It happened this morning when I woke up.
My Macbook Air had mysteriously put itself to sleep, or rather, turned itself off entirely, refusing to start.
I did not freak out because of a data loss, since everything important had already been backed up, but I needed my computer to work on things, and not being able to work on things when I want to drives me insane. I booked an appointment to bring my laptop in to the Apple store to get it checked out.
I show up on time, and a 'genius' diagnoses my laptop and tells me that the hard drive is fried. I ask whether I could fix it and the genius states that it can be done and it will last me another 2 years (looking back at the conversation now I really, really should have recorded it). Since I trusted the brand, the technical expertise of their geniuses, I agreed to replace my hard drive for two hundred dollars.
I was more than overjoyed when they called me later in the day to tell me that it had already been done - I seriously thought this was impressive, considering how all other electronics dealers would take days to fix something. I happily paid for and retrieved my laptop, carrying it back home and tried it out. I left my computer on and idle for half an hour while I had something to eat.
Seating myself back at my work desk after dinner, I fiddled with the keyboard and found that my computer had fallen asleep again. I shut it down and tried to restart it but to my horror, it failed to boot again.
This meant that the 'genius' had made a recommendation, made me spend two hundred dollars, gave me false hope that my computer is going to last me another two years, and very frustrated that I am still dealing with a problem that should have been resolved.
Despite having a great brand, strong customer following and supposedly a technical team that is extremely qualified to handle issues like mine, I am disappointed this time. I hope Apple will show me tomorrow, when I bring my computer back in, that they can treat me right as a customer, because this really hurt the trust I had in their brand. It really did.
Showing posts with label the little big things. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the little big things. Show all posts
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
This is a Test
Earlier this week when I just got back from LA I was faced with some Monday morning crisis. I say crisis because it was unexpected news that was delivered to me with one week's notice to do something about it. Usually getting your entire operations set up again takes more than a week.
If I didn't find an alternative solution this crisis could put me out of business.
This is a TEST.
Did it ever make me efficient. I basically set up an alternative within the same day, sought out several other options to work on and took care of my best customers so service to them wouldn't be interrupted.
Situations like this test your ability to think clearly in times of crises and I was actually quite happy that I didn't fall into panic mode. Building the business over the past 2 years I realize that I am a person that freaks over the minute details and thinks clearly when "stuff" hits the fan.
I have to say, I was asked how I felt about this test, and frankly at that moment I wanted to say it was fun. Seriously. It was something out of the blue and got my blood pumping.
Of course, too much of that leads to heart attacks but once in a while - I can handle it :)
If I didn't find an alternative solution this crisis could put me out of business.
This is a TEST.
Did it ever make me efficient. I basically set up an alternative within the same day, sought out several other options to work on and took care of my best customers so service to them wouldn't be interrupted.
Situations like this test your ability to think clearly in times of crises and I was actually quite happy that I didn't fall into panic mode. Building the business over the past 2 years I realize that I am a person that freaks over the minute details and thinks clearly when "stuff" hits the fan.
What was my thought process when I got the news?
- Can something still be done to maintain the business relationship? Is there someone above this person I'm talking to that can change the decision? [It's not over until it's over!]
- What are my alternatives?
- Which one is the easiest, fastest to implement to take care of the short term? Use this to buy time to set up the long-term option.
- What options exist in the long-term?
I have to say, I was asked how I felt about this test, and frankly at that moment I wanted to say it was fun. Seriously. It was something out of the blue and got my blood pumping.
Of course, too much of that leads to heart attacks but once in a while - I can handle it :)
Sunday, June 27, 2010
DELETE THE WORD SHOULD
...because it limits your creativity for what you can do with your business.
IMO, and this is similar to one of those theories that Dilbert makes up, the word should was not in our dictionary when we came into this world (yeah yeah, neither were the other 10 billion words we would soon learn).
As soon as we learned the word should, here's what happened.
...you should eat your vegetables.
...you should not try to fly - somebody gonna hurt real bad.
...you should not stay up late.
...you should word hard at your academics.
...you should this, that, you get the idea.
...you should cater to this group of customers because according to research this group has the most money.
...you should hire so and so.
...you should fire so and so.
...you should get senior people on the team.
...you should not badmouth the banks.
...you should not take a stand early in your business to be "under the radar".
I think I've hit a spot where I am seriously sick and tired of the word should and how I have been running my business by it. SO. Everything needs to get put back in its place.
Who cares if that customer group has the most money?! If they don't love what we have to offer, then they're not going to pay us!
Who cares if so and so is a superstar in the industry?! If they don't love selling what we have to offer, they're not going to generate results!
Who cares if we upset some people out there by positioning ourselves as an anti-something?! If we don't upset some people then we're neutral to everybody and the business might as well be dead. I take a stand for what I believe in. It's time I let my business do that too.
So how is the word should screwing over your business or even your life? Delete it from your vocabulary. One book I recently read suggests replacing it with the word want. Works if it's something that you need to get done.
I want to spend on marketing.
I want the company to be positioned like this.
YOU. YOU. YOU. You own and run the business. Once you start using the word 'should' you are letting other things that exist determine what you should do. That ties your hands, and feet, from doing and creating whatever awesomeness will come out of your business.
IMO, and this is similar to one of those theories that Dilbert makes up, the word should was not in our dictionary when we came into this world (yeah yeah, neither were the other 10 billion words we would soon learn).
As soon as we learned the word should, here's what happened.
...you should eat your vegetables.
...you should not try to fly - somebody gonna hurt real bad.
...you should not stay up late.
...you should word hard at your academics.
...you should this, that, you get the idea.
Same goes for business.
...you should build your business this way because it's been proven....you should cater to this group of customers because according to research this group has the most money.
...you should hire so and so.
...you should fire so and so.
...you should get senior people on the team.
...you should not badmouth the banks.
...you should not take a stand early in your business to be "under the radar".
I think I've hit a spot where I am seriously sick and tired of the word should and how I have been running my business by it. SO. Everything needs to get put back in its place.
Who cares if that customer group has the most money?! If they don't love what we have to offer, then they're not going to pay us!
Who cares if so and so is a superstar in the industry?! If they don't love selling what we have to offer, they're not going to generate results!
Who cares if we upset some people out there by positioning ourselves as an anti-something?! If we don't upset some people then we're neutral to everybody and the business might as well be dead. I take a stand for what I believe in. It's time I let my business do that too.
So how is the word should screwing over your business or even your life? Delete it from your vocabulary. One book I recently read suggests replacing it with the word want. Works if it's something that you need to get done.
For example:
I want to hire so and so.I want to spend on marketing.
I want the company to be positioned like this.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Positive "Networking" = GIVING FIRST
I think within over the past 2 days I've had this same conversation with 4 different people. How do you network? How do you build your network?
I have to say that I rarely think about how I'm expanding my network, because I think what I do is build relationships instead. Some people still like to tie it to the word networking, hence the term positive networking.
The way to do it is just find out about the other person's business, what they are involved in, and how you can help them with your services or connect them to other people within your own network. GIVE something first and don't expect that they will or can reciprocate right away. Just know that when they do come across something that relates to your business, they will think of your first. The power of building business relationships instead of just having a network of acquaintances is so, so, SO important in business.
I found all of my advisors, employees and investors through this type of relationship. If you don't genuinely care about the other person's business, why should they care about yours and want to help you?
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_t3v8PPvQbfoZjrRFVfVXB8YJ0KXQSxb27GcCREc5ntHBMjGeCRAJY8v47HIN_uz5sdfNryr2VPtlzchLLJg-3oyAYtVmVa4VTxFwVMWjDBtWkw3Bd3fC8b6H8nckgkkh5CkCUFNFvjrr3eteM7gyA=s0-d)
I have to say that I rarely think about how I'm expanding my network, because I think what I do is build relationships instead. Some people still like to tie it to the word networking, hence the term positive networking.
The way to do it is just find out about the other person's business, what they are involved in, and how you can help them with your services or connect them to other people within your own network. GIVE something first and don't expect that they will or can reciprocate right away. Just know that when they do come across something that relates to your business, they will think of your first. The power of building business relationships instead of just having a network of acquaintances is so, so, SO important in business.
I found all of my advisors, employees and investors through this type of relationship. If you don't genuinely care about the other person's business, why should they care about yours and want to help you?
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Can Superb Service Exist with Scale?
I am sitting here in Timothy's World Coffee at the corner of Bay St and College St. The service is one of the best out of all the coffee shops I've been to, in many different countries including Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Canada and the US.
The service was friendly, and it looked like the owner was manning the cashier today. They also heated up my sandwich and brought it out for me. I saw other customers come in and the owner recognized them by name and remembered their usual drinks with a side of yogurt. I have to say that my sandwich was just OK but the superb service has definitely made me a repeat customer. Their offer was $5.99 for the sandwich and it also came with a drink - usually I pay extra for the drink. So I would say this coffee shop also wants to offer their customers good deals (low prices).
Is it possible for companies with hundreds, even thousands or millions of customers to do this on a large scale? To provide superb service and low prices at the same time?
If I think of companies that are attempting to do this, Flight Centre comes to mind with their travel manager services for small businesses, and I wonder how profitable that is.
As for other larger companies like Dell, their low price offer is based on the fact that there is low to no customer service (they do have Dell Kiosks in some places but limited number) and customers are expected to take care of themselves. This makes sense, since deliverables should also be adjusted as your revenues go down, you deliver less - in this case, it's lower levels of customer service.
What would happen if one day out of the blue that Timothy's World Coffee generated so much goodwill and word of mouth that their lineup wrapped around the corner? Will the owner still recognize everybody by name? Will the staff be bringing out the customers' orders to their tables each and every time? Will the coffee and blended drinks still taste as good given that they must increase the speed of their operations to decrease wait times?
Most start ups start out focusing on getting great word of mouth going for their businesses by totally babying their customers and I think PeerFX is doing this to a good extent as well - we want our customers to spread the word about our service. What happens when we suddenly hit a point where word of mouth brings in tons of customers and we can't treat them all the same way we treated our initial group of early adopting customers? The same way that this coffee shop is running itself based on great customer service and low prices, PeerFX aims to provide a 24/7 service at the best exchange rates for small to medium sized businesses.
Time to start planning ahead!
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vqHHkD78hAO2uah3bMZmxj-NJp9OwTPxC5W6KTP2EurKggXyCsubpp2wNzv_gO2qBjH9NDUt6b8XrmLZIajgcN3yYkWo-sWrVnW3c5kb5TkIwkKGKbs-CcLc7WmtWjL_CJWjPioYgKPNWWRwN9ntRO=s0-d)
The service was friendly, and it looked like the owner was manning the cashier today. They also heated up my sandwich and brought it out for me. I saw other customers come in and the owner recognized them by name and remembered their usual drinks with a side of yogurt. I have to say that my sandwich was just OK but the superb service has definitely made me a repeat customer. Their offer was $5.99 for the sandwich and it also came with a drink - usually I pay extra for the drink. So I would say this coffee shop also wants to offer their customers good deals (low prices).
Is it possible for companies with hundreds, even thousands or millions of customers to do this on a large scale? To provide superb service and low prices at the same time?
If I think of companies that are attempting to do this, Flight Centre comes to mind with their travel manager services for small businesses, and I wonder how profitable that is.
As for other larger companies like Dell, their low price offer is based on the fact that there is low to no customer service (they do have Dell Kiosks in some places but limited number) and customers are expected to take care of themselves. This makes sense, since deliverables should also be adjusted as your revenues go down, you deliver less - in this case, it's lower levels of customer service.
What would happen if one day out of the blue that Timothy's World Coffee generated so much goodwill and word of mouth that their lineup wrapped around the corner? Will the owner still recognize everybody by name? Will the staff be bringing out the customers' orders to their tables each and every time? Will the coffee and blended drinks still taste as good given that they must increase the speed of their operations to decrease wait times?
Most start ups start out focusing on getting great word of mouth going for their businesses by totally babying their customers and I think PeerFX is doing this to a good extent as well - we want our customers to spread the word about our service. What happens when we suddenly hit a point where word of mouth brings in tons of customers and we can't treat them all the same way we treated our initial group of early adopting customers? The same way that this coffee shop is running itself based on great customer service and low prices, PeerFX aims to provide a 24/7 service at the best exchange rates for small to medium sized businesses.
Time to start planning ahead!
Monday, April 26, 2010
2 Cent Ideas can Boost Business Performance
I've started reading the new book by Tom Peters called The Little Big Things. In the first couple pages he mentions that little things that cost you 2 cents can be worth much more to your business. Such as candy on the counter top of your receptionist's desk.
Yesterday I saw my own version of this. I went for a quick lunch at a Chinese restaurant that served value lunch meals so the price point matched with the quality of the food they served. I ordered and had to go to the restroom; I noticed one distinctive difference that was out of place for the restaurant in the restroom - they had three-ply tissue rolls in there. THREE. When other restaurants with the same package of benefits (price, promo, place and product) were offering their customers one-ply tissue, here they were giving us three-ply. Seems like a very, very small thing that they could have gotten away with. They chose to offer something slightly better and I'm sure it does not go unnoticed every time a customer goes to their restroom.
Interesting to actually see the concept at work. Small ideas can make your business stand out and even retain or attract new customers. Have you seen any 2 cent ideas in action?
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tJ7gHYMQT_RlY4rtk2mUw3VledZa4WY3tSeF-MMxn1rLMsqpQ4LdXKgvYz0d0qiGuQUXM_dp6Rd-rBb4EysnpxcV3mFVLB-bHl7davfhptb3_hc53f0LWj3t3SCzIgCJi1QrljgHbZrskqVwxkFP4=s0-d)
Yesterday I saw my own version of this. I went for a quick lunch at a Chinese restaurant that served value lunch meals so the price point matched with the quality of the food they served. I ordered and had to go to the restroom; I noticed one distinctive difference that was out of place for the restaurant in the restroom - they had three-ply tissue rolls in there. THREE. When other restaurants with the same package of benefits (price, promo, place and product) were offering their customers one-ply tissue, here they were giving us three-ply. Seems like a very, very small thing that they could have gotten away with. They chose to offer something slightly better and I'm sure it does not go unnoticed every time a customer goes to their restroom.
Interesting to actually see the concept at work. Small ideas can make your business stand out and even retain or attract new customers. Have you seen any 2 cent ideas in action?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)