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I asked him if the oil change done in that 30K car service would be “of the exact same premium quality as the $19.95, using the same premium oil and the same tools?” He responded with a confident “yes“, telling me that it would be “exactly the same thing you expect from Honda.” I then asked him that if the 30k car service specialists could just do an oil change since, like he said, they were qualified to do that. The look on his face was a very interesting one at that exact moment. He looked at me for about 2 seconds, then opened his mouth to say something, while breathing at the same time, and looked at the side wall without moving his head or saying anything; I’m guessing he regretted answering my question with such enthusiasm. After a few seconds he said that those 30k specialists were required to work on the 30k service customers as a priority, and that they already had customers waiting in line to get a 30k service. I could see no cars waiting anywhere other than the ones that were already being worked upon. I left the place, hoping to get up early tomorrow morning and going to a service center nearby.

What’s up with businesses not wanting to be more flexible? They can use the services they already have, utilize any resources that are available, like those 30k specialists who were not all busy, and use them to have another satisfied customer and a little bit more money? Those mechanics work there fulltime as Honda specialists, and thus get paid by the hour, regardless of how many cars they actually work on. Management could avoid having too many customers on certain days to give the mechanics a break for the rest of the day, which can be understandable on some levels. However, the management staff was willing to put those mechanics to much more work, which would take hours compared to a 20 minute oil change, when that work brought in $130 instead of the $19.95. Thus, if money is the focus, why not get something instead of nothing?

This narrow-minded approach to doing business would work great when you’re selling only one service, or only one specific product which cannot be customized. However, if you have more than one product or service that overlaps with other products or services offered by you, it is wise to teach all staff to be more flexible into customizing a service or a product to meet the need of a customer, who otherwise would not be a customer.

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Hmmm, magazines? There are all different types of magazines here on the table, so many of them. Parenting, world news, gardening, automobiles, entertainment, business, and even furniture. There is, however, no computer magazine. Nothing on internet. Nothing on technology. There is absolutely nothing here that even mentions the word “internet” or “technology” or “computer.” In fact, even the business magazine is a 2 year old magazine that talks only about flier miles and what to wear for a meeting. It’s just like every other hospital waiting room, where you will never ever find any computer magazine, or anything related to computers.

Maybe sick people are not support to read about computers or technology. Maybe you’ll get sick even more if you see a computer on a magazine. But stuff about fast cars, slow business, gardening gloves and having sex during pregnancy is going to cheer you up for sure. The people who design hospitals and waiting rooms know exactly what works best for their sick customers while they’re bored and waiting, don’t they?

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“Ju-on“, the movie that was remade into “The Grudge“, was not available through Amazon or Blockbuster until the American remake hit the theatres in 2004, even though the original Japanese version had been around since 2000. Same is the case with the sequels to the original “Ju-on”; none of the 3 Japanese sequels to the original Japanese “Ju-on” are available directly from Blockbuster or Amazon, maybe because a sequel to the remake is currently being made. The same thing happened with “Ringu“, the original Japanese movie upon which “The Ring” was based. The Japanese original wasn’t available widely until the Hollywood remake came out, and the original sequels were also not available until the Hollywood sequel to the remake came out. “Kairo“, the original Japanese movie upon which the recent “The Pulse” was based on, was also not available until last week at most of the stores, probably since the remake is now finally out in theatres.

Places like Amazon.com and BlockBuster are not carrying several movies because those titles are currently being remade into American versions. These titles range from the Korean “Mr. Sympathy for Revenge” to the world famous Hong Kong movie “Infernal Affairs“, probably because the former is a prequel story to the original “OldBoy”, and the latter is being remade into a Hollywood remake called “The Departed.” If people get their hands on the foreign titles, those people will probably not want to see the American remakes as they would already know the stories. While Amazon and Blockbuster do not profit from this, and in reality loose customers, movie studios benefit from such control of DVD rental and selling businesses, restricting customer access to certain titles while a remake of those titles is being made. I’m not sure what kind of a leverage the movie studios have over such stores when it comes to the ability to carry foreign titles.

Next time you can’t find a good movie, or a foreign movie, try to hope that Hollywood is making a remake of it, as taking away something from you just to make you pay more later on in the form of a remake of the original that you wanted is such a good reason for not being able to get your hands on a good movie.

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Imagine owning a small business store where a customer walks in looking for an item that they want under $4. If you don’t have any such item below $4 but have similar items that cost $4.50, which of the following responses would you want to give to that customer?

1. “Sorry, we don’t have anything below $4“
2. “Sorry, we don’t have anything below $4 but we have something close, and it costs only $4.50“

You would probably think that option number 2 above is better of the two answers, offering a customer something close to what they want and also being helpful to them at the same time. Even if the customer does not use that alternate solution, the customer will remember that you were helpful and that you cam came close to fulfilling their requirements, instead of thinking that you did not fulfil their requirements. Most businesses do not realize this. If a customer comes in with a specific request for something, many businesses rarely say anything other than “Sorry, we don’t have that”, thus turning the customer away. Offering alternate solutions to customers can be one of the best methods to have satisfied and loyal customers.

I recently went to a Wendy’s store around 9 pm and was told by an employee standing at the main door that Wendy’s was closed. As I was pulling out of the parking lot, I decided to go through their drive-thru and found out that it was still open, and would remain open until a few hours later. The store employee who told me to basically go away knew I was referring to dining inside the store, though he did not know if I was willing to do a drive-thru or not as an alternate. He thus risked losing me as a customer by not offering me the alternate solution that his store could offer for my needs at that time.

One should reach out to a customer in different ways and not only address their direct needs, but also be creative and thoughtful enough to offer alternates that would satisfy the exact needs of a customer in ways other than what the customer specifies. That involves flexibility and the willingness to think more and taking extra steps to make the customer happy, instead of looking for easy and direct sales all the time.

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1. Can the information in the email be verified?

This is the most important question to ask. If some information cannot be verified, do not forward it to other people. I get emails forwarded to me every week that claim that Mars is coming closer to Earth or that a cancer patient is dying and everyone needs to help her.

2. Who started the chain email in the first place?

This is the second most important question to ask. Who was the person who forwarded the first ever version of that email? If you cannot trace the source, then it is a strong indication that the email being forwarded is not worth reading. Credible emails with credible information usually list their sources clearly and explicitly so that they can be verified easily by anyone.

3. Do the claims made by the email make sense?

Sometimes emails contain technical or some confusing information that cannot be verified directly, thus making it harder to track down the source or information mentioned in that email. In such cases, simply think if the email makes sense. Some emails still claim that if one forwards them, Bill Gates will pay them $10 each. To date, there is no publicly available technology that can track all the people that forward a specific email. If a claim doesn’t make sense, such as to why Bill Gates would pay $10 of his money to anyone who spams others, there is no need to forward that email.

Those three basic guidelines should help people understand that forwarding an email does not make one cool unless the information contained within the email is accurate and can do real good.

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I got ready while having a quick “Good morning” talk with Jerine. I got to the babysitter’s home as soon as I could. Many babysitters here charge by the hour, so even if you’re over by a minute, you’re going to pay for an extra hour. I got there a few minutes before the 1st hour was up, thinking I would save my friend some money so she wouldn’t have to pay for the 2nd hour. However, once I rang the doorbell and asked for the kids, the babysitter, very politely and happily, told me to wait while she got the kids for me. Oh boy. It took her a good 7-8 minutes to get the kids, and that meant 5-6 minutes after the 2nd hour. Thus, by making me wait, she had earned an additional hour of pay. The kids came happily, jumping on me as if they’d seen a penguin. The babysitter was smiling too, as she had earned an extra hour of pay for something that I would be doing now.

I spent around 14 hours today babysitting, nannying, caring, or whatever it’s called. Time for me to take care of myself now, theoretically. I wonder if I should start charging myself by the hour to take care of myself. I can pay myself with food and sleeping hours, and if I’m ever not able to pay, eat vegetables as a punishment. I can also waste a few minutes after every hour, and force myself to continue sleeping or doing something for the entire duration of the 2nd hour.

Sounds weird, eh? Yes, I hope it does. At least I’ll be getting paid by myself.

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All other theatres around you had no lines, yet you chose to watch the movie at this theatre, even though this theatre wasn’t the biggest one around. If you would have gotten into the first night show, you should have still cried simply because you were grown up and you waited all day in line for “Snakes on a Plane” at a theatre that was no different than the surrounding theatres which did in fact have absolutely no lines.

While you cried, I went and saw the move which started 30 minutes after the showtime that you missed. I offered you my place in the line because you were literally crying, and I could watch that movie anywhere else with ease. You looked at me with heart broken eyes and walked away, making everyone wonder if we were a couple. You probably wanted that very first show only, and a show 30 minutes after the first show for that movie in the country was too late in your mind to be considered an achievement.

You made me realize that in the future, I can also try focusing on taking pictures of people who cry over movie lines, instead of trying to help them.

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While it’s true that the coffee was not the sole reason for such a reaction from that guy, it did add to the energy he already had waiting impatiently for his car to be wished; I’m sure he wished his car was never fixed after seeing the bill. A person wouldn’t want to give an angry guest abnormal and unnatural energy during an argument, so why would businesses want to give lots of caffeine and sugar to customers who are already impatient? Auto repair shops can offer something besides coffee to help customers relax. Why not offer water, donuts and milk as alternate options? Many people don’t like to argue on a full stomach, and many people will feel sleepy after drinking milk. If auto repair businesses want happier customers, even customers who are about to fork out a lot of money, businesses can stuff customers with donuts and milk instead of coffee if they want to expect better reactions from customers in such situations.

Business have to learn to be innovative and to stop doing things simply because others around them do it. It also makes sense for customers to rather have other customers sleeping or relaxing while waiting instead of seeing them walking around frustrated and holding coffee cups.

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Try carrying a marker with you at all times and whenever someone gives you a change back at any store, use the marker to verify it, or at least pretend that you’re trying to verify the bill. Whether it’s at the bank or at a movie theatre, do this slowly and make sure the staff member who handed you the change watches you draw marker lines on the bill. You can even draw a penguin or car on the bill and then hold it up high to verify it against the ceiling light. Compare the look on the face of the store staff with the look they have when they do the very same thing to you.

You’ll find the difference to be very beautiful.

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Then, while I was still typing a response to Jerine, the young girls’ phone beeped. She took it out of her pocket, looked at it for a few seconds and then typed something on it again. I was able to finish typing one text message by the time that young girl finished sending two messages and reading a response. I guess in this new age, if you have the right gadget, the companies making those gadgets will try to teach the customers how to use the gadget efficiently.

I’ve tried the T9 mode a few times, and it’s impressive. Usually I use nonstandard words from time to time to express different thoughts and emotions, like “hoohoho” or something retarded enough, and so I don’t use T9 most of the time. I guess I’ll have to customize the T9 database myself and add special words from a special language to it if I want to use it all the time.

In the end, I couldn’t find the titles recommended by Jerine, so I got One Missed Call 2 instead. I hope it’s not boring or stupid.

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I’ll try to elaborate a bit more on each of these values sometime before the end of next month. While you read this list, disregard any connection or discontent you might have for any situation presented; try to look at the situations and see how the same exact principle is viewed differently in such situations simply because the society has been doing it for a while now, and doing otherwise may be considered abnormal. Put yourself in each situation, and see what reasons you can come up with for each behavior.

1. Value of death

It’s interesting how most countries in the world consider killing other people under certain circumstances a necessity, but consider suicide under any circumstance a psychological disorder.

2. Value of social activities

It’s interesting that people consider it normal for neighbors to walk or bike around neighborhoods, but find it scary if a neighbor takes his/her car for a ride around the neighborhood for a while, going in circles.

3. Value of life

It’s interesting how the death of a police officer in a shooting draws more cops at a crime scene to solve the crime than at a scene where a whole family is slaughtered.

4. Value of time

It’s interesting how tow trucks will call you only once if they’re running late to helping you fix your car, but if they come and you’re not around your car, they’ll call you several times impatiently every 5 minutes or so, even if you tell them over the phone that you’re at a nearby gas station getting water because you got tired waiting for them.

What do you think about this? Do you have any comment on any specific point, or all the points in general? What reasons could you come up with for each situation?

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I took the elevator to the required floor and waited for a while for someone to come over to the front desk; apparently everyone was sleeping inside or sniffing on something. Someone finally came out of one of the rooms after I kept making noises. I was led to a room where a senior staff was working very hard on some paperwork. She looked up, greeted me and asked me about the reasons behind my visit. I told her about the things I was looking for, and she listened attentively. After I was done talking, she opened her drawer, gave me her business card and told me to email her the questions and she would answer them over the email right away. I looked at the card, looked at her and thanked her for her time. On the way out, I asked for the staff member who had told me over the phone to come and get “all the questions answered.” She had left for the day and would be back tomorrow, I was told. I left the building, walked back to the car and found a parking ticket placed nicely under the driver-side windshield wiper.

I had just spent around two hours trying to find parking and then walking back and forth from the business department, and in the end had nothing but a business card and a $45 parking violation ticket. I’m sure the business department couldn’t give out a work email address and a work phone number of a staff member over the phone, even though that information is published publicly on their website. It would be interesting for me to call back and ask the department as to why it was necessary for them to make me come all the way down just to get a business card and not have any of my questions answered. In fact, I had more questions after I left the building than when I walked in.

What do you think about this? What would you do or think if you went through something similar? As for me, I’ll probably be calling or going back to the office tomorrow to talk to that nice lady who was desperate enough to tell me over the phone to come over to the department. She probably wanted to see me, and didn’t. I’m sure she would love to see me tomorrow.

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Companies have to focus on gaining additional revenues and profit based on the skills they have, and not just on the possibilities that might see. A possibility can be converted into reality by acquiring the required skills to excel in an unchartered territory. Gillette, the name synonymous with shaving products, once ventured into items such as alarm clocks and watches, and it also bailed out of such areas fast. Venturing off thins down the efforts a single company can put into actual production and might affect the entire company negatively. Even right now, Gillette owns Duracell, the most famous brand of batteries competing with the famous Energizer, and it seems to be handling that business well so far. It uses those batteries as a way to power up its own electrical shavers and battery operated products, therefore working on owning a product that falls within the products that it itself carries. Thus, even though batteries are something that are not related to shaving, Gillette has adopted the business and done it well, quitting its watch and alarm clocks ventures and sticking to something related even remotely to shaving, and doing it well.

We can also take a look at ebay as an example: ebay bought Skype for $2.6 billion. In the beginning, it was unclear as to how an auction business would benefit from a voice call service. Ebay has promised since then that Skype will be integrated into all auctions, allowing buyers and sellers to interact with each other. So far, such a plan has yet to be materialized, and the money that could have been used to give back to customers has instead been spent on a business that is simply not related to ebay’s core business. In the meantime, ebay fees keep going higher and higher. Ebay has basically passed on the cost to the customers and is making customers pay for the purchase of Skype. It’s just like what you see in real life; a company makes it easier only for new customers to start using the company products. Once you’re a customer, you’re just another transaction since the company keeps focusing on getting new customers and not on keeping the current ones happy.

What is your opinion on this? Do you think there should be great caution taken by companies venturing into a different direction? Do you think business should even try to venture off at all from their original and already succesful products? Do you think companies should venture off but should do it at no cost to existing customers? If possible, I would request you to please read and comment on the original post by Sawai also, since my post is a type of a response to his post. It’s a short post, so it should be easy to read. Thank you.

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