… I know what you’re talking about!” In fact, there are many other different examples that we can think of, events in life that evoke an immediate and strong reaction from other parties.

It’s what I call the “Light Up” factor – making someone extremely interested in you or what you are doing.

Do you have what it takes to light up?

If you are beginning to whine that “I don’t have the look of a celebrity,” or “I don’t have the voice to melt a woman,” then, I’d advise you to stop all these thoughts right now! They are toxins, they are only there to poison your mind and the only thing they ever do is to stop you from reaching your goal! Wipe them away from your mind now, and follow these 5 tips if you genuinely want to, at times, be the star of the moment. Just one moment, but it could just change your life.

5 Tips To Light Up

1. Magnify your best asset. Is it that pair of big, alluring eyes that captivates anyone who is within 100m radius from you? Or is it that hearty and infectious laughter? Identify it and use it to your advantage.

2. “Excuse me, what did you just say?” Do you have an outrageous quote that startles people when they first hear it? Or some knock-them-down theories that you came up with? There’s a guy got the attention of another girl when he stands up among a group and actually says that “I think I’m quite a handsome man”. Wows and whoas were heard, and many of them were just impressed with the “guts” as they put it, this guy has.

3. The seductive scent. Humans are more sensitive to scent that we consciously know about it. Because scents are embedded in our unconscious memory, we don’t pay much attention to it until it is being evoked when we smell something similar again in the future. Make use of this and carry a seductive (or manly) scent that will make people turn their heads and wonder where did that sweet-smelling aroma come from? [Tips for girls: don’t just think of perfume. How about shampoo?]

4. Be audacious. That’s right. Even if you are armed with the best weapon, but without the audacity to use it, it’s as good as sweeping all the talents and assets you have under the carpet. 

5. Create the stage! Why do you have to wait for opportunities to come? Why not create them? If you have a very alluring voice, take part in a singing competition! Or, whenever you attend a seminar, grab the microphone and asks a question. There is no such thing as unspotted talent – they are just not willing to come out to the fore to be seen.

Everyone has a unique selling point. Make use of what gifts you have been endowed with and bring out the light in you and shine! 

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

A-MEI – THE DIVA

By the end of it, I had thrown away all inhibitions and was tapping and swaying to the tunes and rocking rhythm. Finally, I’ve done it!

I had, an hour before, felt shy and embarrassed about waving my hands and shaking my butt. Would I be blocking people behind me? Would they find me too old to be so excited? Would I look silly waving my bare hands in the air with no glow stick?

But when the finale came, and the diva pranced around on stage, wheedling everyone to get up from their seats, dance, let our hair down and be absolutely wild, I jumped into the fray. The discomfort in my feet saved me from the act of jumping and pumping my fist in the air as she belted out the song that shot her to commercial fame.

Singaporeans have been said to be reserved and not as passionate as our other Asian counterparts, notably the Taiwanese and Chinese. Just measure the intensity of the screams on the decibel scale at any concert in these countries and it’s easy to see the gap.

But, I saw a different picture last Saturday, when I was at A-Mei’s concert. Screams, yells and periodic shouts of “I love you” were everywhere. A-Mei, the Taiwan queen of pops (in my opinion) was here to perform a second time as part of the route for her Star Tour. She was ecstatic, and she didn’t hesitate to tell all her Singapore fans that, “this Star Tour has not complete its round, and I’m now back at Singapore for the 2nd time!” to wild screams.

She certainly knows her way to cajole her crowd, as she continued, “I might as well just stay here and finish the remaining rounds! I’ll just sing in Singapore!” The stadium went crazy.

For 3 hours, she single-handedly sang. There was no special guest appearance to relieve her for some twenty to thirty minutes. She just springs to stage, sings and dances, returns to backstage for a change of costumes, and back to stage again. One has to be impressed and amazed by her singing prowess, that by the end of the 3 hours stint, she was still able to reach all her high notes almost effortlessly.

This is the second time I’ve attended Zhang Hui Mei’s aka A-Mei’s concert. The first time was more than 10 years ago, in 1997, also to a fully-packed stadium. I was itching to know how many people was there that night. To be able to hold a sold-out concert is no mean feat. A google search gave me the answer – a sold-out crowd translates to 10,000 people packed in one place especially for one person!

A-Mei didn’t have it any easier, because the stage faced all 4 sides. She had to cater to each side so that no fans would ever feel neglected. And she did a great job – at “inciting friendly competition” among all 4 sides to see where she should head to or spend more time with. It all depends on how loudly fans scream and how passionate we all are.

In certain concerts, I’ve seen the distribution of screams was indeed skewed. One particular side would, somehow or rather, miraculously contained exceptionally enthusiastic, fervent and crazy fans with their fanatical screeches and out-loud declarations of affection for their idol. It was no wonder that their idol would repay their efforts by giving them more “face time”.

A-Mei’s concert, compared to Jeff Chang’s, whose was held earlier this year, was like two different ends of the pole. While the former thrives on loudness and the hip factor, the latter glides with flowing melodies and soothing vocals.

I enjoyed both concerts tremendously, though they were completely different. A-Mei’s powerful and influential vocals have proved that she is, indeed the diva of MandoPop. Jeff’s lilting rendition of his songs doesn’t make me go ga-ga like A-Mei, but they make me smile and, may I add, the irresistible urge to want to place my hands over my chest and drown in the songs, feeling deeply satisfied.

Now, I just need to remind myself that the next time I’m going to a concert that rocks, I’ll arm myself with the glowing neon sticks and a superbly good whistle-blower. Oh, plus a comfortable blue suede shoe. 

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Love, Dream, Music

“If you really don’t like the plot or the movie, at least, just go and enjoy the music,” I urged my friends.

“Is it really good?” one of them asked again.

“Yes, and go catch up before she gives birth,” I replied, pointing to his wife sitting beside him, with her big round tummy peeking up from the table where I was sitting.

I was wildly promoting the movie “Mamma Mia!” to them yesterday over dinner. Like I said, even if you find the plot somewhat incredible, the acting not as great, the music is always there to save the show. But, really, in my opinion, the plot is passable, the acting is superb (who can fault Meryl Streep?) and the music is absolutely mesmerising. Oh, I should leave that word to describe the sea!

There were too many reasons prompting me to watch this show. At the top of the list was the location of the shoot – Greece. Gosh, you don’t know how crazy I am over this country. I love Greek so much that I desperately wanted to dress like one for my wedding. In the end, my designer did his best to give me an evening gown that shows off a multi-purpose top with a fiery, red Spanish colour, Of course, I gave my top a toga twist, to add in that Greeky touch.

The other reasons were of course, the cast plus the songs! I was already tapping to the tunes of “Dancing Queen” during the trailers, so how could I ever miss this for the world? The fact that I can eat popcorns and watch it on the big screen is the last puller.

I wasn’t disappointed at all. Though Stuart said the movie was nowhere comparable to the real musical when he caught during their performance in Singapore in 2005, he too agreed with me that it was certainly a value for money movie.

Amanda Seyfried who plays Sophie, the bride-to-be and daughter of Donna (Meryl Streep) looks so lovely and delightful in her Greek wedding dress! I gushed at the way she looked and giggled to Stuart “that’s exactly the way I wanted to look!” She sings beautifully as well.

In fact, the ability of the cast to pull off the songs at such a capacity impresses me.

Sophie is on the quest to know her biological father, a mystery that even her mother is clueless on. The only clue they have is he is definitely one of the three men whom Donna had, with each, a short-lived and yet absolutely mind-blowing whirlwind romance.

So, which of the three – Bill Anderson (Stellan Skarsgard), Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan), Harry Bright (Colin Firth) – is the father of the 20 year old bride?

The sun, the sea, the beach, the girls, the boys, the women, the men and lastly, the music are all to be keenly watched out for in this 2-hour movie Mamma Mia!.

I can feel the love between Sophie and her fiancé, and I can feel the deep relationship shared between her mother and her two best friends, who banded together to call themselves the “Dynamo Sisters”. The chemistry between them and how they gel together so well when each of them can be so different as individuals reminds me of how girlfriends are so important in our lives, and the best ones are usually found and made during our school days.

Perhaps the intensity of the love shared between Donna and Sam is best reflected when she expresses her innermost feelings – the huge struggle between wanting him and not being able to want him – in the song she sings at the cliff, on the way to the church. Stuart was so touched by it that he, well, shed some manly tears.

See! Now tell me if this movie isn’t worth you watching.

Besides love, there is also a dream that each of them bears. And that is probably what gives this plot that magical touch – a dream. All of us have a dream with us. It can be born during our childhood, or it can be unearthed as we journey on in our lives. But, I believe everyone has a dream, and to be able to realise it is something that invokes a passionate emotion in us. 

As I told Stuart at the end of the movie, “I think Pierce Brosnan is the only person who probably shouldn’t be singing.” But, he more than made up for it with his suave, charming looks and his oh-so-man eyes. That’s why, I’m still happy.