Not Being Sarkari

Here are some more tips which can help in delivering customer service a little better....

Know your product. Know your your store. Know your menu. etc. etc. A simple approach which can produce some startling results.

Do not ignore a customer. Even if it is not your department, customer is yours.

Do not blame others for problem. It is always easy to point fingers. Looking for solutions is difficult but very fruitful. If immediate solution is not available, give an appropriate timeline and proactively inform customer about the status.

Help customers in making decision, if it is necessary. Do not try to sell your highest margin product or costliest product or product which provides maximum employee incentive. Provide genuine help. Customers appreciate that.

Do not disappear. Customer asked for some help and you promised to come back with solution. And you never came back. This is bad.

Do not hover long enough. Do not make customers feel they are being watched. Let customers figure out themselves. If they require any help, they will come to you.

Do not show frustration. Customer service job is full of stress. But it would be more fun, if you serve your customers patiently.

1. Show respect.
2. Show more respect.
3. Show more respect when in good mood.
4. Show (even) more respect when in bad mood.
5. Show respect everyday
6. Show respect to elders
7. Show respect to kids
8. Show respect to all customers
9. Show respect all day
10. Feel proud when you show respect

Weekend was fruitful. It was busy, little hectic but full of meaningful conversations. Listened to one of India's most revered speaker, met some interesting people, got insights from some entrepreneurs and made some new friends. On Saturday, I got a chance to listen to Former President of India, Dr APJ Kalam. To me, He is an intelligent man who accomplished many great things without compromising on integrity and values (Dr Manmohan Singh is another such rare Indian). I always dreamt of listening to his speech and having some cool conversations with him. First half of the dream is fulfilled.  As usual speech was inspiring. It was full of stories and conversations which Dr Kalam had with great visionaries and personalities during his lifetime. From his speech it was evident that he has a great vision for our country. He passionately shares that vision with everyone, especially students. He ended his speech with a question which every Indian should ask from himself. How I wish to be remembered (in terms of one's contribution to growth of country)? I think this is a question which one should keep asking himself because if answers, followed by actions, are missing to this question than there is problem. Thanks Alma Mater for this opportunity. On Sunday, I had an opportunity of meeting some entrepreneurs. Couple of them have already made it big, some are small but doing good for themselves, some who has just jumped on this bandwagon and lot of aspiring entrepreneurs like me. Discussions were related to practical aspects of launching and doing 'the own thing'. There were no fairy tale stories or inspiring stuff from them but focus was on difficulties one face while trodding this less travelled road. Lot of insights, sharing, conversations and guidance.  An interesting point resonated by almost everyone, try to keep your customers happy and satisfied while your business is gaining momentum. Hey, opportunities for people like me. Cool!

Fortune named Steve Jobs as a CEO of decade. After all there are not many CEOs in the world who have transformed four industries in a decade - music, movies, mobile and computers.

This article was perfect fodder for any Apple fanboy's soul. And yours truly is no different.

A comment pertaining to air travel on a blog post.

Insightful post on Lateral Thinking blog

  

Your Inner Whining Artist (IWA) is the part of you that tells you you’re a genius waiting to be discovered. If only the big bad world would sit up and recognise your talent, the IWA tells you, all your problems would be over. Audiences and critics would bow at your feet, agents would queue up to represent you, and all the people who’d ever rejected your work would be gorging themselves on humble pie. You just need to get your break, to be discovered. It can only be a matter of time …

 This is so true about so many bloggers from India (may be worldwide) as well. Check out any blogging forum and you will notice all bloggers have a feeling that they have one of the best blog in their genre (yours truly is no different). Their content is far superior than every other blog present. Their blog content has everything which can translate into best-seller. Next blockbuster will be because of their blog.  Most bloggers are waiting for that right moment. Right time when a stroke of luck will change their blog into a money spinner instrument. Everybody is waiting to be discovered. Nobody wants to be left out.  With more than 9,00,000 blogs are getting added every 24 hours, this seems to be a wishful thinking. What say? Does anyone have a chance of making big? Yes.  Bloggers writing for themselves. Bloggers not writing to please audience who regularly or occasionally comments on their blog. Bloggers writing original and interesting stuff. Bloggers challenging status quo.  But then this is true for individuals as well. After all blogs derive personality from the individuals behind them.

I have registered Aloo Kachalu under Creative Commons License.

Means? In case you want to use Aloo Kachalu on your blog, feel free to do so. Please give credits by linking back. Do not alter image. Okay, you can re-size it according to your needs.

Feel free to pass it on to your friends. Let us see, if it inspires anyone to do good for customers. Or bring a smile on someone's face. Or someone uses it in entirely creative way. Like framing it and putting up on desk, putting it on a computer desktop. Just thinking aloud...

Let me know...