Smoke and Rain
Walking on empty grassland
Walking as the moon appears
You give me all the reasons
Yet I am not quite sure
If you would just see
See that love still stays
Wishing it would pour today
Turn the soil to life
Give back what it has taken
Wish it would take away the pictures
Melt the images that would have been
If you would just see
See that hope still stays
Belief that has now gone
Like those days of childhood
Yet life’s rosy again
If you would just see
See that love still stays
Life’s fading into tomorrow
If you could just see
See all that has changed
And it only get better
If you would just see
See that hope still stays
Secrets Out!!
In an attempt to impress, Beijing might have just lost a lot of fans. Using a “fake” singer to keep the image of perfection going, was probably their least perfect move.
The “scandal” has made it to every newspaper worldwide, turning the issue into a moral and political drama. I cannot help but wonder about the little girls?? What about Yang Peiyi and Lin Miaoke? Will they forget this as a childhood episode? Will Lin carry on with the image of a lip-sync, or as a exceptionally beautiful girl? Will Yang Peiyi become more confident or end up with a ‘low beauty’ image?
Have we successfully messed up the way the future generations perceive talent and beauty? How wise are our decisions on what is acceptable and presentable?
What was showcased to the entire world was no doubt an unprecedented display of glitz, culture, talent, technology and years of preparation, but is all that credible? When might it truly be?
Motivation
Sometimes, even in business, motivation is not about the money or sense of power. For some or rather most of us this might seem utterly ridiculous – why take that path when it doesn’t have money, fame or power??
A new branch opens up at the locality, because the market is untapped here. The endorsement contract was handed over to a younger actress, because it will go down well with the target audience. A variation of the soap was launched, because research shows that it will be a future cash cow.
At times, reasons for doing things at a personal or business level extend beyond the ‘because‘ of profit.
True, these businesses are thriving and the owners are happy, but so are the people running a non-profit organisation. There still exist establishments where employees work overtime by choice.
For some people choices are, thankfully, defined by their love for live, and how they want to make a difference. No wonder that we see refreshing new small businesses taking shape, fighting all the odds. No wonder that we still see an old kirana store getting regular business despite new forms of competition.
A business may not be unique in what it offers, and yet it thrives, because despite the business purpose the motivation is heartfelt, an attempt to offer something new to a relevant group of customers.
Something new, that may not necessarily be motivated either by money or by fame.
Online video advertising
Fear may sell a lot of products, but humour is not too far behind. Online video advertisements usually bank on the second to spread their ideas.
These video promotions may not be of much relevance, or even innovative in their approach yet they spread because of the ease of forwarding and zero monetary investment on the part of the viewer.
Possible reasons why such videos work:
1. The source of the video is reliable and hence probably worth the effort
2. It presents a intriguing enough setting to entice the passerby to click
3. Invariably placed at login pages of the site (where the page takes some time to load)
4. Unpredictability of the story line
5. Ease in understanding the concept
6. Hope that one viewer will find it interesting enough to pass on to friends
The formula to trigger a chain reaction for online word of mouth is no rocket science. Get the elements right and you are set to go. This mode of advertising however comes with its own share of downside: firstly there is no way to measure how many of the ‘views’ actually translate into ‘customers’ , secondly such concepts work as long as there is a balanced mix or entertainment and advertisement, change that equation risk equating the brand to shallow humour.
Marks for neatness
On the way to work I saw some kids in a school bus hastily copying homework. Although the kid must have copied the assignment word to word, but he will get 2 marks less than the student who finished his homework at home (if he is not found out that is). Two marks less for lack of neatness, for scrawny handwriting and a wobbly diagram.
Those bonus marks are not about beautiful handwriting, they are about the attention given while finishing the assigned work. Brands score (and lose) brownie points all the time. Decors of a retail outlet, presentation of a dish are signs on the thought and attention to detail given. If it is a hastily thrown together dish you would know, not just from the taste but also from how it is brought to your table.
Works for everything, carefully written alphabets and dotted lines on the earth’s diagram look like tiny elements that can be skipped. It will however determine whether you score those crucial two marks.
Here’s an Idea
Is it too much to ask for when you expect an employee to know the product on sale? Retail outlets for clothing, accessories, home decor items, foot wear and restaurants seem to have it figured out. Only in rare cases do you find an employee unaware of where the brand section is, or what the dish contains.
The trouble however arises when more diverse products are on sale. Books for example. Nothing impresses more when the employee knows the book by title, authors name, availability, release dates etc. But that is rarely the case. So how do we achieve this? It is definitely far more complex than remembering which size of jeans goes in which section of the store.
A possible solution -compartmentalise. Not the store, the employees. Instead of having all 10 employees handle the customer traffic at random, allot each of them one genre of books. Each employee trained to specialise in her genre, she knows the authors, the latest releases, the biggest bestsellers, the rare publications, prices and hardcover releases.
Sure, all this can be done with a click on the internal search engine. The idea is not to do what everyone does, but to do a little more. The idea is to cross from being good to being great.
When everyone is king.
Not so long ago, the Indian customer was at the mercy of product and service providers. Options were few and waiting for purchases to actually translate into ownership was normal. A two wheeler would arrive years after booking, so would the telephone connection, LPG connectivity, water supply etc. Bills were paid after spending hours in a queue, banking was a pain. The local kirana guy decided the prices for all commodities and eating out in a place that provided the right mix of ambience, food and service was a luxury.
All that has changed drastically, no more long waiting periods, transactions can be done from the ease of home, efficient service is provided almost everywhere you go. The customer has been raised to the position of King. This of course has its own side effects.
Expectations are sky high, after years of oppression the sudden sense of power has made the Indian customer extremely demanding, impatient and sometimes even inconsiderate.
No matter how great the service, product or scheme a minute flaw is enough to tick the customer. The only time good service is noticed is when it goes wrong. Great ambience, variety of choice, valet parking .. all that is fine but I am paying for it, they are not doing me a favor seems to be the general attitude.
The shopping malls provide near perfect ambience; every need of the customer is taken care of – sofas for those accompanying the shopper, eating options close by, membership privileges, clean washrooms free goodies and polite considerate treatment – and yet we cannot get over the delay in billing.
Interestingly these accusations are directed to those who really are trying to be perfect, nobody complains about slow service in a local restaurant, nor do we complain about delayed letter delivery from the government post office. We do however, go out at the four star restaurant when the dessert is five minutes late, we crib if the telephone billing service is slow -after all we all had to wait for a good ten minutes till they got the server up and running. An otherwise prompt courier service receives bad reviews if the letter arrives a day late.
The side effects of making customer the king are many, good and ugly. It could have turned the otherwise overtly tolerant Indian consumer into a critic looking out for the smallest of flaws.
I feel that understanding, patience and a genuine appreciation are required from both involved – the consumer and the provider.