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November 30, 2006

The lost customer - Part 2

Frank had a great and very realistic input to the Malaysian food scene and the customer's reluctancy to reject bad service.

He wrote that he knows "one popular hawker stall selling assam laksa. Its situated next to a smelly drain. Every time many ppl waiting. The hawker is very rude, don't even acknowledge u when u order, never say thank u. U don't wanna see how they wash the bowls and utensils. And yet the place is always full. This scenario is common in Malaysia. Who needs rapport, courtsey or NLP when rudeness can still bring you big success."

And right he is. There are so many outlets in Kuala Lumpur that provide bad service for whatever reason, and still, there are so many customers that frequent their outlets.

Worse of all are those food stalls that are dirty and unhygienic.

Frank also mentioned that rapport or NLP doesn't matter much in this situation. True - rapport brings you only so far, and if you don't deliver your service or product, you are still going to get out of the market because sooner or later, the customer doesn't trust you anymore and the rapport is broken.

On the different issue, well, NLP teaches you to take care of your own life, and take charge of your own behaviour. To create the awareness for choice. We all have the ability to chose our actions, right? It is always possible to say stop to something or get going at something else.

That is what Frank hopefully did, when he decided not to go to this food stall anymore. He even commented about it and his disgust for dirtyness clearly shows through in his comment. So the bad news spreads through the web, and it is just a pity that he doesn't mention the foodstalls name!

NLP teaches you ecology in everything you do. How your action affect your life, your family, your friends, those that deal with you, your city, country, and the planet!!! That is important, I believe, personally.

To understand that every action that I do will have some effect on something and to consider this in what I do. Positively consider this. I am sure that this actually has nothing to do with NLP, just with simple consideration to the future of this planet, that we inhibited from our parents and pass on to our children. But we all, in general, don't think about the state of the planet often enough and, closer to us, not about the impact of our decisions on our closer environment. To give you one example - the business man who wants to have a great career, gives everything for his job, to rise through the ranks and on the way demolishes his health, loses his family, doesn't know his children. This to me is unecological, but of course, this is my standpoint!

I hope I could clarify and add on to this great comment. Frank, keep it coming, or join me in the training in January.

Andreas

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For those interested in the training and who want to make 2007 a WoW! : Just send me a mail to NLP AT asiaminddynamics.com















Posted by Andreas at November 30, 2006 12:29 PM

Comments

Hi Andreas,

Thanks for the dedicated post to my previous response. :)

I think most 'famous' hawkers have similar take-it-or-leave-it attitudes. When you have a monopoly on any product like good-tasting lasksa, your customers bestow you a license to mistreat them because they can't satisfy their hunger elsewhere. Until someone better comes along. But when it comes to good assam laksa or kuey teow tng from a secret family recipe, they know they won't see a challenger for decades. The one I commented about has been in Penang for what, 20 years? If the equally rude kids take over, it will contine to monopolize for at least another half a century? Even Wendy's and Whitecastle with all their service promises didn't last that long in Malaysia.

For Malaysians, when it comes to a fight between courtesy, cleanliness and a hungry stomach, the stomach always wins. We can bet on it.

This is not to say that good service/rapport building is not important. Its important only if you are struggling in your business. But once you are at the top, simple courtsey becomes an unnecessary expense. Its just how monopolies operate, and its very predictable to industry observers like me. I know some big businesses who even threaten to sue their customers because they complained about poor service. It happens when you become big.

I always believe branding starts from the inside, which I think is the essence of your training. That's why I laugh when I see companies spend $$$ on marketing plans and advertising and yet their staff on the ground have sour assam face. Most Malaysian companies are still about 3 generations away from connecting the dots between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. For proof, ask the people on the floor (where the customer abuse takes place). They are usually the lowest paid and most abused by the company. Now try to figure out how that translates to good and proud service :)

Posted by: Frank at December 4, 2006 10:38 AM

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