Hello, I blog!
I share all my sporadic and toilet thoughts in here, because I am random like that.
Happy new year, every birdy!
The clock has struck midnight in Singapore. Happy 2013 to all of you out there, and may the year be filled with many awesome things to come.
Took the above photo 2 minutes to midnight. Yes, wearing a Santa hat. Because I go through this phase after 25th December every single year where I go around indignantly insisting that it’s still Christmas. (While the Christmas spirit still lingers in the West, there’s always this urgency to move towards Chinese New Year almost immediately after Christmas in Singapore and some other Asian countries, for reasons beyond me.)
Unfortunately, I still have no concrete plans on how to manage my obsessive perfectionist and workaholic tendencies as outlined in my look-back at 2012. Perhaps it could be a good thing – because making a concrete plan means that my perfectionist tendencies are still at work, aye?
So let me put forth a few liners which will be my mantras for 2013.
1. Moderation is key.
Dear Brenda, yes you love your work. And your work is a form of leisure to you. But still, take it easy. There’s such as thing as an overdose. And when you overdose on anything, you need to get your stomach pumped. Nasty, ain’t it?
2. Your health comes first.
Remember how you fucked up majorly in 2008, then 2010 and then 2012 because you failed to realize that you’re wearing out your body physically even though you weren’t yet stressed mentally. You don’t have much of your health left. Preserve your remaining mana, please.
3. Stop doubting yourself.
You have experienced enough ‘win’ moments in 2012 to show that anything is possible. When in doubt, put in more effort. Remember how you successfully delivered a 1.5 hour talk/sharing session and a 3 hour long workshop without cue cards (and with awesome slides to boot)? You always hated public speaking. Yet, you pulled it off. Keep that in mind, and walk forward.
4. Keep the curiosity alive.
It’s hard to keep staying curious when you’re going to the same places, doing the same things week after week after week. Visit a new cafe. Explore a new place. Just for goodness sake, STEP OUT OF THE DAMN HOUSE more often. And keep reading on a wide range of topics as you already do. Keep on staying inspired.
5. You seriously need to chill
i. Yes, things are fast paced. Things need to get done. But you can never think straight when you’re flustered. When in a state of panic, take a walk. Or just zone out. You’ll save yourself from making bad decisions … such as saying something nasty, writing bad code, or beating the crap out of your laptop until it no longer functions (now, that will be a disaster).
ii. You need your me-time. Spend time with yourself reading a great book, lounging by the pool, cycling, taking strolls. And damn, you need to stop feeling guilty about it. The issue with being so emotionally connected with work means the constant thoughts of “Man, I could have …” or “Gosh, I should be doing …”. Stop. That. Right. Now.
Now, step forth and enter 2013 with your head held high.
How Courts lost a customer to IKEA
I walked into Courts yesterday to purchase a clothes rack. Courts is a large furniture and electronics outfit in Singapore, with branches around the island and a megastore in Tampines.
The wonders of being connected meant that I could look up their online catalog the night before to pick out what I wanted and verify stocks (to the point of even knowing that certain colours were already out of stock and will be restocked in February/March 2013). All I needed to do was to step into the store, look for the item, purchase it and out I go. Sounds simple enough.
It was a three-storey megastore, so I decided to ask the staff for directions. The staff on the second floor directed me to the ground floor “because that’s where all the accessories are”. Sounds fair, so I proceeded to the ground floor. After walking around in circles, I realized I was going nowhere and needed help again.
So I approached a boy in a black ‘Courts’ tee and relayed my question to him. After giving me a blank stare for several seconds, he admitted that he was “just a promoter” and that I had to approach a staff member in a blue tee. Those blue tees were pretty elusive to find, though. I nearly walked up to an ordinary shopper in a blue tee but common sense soon took over (he was carrying a shopping bag) to prevent potential embarrassment.
Circled the place again for nearly 5 minutes before I finally found two blue shirted staff members who were happily chatting with one another. I proceeded with my inquiry. One of them glanced at my phone (screenshot of the product), looked at me and went “no more!”
“No more?” I asked. “Seriously? Because I checked your website and it stated there is stock!”
“If you want, you go outside there and see!” He gesticulated wildly to the area outside the checkout counters. “If it’s not there then it’s sold out. No more!”
He immediately went back to chatting with his friend, totally oblivious to me gaping at him, my mouth wide open in disbelief.
This is what happens you hire staff (or salespeople) who don’t care about your business. The typical staff member will simply show up to do the bare minimum, leave on time and take their monthly paycheck. On the other hand, the engaged, dedicated staff member who believes that he plays a crucial role in the success of the company would do more.
In this case, a dedicated staff member will be able to recognize this interaction as an opportunity to retain a potential customer. He would have known that the product will be restocked in a couple of months. He would also be aware that I could have placed an advance order online and request for a self-collection at any outlet near my home. All this is not rocket science – I knew it simply by browsing their website. This information will have been relayed to me as alternatives, and the he’ll provide any necessary assistance.
This staff member on the other hand, seemed to be more interested in his bantering.
After finally confirming that the item was out of stock – seeing an empty rack with the item label – I decided to ‘test’ another staff member on their service knowledge in the hope that the guy spoke to earlier was just an anomaly. No dice either.
By then, I was completely annoyed with the lack of staff knowledge that I just decided to give up on the product altogether. Sure, it was lighter and more compact. Sure, the product was cheaper as well. But it’s no longer about the product. IKEA was just next door, and they retail products that are of equally good quality. And I haven’t had a bad experience with them yet.
So, I headed over.
The PORTIS hat and coat stand.
Now, I have myself an awesome new rack at home from IKEA. While Courts lost a customer for life.
In today’s age, the average consumer is presented with a wide range of equivalent options for a singular product, that they’ve become indifferent. Companies can no longer afford to compete based on products alone because there is a low barrier to entry for consumers to simply do a brand switcharoo anytime they want. The products are all the same anyway. It’s the experience you provide that makes you stand out.
What makes the consumer sit up and take notice is not the “average” shopping experience, but something out of the ordinary. When faced with an extraordinarily bad service, the consumer will take to bitching online (which is what I’m doing now) or spread the negative message through word of mouth. In the consumer’s mind, your company will be tied to that bad experience forever.
Conversely, when the experience is surprisingly great, word spreads equally fast. In a world where consumers are generally used to receiving bad service, it’s extremely refreshing. Even inspiring. As for me – I’d most probably be waxing lyrical about the company to anyone I meet. And yes, I will definitely return.
It is the positively memorable experiences you provide that make your customers stick to you.
It’s high time companies realized that. Especially consumer-facing ones.
So, what does your daughter do?
Mum told me the other day she often had trouble answering the above question – which seems to be thrown left, right, up, down, center whenever she meets anyone.
It was then I realized that the industry I’m in is probably unfathomable to anyone in that generation. The startup scene, with its unstable income and unpredictability is still pretty much frowned upon by the baby-boomers (and any generation beyond that), at least in Singapore where people are generally risk-averse
And of course, mum will probably have to dodge the “why doesn’t your daughter just get a proper job?” question when she does tell them what I really do (which she doesn’t know how to answer anyway.)
So, I gave her a model answer to refer to.
“So, what does your daughter do?”
“My daughter spends her life doing something she’s really passionate about. Something that gives her space to be creative. Something that makes her look forward to going to work every single day.”
“So, what is that exactly?”
“You wouldn’t understand anyway. Since you most probably hate your job.”
Hurhur. I’m such a troll, aren’t I?
Find Me
