Successful Entrepreneurs-Taking Risks When It Matters

RISK…..How does this four digit word have influenced us in life? The word ‘risk’ shall appear distressing in whatever choice of decision making ranging from buying property, investment, business start-up, suppliers, vendors, customers to even marriage. It is common to associate risk negatively such as being irresponsible, rash, losses, damages or even threat. Definitely it is part of our life, business and work but yet we have seen that risk takers have succeeded despite against all odds. However it does not imply the same definition to true entrepreneurs. These true or successful entrepreneurs have seen risk as positive opportunities to excel and change the platform of their venture. Several entrepreneurs and innovators such as Robert Goddard, Soichiro Honda, Harland David Sanders, R.H Macy, Richard Branson, Donald Trump, Carlos Slim Helu, Martha Stewart, Emma Harrison, Linda Bennett and Bill Gates have undergone various risks before establishing their products and application in the world.

Entrepreneurs have the knack of getting right in spotting a new trend and acting in advance despite the risk involved. They are the first to gear into the business as they recognize the change in economy or cultural trend. Being the first in market gives them competitive edge compared to others who are known as mere followers. Orville and Wilbur Wright were the sole reason why we have airplane. Both brothers had risked their life, time, money and resources as they battled through depression, illness, mockery and failed prototypes to develop a plane that could get airborne and fly. Despite the risk involved, their success paved way for the modern transportation of the existing airlines.      

Akio Morita the founder of Sony launched its first product, an automatic rice cooker but it failed to capitalize in the post war market. Less than 100 units were sold but did not dampen Akio Morita as he continued to work hard in other ventured business. His ventures are considered risky because Japan was recovering from the devastated war and there was clouded possibility on how Japanese products shall be received in worldwide market. His knew the risk involved but he was determined to prove his establishment with electronics product shall succeed. This was proven to be right as his later products such as transistor radio, magnetic tape recorder, TV, home video recorder, video tape and CD continued to cement his reputation as an entrepreneur who thinks ahead despite knowing the risks involved.  

Even though Tony Fernandes had the passion to set up budget airlines, he was advised to purchase an existing airline. Imagine buying Air Asia, the heavily indebted subsidiary of DRB Hicom. Mortgaging his home and personal saving, Tony Fernandes took a huge risk to acquire the airlines with two ageing Boeing 737-300 jets and US$11 million worth of debts. Deep down, everyone felt that Tony Fernandes is making a wrong decision as airlines industry was facing bleak period after 11^th September 2001 incident. Unperturbed he took the risk which served as opportunity because aircraft leasing fell 40% and airlines lay-offs enables experienced staffs were readily available. Offering reasonable pricing for cut rate air service was welcomed by travellers who believed it was a right move with the impending tight economy. Within a year, Air Asia had achieved breakeven point and cleared all its debts. By end of year 2004, its initial public offering was oversubscribed by 130 %.  Whatever we may choose to say, but Tony Fernandes took the risk positively which is an essential skill for entrepreneurs to succeed.  

However being the pioneer does not stop entrepreneurs from enlarging their business coast but shall always reinvent their products and services to places them on track with globalization demand. Failure to do so shall provide an opportunity for competitors to trot down the complacent entrepreneurs and prevail over them. Several organizations such as Kodak, Enron Bethlehem Steel, Commodore Computers and Pan Am Airlines has failed to monetize the necessary needs to its products and services and have been phased out from its industry.    

True successful entrepreneurs shall never compromise such challenges as blind risk but undertake calculated risk that provides them strategic decision. Strategic decision includes conducting a detailed analysis on the benefits or worst possible consequences before deciding whether to accept the challenges. We cannot explain when will be the most perfect time to launch a business. Entrepreneurs that truly believe if their ideas have potential success, they shall never wait and launch it despite all the risks involved. Successful entrepreneurs have always come out from their comfort zone by taking challenges that may deemed impossible. The question poised here is “Are you willing to risk all you have that include money, relationship, resources, dignity, properties or even life to achieve the success? Surely the phrase ‘No Pain No Gain’ has its substantial meaning to be associated with all the entrepreneurs. 

Effective LISTENING Skills

Why active listening is critical in business? Most of us tend to hear rather than LISTEN. Listen shows that you are serious and committed in acquiring and confirming the information. Paying attentive listening proves significant as an ability to understand thoroughly the defined meanings, understood the read lines clearly and enables to relate to with the speaker. We may have encountered poor listening habit which contributes to repetitive of tasks, poor quality output, customer’s dissatisfaction, wrong interpretation and waste of raw materials. How does a poor listening skill affect the overall operation?

Several times when I order the required food and beverages at Mamak restaurants, there is bound to be a mistake. I ordered Tea but the waiter shall bring Ice Tea. One of the key weaknesses I noticed in a Mamak restaurant is their waiters shall take order without jotting down in their order record. Another incident related to poor listening skills was with Astro. I called their customer care line to inform the defects on the decoder due to lightening. Their customer representative had wrongly inserted my address and I had to wait up to 10 days for a new installation. Worse I had to call them every day to find out what went wrong. They only found it out one the 9^th day that the address was inserted wrongly. My colleague who works as Quality Manager stated that his newly recruited foreign operators from Bangladesh had caused a delay in customer delivery. According to him, his supervisors had carried out the wrong instructions in their operation. The situation fused further as the foreign operators had poor understanding, language barrier and poor listening skills that resulted repetitive of tasks, time and cost. Poor listening occurs at top level management too. A friend of mine who works as a Project Manager communicates with his fellow employees at India's manufacturing plant through video conferencing. He claimed that if new points were highlighted, his counterparts hardly shall take any notes. He even voiced it out several times but his counterparts would normally reply by stating that the information is well stored in their memory. However after some time their output may missed out several details that was initially discussed through video conference. Few years back, when our company did its annual dinner at a hotel, we clearly explained that the food must not contain beef. The hotel’s sales staff noted the on the confirmation but it was still served along the food on the occasion. The sales staff apologized and stated there was a miscommunication between the event and kitchen department that resulted the embarrassment.

Most of the poor listening skills occur in an organization because of several employees’ attitude who takes things for granted. Our memory is always considered as an excellent tool to store inputs but it may not be the most effective one. The management should always ensure their employees are given the right tips of improving their listening skills. Below I inserted a simple key technique for ensuring effective listening skills.

      L :            Look Interested

à Create a positive image on caller’s mind that you are interested

à Be attentive and maintain eye contact

      I :            Inquire

à Ensure you get the whole story by clarification and use questions to assist your direction in conversation.

à Use notepad, note books or sticky notes to record important points

      S :           Stick to the point

à Stick to the point by stating your purpose

à Adhere to prepared agenda

      T :           Test your understanding

à Before you move on to the next topic make sure you have understand.

à Ask questions for clarification

      E :           Evaluate the message

à Analyze what has been said to you

à Double check any outward modifications

      N :          Neutralize your feelings

à Keep open mind, be patient and tolerant

à Avoid pre conceptions and suspend immediate judgment

à Do not interrupt

                       

According to Richard Branson through his article The Art of Asking Advice, he claimed that listening skills are essential in problem-solving. He stated that when he was a giving a talk in Greece 20 years back, an individual kept on asking him excellent questions. Richard Branson noticed that this particular audience had LISTENED intently to understand all the responded queries. Richard Branson claimed that this particular individual had shown the drive to succeed and it was meant to be too. The referred individual was Stelios Haji-Ioannou, who later became the founder of low cost airlines ‘easyJet’ and have ventured to other travel and leisure related business. Imagine how valuable the information has been for Stelios Haji-Ioannou during the queries with Richard Branson. He could have asked questions but if he did not emphasize effective listening skills, how sure it would have back tracked his strategic references.

Listening is a significant skill that ensures the effectiveness of job, department functionality, clear instructions, smoothness of operation, conflict resolution, motivating employees’, decision making   and enhancing customer relationship. Employees’ needs to practice their listening skills through the right techniques and their superiors should always emphasize its importance. It is not how we are engaged with listening but gaining the ACCURATE information through effective listening skills.

Do Not STEREOTYPE Your Customers

Stereotype is defined as having a fixed mind-set about an individual based on their background. This attitude is seen as a weaken character that discriminates, bias and prejudice. Whenever we make conclusions about someone without knowing them, it means we are stereotyping them. There are several key factors in stereotyping which includes nationality, origin, race, religion and gender. 

How does stereotype evolved and why it is tough to nip the source? Culture imposition is one of the main reasons for the existence of stereotype. Culture imposition encircles the belief of “We know what’s best for you, if you don’t like it you can go elsewhere”. For few races, they self-imposed themselves superior compared to minorities and thus feels their thoughts, ideas and views has stronger authority and command. Besides than that, ethnocentrism concept emphasizes their culture is superior and inability to accept another culture view. It has evolved in this world long time back and most of it referred to started long way back from the time of colonial and imperial power. Clearly it channeled the process of using assumptions to evaluate other culture’s action and messages, thereby concluding their ulterior purposes and motives. Culture blindness contributes to the final straw of stereotype with simply ignoring difference and individuals proceeds as though no differences exist with the perception of not worrying what other cultures. However stereotype has continued evolve with major contributors are poor education system, lack of knowledge, poor attitude, lack of management’s responsibility and simple ignorance. 

Have you entered an attire shop and you liked a choice of attire colour but your preferences are shot down by the outlet’s sales person who stated “I didn’t know that you’ll too can wear this shirt with this specific colour? Words such “I didn’t know” shows lack of knowledge, “you’ll too can wear” is termed as provoking that refers to a set of group and “wear shirt with this specific colour” is termed insulting in this conversation. The statement does not carry an understanding to seek clarification but related to having an already fixed mind set. That sentence may not go well with several customers as it seems diminishing prejudicially by comparing the evolution of lifestyle. 

Several negative stereotypes includes women are not strong as men, only anorexic can become models, Russians are violent people, all Italians linked to mobsters, Irish are alcoholics, women do not drive well, Germans are Nazis, Asians have no fashion sense, Middle East peoples are fussy customers and Indonesians are illegal trespassers in Malaysia.   

An Indian colleague of mine constantly said he likes to eat at Chinese restaurants but grew unhappy with the stereotypical service. He said whenever he is at a Chinese restaurants, the waitress shall ask “Mahu minum Beer apa? (What choice of beer you want to drink?). He is a person that does not consume alcohol thus you can imagine the increased tense whenever the questions are constantly asked. Once at his regular dined Chinese restaurant, he got angered when being posted with the same question by the same waitress. He claimed he has gone to the restaurant up to 50 times and the waitress shall ask him the same question. He politely replied this time that he was not an alcohol drinker but this time he got an abrupt shocking reply from the waitress who stated in a broken Malay language “Semua orang India minum beer. Sini ramai India datang makan, mesti minum beer punya. You tak minum, betul kah Boss? (All Indians drink beer. A lot of Indians that dine here shall drink beer. Really sure or not that you won’t drink beer?). The waitress had stereotyped that all Indians drink beer whenever they come to a Chinese restaurant and her statement includes the claim that it is impossible that Indians do not take alcohol.

A single question being posted back to the affected customers “Will you go back to the same outlet that has treated and provide discriminating service?” It is pretty clear that organizations with such negative services shall risk losing customers and revenue. Being stereotype can be offensive, hurting and affect the image of an organization. Employees should be trained through cross cultural communication training to provide skills, information and techniques to manage customers. The training shall be vital with employees being taught to suspend judgements and avoid pre cultural conceptions when dealing with any customer. Organizations’ needs to play a pivotal to ensure that each customer is well taken care because staffs need to use the right choice of words, be tactful and apply the right body language when they communicate with various cultural customers. Employees’ that are trained on the valuation of each customer culture shall possess a better knowledge and understanding which deprives stereotypes services. It is advisable that stereotyping especial religion, race, gender and negative should be prevented at all costs, as it leads to treat our customers as a narrow unit. Instilling empathy communication through key elements such as respect, tolerance, appreciation, courtesy, politeness, cautious, flexibility and patience can bridge a better cross cultural understanding with customers and stem out the unrequited STEREOTYPE.   

Innovation A Key Transformation For Entrepreneurs

Innovative has seen the transformation of modern technology that suits global appeal. Organizations have constantly innovated new ideas, technologies, products and services to have competitive edge in its industry. Entrepreneurs should always constantly look into areas of creating new inventions’ or adapt the existing products.

The most common one was the creative introduction of telephone by Alexander Graham Bell. It is still widely used but humans require a gadget that is mobile. In mid 1980s, Motorola launched the first hand phone in market which also prompted other brands such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Siemens and LG venturing in the mobile market in 1990s. However in 2000s, the world saw another innovation from the phone through the introduction of Apple’s IPhone. The birth of smartphones innovation channels in new players such as Samsung, Blackberry, HTC, Acer and Nokia to innovate their models. The creation started by Alexander Graham Bell has been adapted and altered to fulfil the current generation and needs. This process shall not end with the introduction of smart phones or tablet PC but innovation shall continue as it seeks refurbishment of finest and latest technology.

Several worldwide popular entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Henry Ford, Oprah Winfrey, Ray Kroc, Walt Disney, George Lucas and Mark Zuckerberg has reshaped their respective ventured industry through acclaimed innovativeness of products and services. Even in Malaysia we are not shortage of successful innovative entrepreneurs that incudes Tony Fernandez, Lim Kok Wing, AK Nathan, Vincent Tan, Syed Mokhtar Syah, Bernard Chandran, Ramly Mokni and Hj Mustapha Kamal. These entrepreneurs have continued to reinvent their models and applications to match the required needs for all customers.  

Tony Fernandez changed the innovative drive for Malaysian and Asian airlines industry. He successfully instilled a new direction by providing affordable package for customers. His innovative idea has also encouraged the emergence of other budget airlines such as Malindo Air, Tiger Airways and JetStar. Several innovative concept that was applied includes 'Empty Seat Option (ESo), online booking, 'Red Carpet' service, 'Fly-Thru' transit, frequent flyer program, onboard immigration processes and angle lie-flat business class seat. In the year 2008, Air Asia was recognized as one of the world's most innovative organization by Fast Company magazine, the only airline and Asian brand to make it into the list.

Few months back, I had an opportunity to meet G & G Dessert Products Sdn Bhd’s entrepreneur, Vathumalaai. Based at Johor, he is determined with transforming traditional food and beverage products into an instant concept of frozen products and exotic food caramel to the next level. His innovation into food technology has seen the successful development of liquid syrup which is widely used for food and beverages in various industries through caravan or kiosk worldwide.

Innovative may not necessarily be obtained through detailed planning or research, it may happen in a spark of idea, accidental or eagerness to improvise the existing products. In the year 1955, Joseph and Mcvicken who had initially planned to create wallpaper cleaner but accidentally developed non-toxic modelling clay known as Play Doh in the market. The same applies to Post-It-Notes produced by 3M. The idea was inspired when 3M manager, Art Fry required a bookmark that can mark the pages for choir hymnal. That idea provided the necessary spark for them to do research in developing sticky notes.  

Emphasizing the needs to be innovative is a required necessity at workplace. Management needs to motivate employees to be innovative in identifying new methods, process, products, services, technology, machines and gadgets to ensure they remain competitive and ahead of others. It is the management’s responsibility to safeguard employees’ innovative methodologies till it has achieved patent or trademark rights. Remember that ideas are only PRECIOUS if it is implemented.    

Professional Introduction In Customer Service

Since the start of my career, I have seen the changes and evolution of customer service skills. However one skill has not changed and still remains in our customer service scope. It is Professional Introduction.

Professional introduction defines the image of an organization and sets the welcoming greetings to be in standard order. Whenever we discuss professional introduction, we only limit its scope to handshake and choice of words. Is it so?

Few years back when I was working as HR Manager, suppliers tend to fix appointments for our organization strategic plans. I have notice that one of the labour agent suppliers shall never be punctual for meetings and appointments. Whenever my staffs rang him up to locate his whereabouts, he will never attend to the calls. However he will be super-fast whenever his payment is prepared. I noticed his behaviour continued for the next few meetings. After three months, I decided not to renew his contract with us after obtaining another labour agent supplier. The new labour agent supplier acts professionally and communicates effectively for the benefit of our organization.

Another incident occurred at a popular hotel in Johor. When we entered the main entrance, the bell man did not greet us and his expression showed that he clearly snubbed us away. The bell man continued talking with a security guard and his poor attitude prompted me to inform his superior. What happened to the formal introduction greeting in the hotel by placing the right hand on the left chest? It is extinct or complete ignorance by several employees that do not understand the term ‘professional’?      

One of the key vital tips is being punctual when meeting our customers. We do not want our customers waiting for us as every tick of time means business. It is suggested that being 10 minutes early before the appointment shall provide a comfort zone. It also provides you an opportunity to freshen up and apply light make up to enlighten your personal grooming. Apply a light fragrance or perfume and avoid strong ones as it might create discomfort with your customer. Ensure that your phone is in silent mode to avoid interruptions during the meeting. Receive your customers with warm and courteous feelings. If we are sitting when the customer comes, stand up to greet him. Our body language should indicate that we are always receptive with acceptance. Always ensure that you had established eye contact and paint a beautiful smile to greet your customers. You should offer handshake as a sign of greetings and bonding relationship. When you offer handshake make sure it is in the right angle with your thumbs are 90⁰ and other fingers joined straight. One or two pumps should be sufficient and greet the customer’s name with title. As you hand shake, nod your head in acknowledgment and your upper body lowered a bit to portray acceptance. If the customer has come to your workplace, bring him to the designed meeting room. Offer him a seat and ensure that the main person be seated in front of you for easier discussion. Exchange business card by holding the tip of the business card in both hands. The business card you receive from your customer should not be kept in your card holder or wallet immediately. Place the business card on the right of you for your view and form of respect. Once the customer is comfortable, offers him refreshments such as tea, coffee or bottled mineral water. If the customer prefers bottled mineral water, provide it with an extra glass so that customer can pour accordance to his needs. If you have any forms of gifts to give to your customer ensure that it is acceptable for the customer to avoid the perception as bribe. Besides than that, ensure the gift objects are acceptable to customers and do not hurt their feelings as different race may have different taboo on several items. For example it is prohibited of giving clock to Chinese as it marks a symbol of dead or funeral. Once the meeting is over, accompany the customer till he reached the lift or exit door and thank him for the allocated precious time.      


Thus we can summarize that professional introduction is not only about handshake or greetings but it requires the right attitude, dedication, sincerity and etiquette which was clearly missing from initial labour agent supplier or the bellman. Whenever I discuss about professional introduction in my training's, it seems an easy meat for the participants but when I asked them to role play it, definitely there are areas to tackle. Throughout the years professional introduction has remained the same but most of us simply ignore several tiny aspects that differentiate between quality and moderate customer service. Train your employees the importance of professional introduction as it shall provide the first impression when meeting a customer.      

Managing Yourself When Dealing With Unhappy Customer

The new age of customer has influenced organization to look into whereas scope of customer service skills for their employees especially managing themselves. Each employee must able to manage themselves when they deal with unhappy customers. It can be face to face customer or even in telephone conversation. Unhappy customers can turn to abusive, loud, crude and aggressive.

Are customers unhappy because of the employee or the provided services? What do we do in return? Unhappy customers may not able to control their anger and can be outspoken towards employees.

Employees should not get emotional when dealing with unhappy customer. Being emotional in return may only trigger the situation to burst up without finding an amicable solution. Mainly when we notice a customer is angry, it is in best if we remain calm and composed. Identifying the root cause or source of the unhappiness should be set as the priority. It is common for customers to vent out his feelings to maximum but surely his actions shall cool down after some time. Let customer voice out his concern completely and till then we should avoid interference. Interfering as customers voice our may only increase the customer’s anger because in his view we are not listening to his points. Remember that customer is not always right but we do not have time to justify the rightness when customers are angry. Let the ego out of the picture and your concern should be resolving the situation rather than start the blame game. Employees should keep on track their body language. Being physically straight to their face may not be ideal. Your upper body should be lowered a bit which indicates acceptance. If possible have your palms together and nod head of approval when customer voice out. Avoid showing inappropriate gestures such pointing out with index finger which can look threatening or harmful to customer. Your expression should genuine and shows sincerity such as describing the statement “We are deeply sorry for the situation you are in”. To return anger with anger is something that clearly should be avoided by the employee. However it is the duty of employees to portray the commitment and willingness in resolving the highlighted complaint. Apologizing whenever required can also be crucial in tackling the situation. Customers would love to see apologetic words and replacement in view to resolve the problem. The employee should consider bringing the customer to a private room as the walk or atmosphere may reduce his anger. Offer the customer a cool drink and state that his situation is understandable and should not have occurred in the first place at all. If the situation still persists, it is important to call in your immediate superior or manager to iron out the situation. Finally apologize again at the end and thank him for voicing out the noted dissatisfaction. As long as we have resolved the situation, customer shall always remain receptive. Take the customer’s contact details so that you can send him a voucher, discount card or gift as part of customer retention.   

Employees should keep in their mind set that customer has nothing personal against them, it is the deficiency in service that invoked his dissatisfaction. The management must also continue to evaluate their employees’ performance and ensure they are given the right training to handle customer. Not all the employees’ are equipped with the required knowledge to handle customers. We do not want to lose even a single customer because our incompetence in tackling the situation. According to Lee Resource Incorporation who claimed that “Attracting a new customer costs 5 times as much as keeping an existing one”. What is more important to sustain a business - Customers or Inability to Manage Oneself?          

100% ATTITUDE In Customer Service

What’s the point if you spend so much beautifying or upgrading your premise with latest technology, furniture, equipment or layout but you have bad attitude staffs?  Negative attitude staffs can derail your primary vision to provide exceptional customer. In this article we shall not ascertain the selection or recruitment scope but instil the right attitude to all the employees when dealing with customers. According to a survey conducted by Institute of Customer Service in United Kingdom, 62% of complaints arise from with staff attitude and lack of competence. Bad attitude such as ignorance, rude, untidy, emotional, unprofessional, unhelpful and inability to take initiative at workplace can spread like a disease. It can easily infect other employees subsequently influencing them to incompetent professionalism at workplace.    

First impression is the lasting impression. In one of a quick lunch, I and my colleague went to a Chinese Restaurant located at Bandar Putra, Kulai, Johor. We ordered Sambal Fried Rice and guess what came along the fried rice. In the first scoop, my colleague noticed a tiny fried black fly. Worse when we notified the restaurant waitress, she gave a cold look as if we put the ‘fly’ inside the fried rice. She took the plate away without being apologetic or even asking if she require any replacement. It was our first visit there and surely that shall be our last. Immediately both of us left the restaurant and vowed never to go back there again. During the first visit to any outlets, restaurants, hotels or cafeteria, customers always has a veil of optimism. If we are unable to provide excellent customer service, we may just forget that customers will ever come back to us. No wonder first impression lasts forever.        

The right attitude states that employees should always remain positive and dedicated in problem solving. It is the responsibility of the management to instil both positives and problem solving techniques. Training and developments enables employees to acquire new skills that shall be helpful in customer service. Creating the environment is necessary in building a positive vibe at workplace. Employees do not want regime style management which restricts the flow of operation smoothness. Employees that are constantly positive are the ones who look at problems or weakness as opportunity for improvement. Whenever customers require assistance, it is the duty of the employees to assist us in resolving the problem. Inability to resolve the issue may create displeasure and increases the curiosity of employees’ reliability or competence in handling customers’ feedback.

The right attitude includes employees to smile, approachable and adaptable. There are times when we noticed that employees do not smile at all to their customers. Imagine a stoned face representative your order and does not even smile. Most of the time we tend to think, are we buying the product with their money and if it isn't why are they staring at us in such expression. Smile is essential in customer service and each employee should value its significance. It makes employees much more approachable to customers. A gloomy expression blinds out the required bonding in customer relation. If you are working in an information counter at a shopping mall, it is vital to smile and be approachable always. Shoppers always require you guidance and assistance to ensure they are on well guided. Information counter receptionist should adapt the latest updates and information that shall builds the overall product knowledge at workplace. Remember that essential product knowledge contributes to reliability and sustainability. Even if there are new technology gadgets at your workplace, employees should be trained to adapt the new innovation. This provides them the required confident before handling of the gadgets in front of the customers.

The right attitude requires being professional at workplace. Have you ever heard employees lamenting the bad or the long day they ever had. Being professional includes leaving your problems always, ability to work competently especially with minimum supervision, less complaint of work hectic and provide quality service despite pressure.  I remember going to a coffee shop at Tampoi, Johor. It was about 9 am but yet crowded. We managed to a get a sit for two. We noticed there was only one waitress taking orders and we had to wait almost 15 minutes to get our order taken. We ordered Teh Tarik and Nescafe with two toast oatmeal bread with kaya and margarine plus one half boiled egg. After 10 minutes of wait, we received our order, Ice Tea and Iced Nescafe,  one toast bread and two half boiled egg. We knew the waitress had made a mess in the taken order. We called the waitress that took our order and when she came to our table, the waitress voiced out that she is having a bad long day with two staffs had taken urgent leave. For customers, the employees are paid for to manage the situation and handle professionally their tasks. Thus lamenting your bad day situation to customers does not resolve anything but affects the professionalism of your organization. Most employees envy their managers who always delegate his task but take all the credits for the accomplishment. Truthfully there are no easy jobs in the world. All that matters for customers is to ensure that their products and services achieve the necessary quality requirements. Whatever industry you may be in, customers do not care your bad long day you went through at workplace. They are less concerned on your unexpected events you had encountered. To all employees, the moment you stepped into your organization, leave your house problem and distractions away. Sticking to your problem affects emotionally and may be decisive in your judgement at workplace.  The owner pays your salary for 8 hours of effective contribution at workplace and being unprofessional may distinct from achieving the overall objective. Every tasks or jobs have its pressure but yet the demand for quality should never be compromised.

The right attitude also entails employees to be well groomed with right choice of personal appearance. Poor personality may subsequently affect the image of an organization. Imagine going to a restaurant with the waiter having beard, sleepy eyes, dirty apron, long finger nails and untidy hair wants to take order from you. The poor personality shall influence customers to stay away from the restaurant. Organizations should emphasize the importance of personal grooming such as light make up, right choice of fragrance or perfume, neatly shaven, tidy hair and clean but appropriate attire. Having the right personal appearance shall create a positive feeling when communicating with customers. Change your appearance and surely the feel good mood encircles your thoughts which resurgences the confident outlook.   

A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	O	P	Q	R	S	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26

A=1        T=20      T=20      I=9          T=20      U=21     D=4        E=5

     

TOTAL: 1+20++20+9+20+21+4+5= 100%

The word ATTITUDE carries 100% positive, dedication, commitment, trust, personal grooming, professionalism, reliability, approachable, adaptable, courtesy, helpful, good smile and passionate in their work. Even 1% less can affect the organization’s overall customer service.

Managing Customer Expectations

Do all the organizations achieve customers’ expectation? What does customer expects and how to fulfil their needs and wants? According to Harris Interactive through Customer Experience Impact Report, it claimed that ‘Even in negative economy, customer experience is a high priority for consumers, with 60% often or always paying more for a better experience’.

A close Chinese colleague of mine simply loves Biryani. He would try almost all the new outlets to find the best Biryani in the town. What craves him so much to this particular Indian authentic food? He stated that when he was young he ate Mutton Biryani and he felt the taste is still in his throat that is unmatched till now. He had even highlighted to several restaurant proprietors for improvements if it is cooked below expectation. It is crystal clear that he wants only quality Biryani even if he had to pay high price. Based on the Biryani example, my colleague has set an expectation but his likings may differ from others. However what he may like may not necessarily suits other customers and vice versa.

In this modern age it is competitive to accommodate all the customers but we should try to at least match their expectation as their needs and wants can change. Organizations should always listen to customer feedback because without any feedback we may never improve the quality of our services. Feedback can be either positive or negative but organizations should use it as advantage to improve their products and services. Management have to remain receptive and understand customers concerns rather than ticking off customers’ appreciated feedback. Organizations can conduct a survey poll to analysis if their offered product and services fulfils customer requirements and expectations. Organizations should consider engaging expertise or third party individuals such as consultants and trainers to conduct gap analysis and provide recommendations to improve their products and services. Management should not only store away customers’ or consultants feedback but be brought to the next stage of action. It is vital to acknowledge the highlighted area and work towards the reformation of the required changes. Improvements or changes can be attained if organizations are committed in integrating supportive solutions such as technical assistance, quality ingredients, technology gadgets, financial allocation, skilled manpower and trainings. The management should also consider developing customer blueprint to ensure a systematic process to done in line with achieving customer satisfaction. Customers expect management to provide precise and accurate information when arises doubts and clarification. Customers do not want slow response to their queries but demands fast and concrete action. If the management did not act fast to rectify the highlighted issue, they may lose another customer and just imagine if the disappointed customer spreads his unhappiness to others. The employees’ should be trained in communication skills especially techniques on handling unhappy customer. Tackling tactfully with a caring attitude should be instilled within all the employees whenever they want resolve their brought up queries. Even at times when price hikes are bound to occur, customers are willing to pay extra for quality product and service. Thus if management is unable to fulfil customers’ expectation or undertake effective measurements, it can be met with harsh response as dissatisfaction continues to mount up.

According to an article by White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington DC it is reported that ‘Happy customers who get their issue resolved tell about 4 to 6 people about their experience’. Each customer has different perception, lifestyle, taste or liking that accommodates their needs and wants. According to Timothy Heffernan through http://timothyheffernan.net, he claimed that “Despite 40 years in digital photography,  Kodak went bankrupt because they failed to monetized new products that allows consumers to save and share memories but instead focused on its core dying product, film’. If an established organization such as Kodak itself had went bankrupt for its failure to fulfil customers’ expectation, imagine others that did not suit their product lines.  No organizations can take things for granted and always must be innovative in matching customer needs and wants. Throughout the years customers’ expectations have changed dramatically to suit the modernization of global appeal for lifestyle suitability. Your organization may be small, medium or large but you have to constantly track customers’ need and want especially re-establishing the products and services cycle to fulfil customer expectations and remain competitive in the market.

Smile Makes A Difference In Customer Service

A good smile is influential in creating exceptional first impression and positive environment in customer service. How do you feel if you are entering a shop, and the shopkeeper gives you a cold face, stoned expression or sharp look? However the expression can change if the shopkeeper adds a smile to his actions. Similarly if we feel welcomed or sense of belonging when we entered a hotel and be greeted with a greeting smile by the front office staffs.

Smile has the power to attract or change the perception of an organization. Smile can be either beautiful or fake? Customers can differentiate if we are genuine in our hospitality. Smile brings out the best of sweetness, pride, friendliness, happiness, love, welcome and feel good atmosphere at the outlet. However several smiles are done in force or by involuntary acts of nervousness, frown, blushing, embarrassment or awkwardness in an uncomfortable way. All the industry has emphasized the importance of smile when they deal with their customers. A smile can be used by employees when they greet, talk, acceptance, declination, in deep thought, consideration, openness or honesty when dealing with customers.

On my visit to Bali Thai Restaurant at Singapore, I felt the customer service was good even when the outlet was crowded. Since it was my first visit there, I enquired several times on the choice of the offered menu but the waitress continued to assist us with a friendly smile. I noticed there were improvements at Starbucks outlet at Kulai as the counter representative named Tikka served us with welcoming smile. She did not refrain from smiling and continued to explain with ease when I enquired the best possible beverage for that particular time. Whenever I am going to Tea Garden outlet at Johor, I always feel relaxed especially with the smile and customer service provided by Ram Prasad, the outlet’s supervisor. In one of the hotel that I trained, I noticed that their bellboy did not even smile to any of the local visitors except to foreign visitors. A Mamak restaurant near my lecturing university possesses the same typical customer service, hardly any smile when communicating with their customers. Another incident that is related to poor smile service was when I and my friends were dining at a Chinese restaurant at Johor Bahru. We noticed an elderly Singaporean Indian couple who seemed very jovial steeped into the restaurant. After glancing through the menu, they decided to order but an unexpected twist occurred when the elderly lady pronounced one of the food names wrongly. The waitress who was there to take the order smiled cynically and sheepishly which angered the husband. They decided to walk off from the restaurant immediately and complained to the manager that smiling cynically means looking down on them.

When we discuss about Service Tax, we feel exceptional customer service that includes a good smile but are the staffs aware the importance of delivering the right facial expression? The management should ensure that the employees’ are always smiling when they engage with their customers. Smile is precious and it adds justifiable valuation to your branding. There are various types of smile such as smug smile, contented smile, proud smile, half smile, tight lips smile, cheered smile, naughty smile, open mouth smile, amused smile, superior smile, happy smile, considerate smile, beautiful smile, sweet smile, love smile, sheep smile, hyena smile and anxiety smile. Employees should be trained to smile because each smile interprets different messages to customers. Even when we are on telephone conversation with our customers, a smile in a voice makes the communication pleasant.

SMILE is not reserved for special occasions because it has to be natural all the way long when we serve our customers. Smile is free but if organizations do not train their employees on various types of smiles, customer shall feel a robot alike customer service or worse a similarity when we used a vending machine. When we insert coins in a vending machine we get the ordered product, thus in future if the Management is not committed to do changes in the organizations, customers have to even pay to get a beautiful smile from the employees.

Are Customers' Complaints Addressed Effectively?

Are all your complaints being addressed effectively? To whom do you complaint? Is the officer in-charge is an experienced person in managing complaints? The common customers’ complaints include facility faultiness or defects, lack of product knowledge and poor customer service skills. According to Michael Hill through www.customerfocusconsult.com, he claimed that ‘A study carried out by the Warwick Business School revealed that 53% of examples of outstanding service resulted from complaints handled well by a business’. However do all the customer complaints are taken positively by the management?

Poor handling of customers may only foresee customers to voice out their dissatisfaction up to maximum level. The new age of customers especially the frustrating ones goes to extent of inserting their comments being heard in social network. Customers can be hysterical, loud, abusive or screaming when they demand for changes. Managing complaints can be a stressful task if the employees are not given the right guidance and authority. Sending newcomers or novices to resolve customer complaints shall result backlash as their inexperience’s may invoke further anger among customers. In one of my visit to a cafeteria, a customer seated beside my table ordered Ice Kacang. She tried the Ice Kacang and felt that the corn had bitter taste. She called the waiter and explained that the corn might be tainted and the waiter just nods her head in acceptance of the explanation. As a waiter or management team what would you do? The common practice is to apologize, change the whole set, recommend other products and give complimentary items. However the waiter came back with the same Ice Kacang by only removing the corn from the bowl. The customer let her frustration burst and the whole cafeteria had the spotlight on her table. The supervisor rushed and had to calm the situation down but the customer went off angrily.

Based on the situation, the waiter did not have the right guidance on what to do if the product is found tainted. The waiter is also new to the place and does not have the adequate knowledge to address customer complaints. By the time the issue exploded, the customer had enough of the justification and subsequently vents her disappointments at other channels. The management should be held responsible for their employees’ incompetence in resolving customer complaints tactfully. Organizations should never take things lightly on customers complaints and always be prepared when such situation arises. All employees should be well prepared when encountering customer complaints especially the person in charge should possess the right experience, capability and expertise in engaging complaints. Poor on-job training also contributes to the lack of poor management of customer complaints. It is the responsibility of the management to ensure their employees are well-briefed and trained in handling customer complaint. Management should also meet customers in private to ensure the complaints are resolved.

In Malaysia, if customers are unhappy with the provided services they can also voice their complaints to National Consumer Complaints Centre through www.nccc.org.my. The agency provides customers to register their dissatisfaction through E-Complaint, email and tele-conversation. According to Lee Resource Incorporation ‘91% of unhappy customers will not willingly do business with your organization again’. Judging from phrase, we should ask ourselves “Are we committed in tackling customers’ complaints for continuous sustainability of our business or simple ignorance that leads losing customers and revenue on long run?”