Not Being Sarkari

Customer Service

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 03:18:00 +0000

To a retailer, customer service is about a lot of things.

It is about processes. Processes are designed to protect interest of a business and not his customers. Customers are smart enough to find their own way out of the jungle.

It is about people. They are trained to follow processes and are happy to accommodate customers within the realms of those processes. Let customers worry about their problems and not bother staff with their problems.

It is about price. Products are sold at competitive price. At times, cheaper than what competition is selling at. Then hoping that, customer should not expect any kind of service at rock bottom prices. Service and low prices don’t go hand in hand and customers should understand this.

It is about products. Stock product that is expected to contribute more to bottom line, bundle non-moving products with high selling products and give customers a feeling that they are in for a great deal. Customers will be intrigued with these offers.

Unfortunately, customer is missing from the whole framework. In the name of customer service, everything is designed to help business and not customer. Experienced customers know that this all ‘customer service’ thing is a minefield of frustration and bad experience and they avoid getting into this spiral.

But retailers do not have much to worry. After all customer is still spending his money with them.

Job, Career,Calling or Whatever...

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 10:22:00 +0000

On Monday morning I came across this

Most people approach their work in one of three ways: as a job, a career, or a calling.
If you see your work as a job, you do it only for the money, you look at the clock frequently while dreaming about the weekend ahead, and you probably pursue hobbies, which satisfy your effectance needs more thoroughly than does your work.

If you see your work as a career, you have larger goals of advancement, promotion, and prestige.

If you see your work as a calling, however, you find your work intrinsically fulfilling you are not doing it to achieve something else. You see your work as contributing to the greater good or as playing a role in some larger enterprise the worth of which seems obvious to you. You have frequent experiences of flow during the work day, and you neither look forward to “quitting time” nor feel the desire to shout, “Thank God it’s Friday!” You would continue to work, perhaps even without pay, if you suddenly became very wealthy.

Lately, I am feeling that I also belong to a tribe of millions who go to office, swipe their attendance card, open their email, answer new mails, wait for more emails, speak to a couple of customers, same issues and no resolution in sight, a couple of coffee breaks followed by lunch, a couple of more email exchanges, a couple of more coffee breaks with some extended gossip sessions and then clock tells me, it is time to leave. Card swipe and I head back towards home, doing things which help me rejuvenate so that I am prepared to go through the same monotonous grinding cycle next day.

If the number of emails received is less, then I feel neglected. More the number of meetings I attend, more I feel burdened with work. I feel like I am a replaceable cog which can be replaced on the whims and fancies of someone sitting above me. Okay, maybe I am wrong about firing part, but the mere thought of being a cog is giving me enough heartache.

The only consolation is that I am not alone. Last week I got an opportunity to travel in Metro during office hours. Every face was communicating the same signs of monotonous cubicle life. If one does not consider the features, and tries to differentiate people on the basis of expressions on faces, he will fail miserably.

I am trying to break this cycle by pursuing various things - reading, running, blogging, doodling etc. But getting up every morning and going to office is one thing which I do not want to do. It is a big energy sapping moment. It drains me out emotionally more than physically.

People suggest changing job might help. I am not sure. For sometime it will be a motivation to get up and go to office but sooner or later I will be caught in the boring spiral of cubicle life.

But problem is I do not even know where my calling lies., what will satisfy my heart and mind both. I do not have any passion for which I will leave my cubicle comfort and take a plunge. There are a couple of business ideas I have been sleeping for sometime but so far they have remained ideas and nothing more. Not acting is my failure. Maybe this cubicle comfort is too cozy to leave and I am letting my life pass by.

Maybe someday, it will happen. Till then, I will try to cope up with cubicle comfort and try finding my calling or giving up everything to start something.

Flying with moron...

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 17:16:00 +0000

Recently, I had a chance to fly Air India. Experiences about my journey with India's flagship airline.

On entering the aircraft, I was expecting to see some old and fat air hostesses who had not smiled for a while. I was partially wrong. Air hostesses were not old and not fat. They were, in fact, very young and pleasant looking. But, they definitely did not know how to smile.

Another observation. All airlines give a bottle of water once you are on board. Even low cost airlines offer water. But not Air India.

In food, they provided sandwiches. A customer complained about sandwich being stale. But air hostesses did not care much. And I did not care much about the food.

I know, Air India is on a cost cutting spree these days, as it is running into deep losses, and is continuously asking Government of India to put it back on track. Well, cost cutting is good if it is helping you to cut your losses without hurting customer experience. If cost cutting is hurting your customers then it will do no good to the business.

I am not sure all this is because of cost cutting. This could be a part of their DNA. If it is in their DNA then no matter how much money someone gives them, they will not be able to recover.

I am hoping for the best. The best for customers.

Lofty goal

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 10:41:00 +0000

Last few weeks, I spent studying my competition. How they are better? What good we are doing good? Etc.

Nobody is perfect but everyone is trying hard. Especially when it comes to wooing customers and retaining customers. Tactics may differ for all but goal remains the same.

Time spent in competition also suggested that we are not only clueless on certain things related to customers. Competition is also trying hard to figure it out. People who are in our business for decades are also struggling to keep customers satisfied.

Customer satisfaction is a lofty goal to achieve but it is worth trying.

Smile...

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 03:12:00 +0000

...or customers might not like you.

"There's one person up there in the lobby who is not smiling or greeting people when they walk in."

The complaint above is registered at Ritz-Carlton, New York. And this non-smiling staff is a big concern for the hotel manager.

It is pretty simple - smiling staff will keep customers smiling and smiling customers will keep businesses smiling. All businesses understand it but only few decide to do something about it, while others continue to ignore it. And some go out of their way to keep all stakeholders happy.

Ritz surely knows how to do an excellent job in delivering a great customer experience. They truly believe in 'wider the smile, better is the business'.

Customer Service Person of the Year – Steve Jobs

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 16:22:00 +0000

“No. Not to worry.”

If you read the above text, you will probably ignore it as it does not contain any useful information which an ordinary Joe will look for. But tell the world that above text is an email response from Steve Jobs, you may like to read it again and try to find the background of the above text.

Over the last one month, Jobs is answering queries of customers like there is no tomorrow.

In case a customer wants to know the status of upcoming operating system, if it is on back-burner, Jobs assures him: “No. Not to worry.”

In case a customer is not happy with some hardware upgrade and writes to Jobs asking him the reason behind this lousy upgrade, Jobs replies him with a reason.

If someone wants to know about whether he can access his collection of books on iPad, Jobs reply with one word reply.

And the list goes on and on. ‘Blog world’ is full of such small and few-words-long emails which may not translate into any heart to heart talk (most of the time it is blunt and to the point) but it will always surprise you if you get a reply from a CEO. And if he CEO happens to be Steve Jobs, Apple fanboys are more than eager to pick the threads and spread it on various blogs.

I find this practice of his a bit strange and amazing at the same time. Strange because it is far easy for a CEO to go for a press release and answer everything in formal and legally correct language which will do no harm to anyone. Yet he decides to take this off-beat path. His replies are often considered curt, blunt, and too short but usually to the point. If he decides to go the PR route, he can overcome all these short comings. But he decides to speak his mind and heart instead.

I find it amazing because a CEO need not respond to any customer mail. He can pass it on to his chunnu-munnus who will take care of the issue. It happens most of the time and it will continue to happen as CEOs are extremely busy species and small customers are definitely not their priority. It is amazing to see that someone is trying to do things differently.

Jobs may not be answering all the emails but whatever small number he replies, shows his concern for his customers concerns, and he feels that their concerns are his concerns.

He is, beyond doubt, my customer service person of the year.

Customer Service Demons

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:13:00 +0000

Who needs Customer Service demons from some 'outer world' when you have enough inside?

There are scarier demons inside customer service departments in the name of 'processes'. There are even more scarier demons inside untrained customer service professionals.

The bigger problem is whenever we try to see this demon, we do not kill it. We let it get bigger and scarier. We join hands with these demons and let them run the whole show.

In the end, demon does his job efficiently. And we fail to deliver for what we are hired for.

Appreciating the restrain

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:40:00 +0000

Poor service by organizations is what I often talk on this blog. But what happens when we encounter some bad customers. Bad in the sense, a customers who just try to be bossy and can go to any length to prove that they are right.

I was standing in queue in McDonalds and waiting for my turn at billing station. A lady came and asked for manager. Manager came and lady started like this. " I bought x item from your guys few minutes ago but it fell down from the tray. Please exchange it with a new one." "Not possible, Madam", replied Manager. "But I am asking you to exchange it or else I will complain against you", said the lady. "Madam, I cannot do much about it and I am helpless", the Manager replied. Then the lady came after sometime and told the Manager that he will get a notice soon as he has not entertained her wish. Then came the lady's husband and gave his card who apparently was an advocate and told him once again about legal notice.

As a bystander, I was kind of pissed off by this customer's actions, though I was not involved directly. And I was feeling bad for the Manager. Why ruin his day for a process which is laid down by his company, and when it was by the customer's own mistake that the food item had fallen down, after she had taken it from the counter. And I am sure the company is also auditing its processes strictly.

When I was witnessing the first conversation, I thought the Manager has just missed an opportunity to delight a customer. If this is handled better then McDonalds have earned a customer for life. He listened to the customer with respect but failed to empathize with the customer. Had he empathized with the customer, he would have given a little more thought on resolving the problem. He might have come up something which was beneficial to the customer. Maybe he would have spoken to some senior for one time concession. Even if his senior had given him same response, then the customer would have understood that it is not the Manager's problem. Problem lies somewhere else i.e. in processes.

But after witnessing the second part of conversation, I guess I was wrong. This customer would be tough to please and even if the Manager had gone out of the way, the customer would have felt that she earned which was her right. The customer may not be wrong in thinking this was her right which she was being denied, but then there are better ways to approach. Showing your power and intimidating the one who is doing his job, is not correct.

When you see such situations, you sometimes feel that the customer can also be wrong. Not wrong in demanding for an exchange but wrong in showing his power to an employee.

Tata Motors taking me for ride.

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 15:31:00 +0000

Tata Motors is absolutely taking me for ride. Literally!!

I have booked Tata Manza Saffire (Silver color) from Goyal Motors, Patiala. I was promised a delivery of vehicle in 20-25 days, which comes to March 24, 2010.

Well, the stipulated time period is about to elapse and I am yet to get a call from your dealer (which for me represents the company), and that when they have taken booking amount from me.

Nonetheless, I called up Salesman (Robin) to confirm the delivery of the vehicle but to my amazement, he was clueless about the delivery date. I called him 3-4 times and every time he told that he has to confirm it from his senior. In my fourth call, I urged him strongly to inform me about delivery date. Then he put me to some team leader (Sandeep Puri). He was equally clueless and gave me some excuses of non-availability of car on the said delivery date. Then I requested him for the next earliest delivery date but he said that he will call me in exactly one hour to give me a confirmation. That one hour never passed.

After making five calls and spending almost 30 minutes on phone, with their salesman, I was able to get a delivery date for my vehicle.

After struggling to get delivery date from saleman (Robin), I am now struggling to get my car. Saleman assured me that I will get my desired car in my desired color on March 25.

Then on the morning of March 25, Salesman again called that he cannot give me a car in Silver color. Only car that is available is in White color, take it or leave it. My choice. He passed on the phone to his superior, Mr Bhupinder Singh (apparently branch manager), who also arrogantly told me that they cannot do much and this is the only car available and I can take it or leave it.

Are we going back to Ford era?

Contacting Tata Customer Service is another obstacle race. There are fancy customer care pages all over their website but you cannot actually find any email id wherein you can lodge your complaint. They have comment box on their website but it restricts complaint to only 1000 words.

On one hand we have Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, who flaunts his email ID like his iPhone and on another we have India's most respected group which does not even give email ID of its customer support.

I called call centre number on their website. A polite person gave me the number of Regional Manager (Karun Grover). I called him and he transferred my call to someone who further gave the phone to one of his colleagues (Shivangi). She promised me to give some solution in a couple of hours. She did call me as promised but with no solution. She gave me a dhobi list of reasons and problems why it cannot be done. She wanted me to settle for some other color but why? I chose this color after a lot of deliberation and I want only this color.

Such pathetic service from a brand which makes India proud in designing Nano. I think Tata Motors feel that Indian common man will be happy to get cars at cheap prices and customer service can be compromised. But I think this is not true. Times are changing. Product development can be copied easily, but good customer service can go a long way in making a brand indispensable. I think I just made the biggest mistake of my life by booking a car with Tata Motors. I am not sure if I am unlucky or it is part of Tata Motors DNA.

Tata Motors Blooper on Customer Service

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:42:00 +0000

Dear Various Teams at Tata Motors,

Team at Tata Motors have done commendable job in designing low cost yet beautiful Nano. They have also done great job in turning around JLR. Team has also done some commendable job in making efficient and spacious cars like Indica and Indigo. Great work by every member of this team.

But they faltered at one place. It is not their fault actually because committing this fault requires less of brain. They have faltered in designing customer contact support form.

The above form is available on Tata Motors website wherein customers can voice their concerns, submit their complaints and give some suggestions to top management.

However, they have committed one mistake in this form. Mandatory field is Registration Number of car as issued by state governments once customer owns a car not before that. Now in ‘complaint area’ dropdown, there options of pre-sales and delivery. If a prospective customers has any issue with pre-sales process of the company, how is he supposed to fill in registration number. If customer has some problem in getting the delivery of his vehicles from Tata dealer, how is he supposed to put registration number of car.

I have absolutely no clue.

It seems this page is designed by some IT geek, who gave live demo to a guy sitting in a cabin wearing a suit and tie and sitting away from real action happening on ground.

I showed this blooper to some of my colleagues and their first reaction was ‘This link looks like a formality from Tata Motors’. I decided to validate their statement and posted a complaint from their ‘Contact Us’ form. And waiting to see whether I will get some kind of response or not. Will keep you updated.

I really wish someone from the team, who regularly interacts with customers and is aware of things that are happening on ground, have used this form diligently before rushing it to on their website.

I hope it gets rectified before more customers like me start encountering this strong wall, which makes customer feedback process difficult.

PS: - Yes, I am having problem with Tata Motors delivery process and a stinking post on their shoddy customer service is just brewing up.

Feedback Blackhole

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:11:00 +0000

In a lot of organizations, feedback is usually lost in the system somewhere. It is not that there are no processes to record feedback but things somehow go awry. Either people responsible do not go through feedback or feedback is just ignored.

Once in a while you come across an incident wherein a company listens to customers and try to implement things which are suggested, requested and demanded by customers. Wal-Mart is one such company which has recently caved in to customers’ request. Apparently, Wal-Mart removed certain products which were not selling well in their stores. This was pure business decision by the company. Some customers did not like this and they urged Wal-Mart to put their favorite products back on shelves. Nothing happened. Customers demanded again. Nothing happened much. Then customers said enough is enough. They completely ditched Wal-Mart and started shopping at stores which were carrying their products so that they can do their monthly shopping under one roof.

Once customers took their business away from Wal-Mart, apparently company woke up and started to go through feedback. Only then they realized that they awee losing their major chunk of business because they had stopped carrying few products which were not moving from the shelves fast. Wal-Mart took corrective action and re-stocked the product.

Wal-Mart took these corrective steps reactively, by going through customer feedback after losing business. But it would have been a lot easier for them if they had done the same thing by going through feedback proactively. At least, the customers would not have felt their feedback getting sucked into some blackhole.

Cutivating Relationships

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:47:00 +0000

Yesterday, I visited one of my favorite magazine and CD shop. It is not any established chain which draws my attention and earns my business because of some heavy discounts or some amazing assortment. In fact, it is a small shop which has most of the popular magazines on their racks, and some of the most popular movies titles are in their inventory.

Good thing about them is that they remember which magazine I read often and know the genre of movies I watch.

Yesterday, as soon as I entered the place, owner was prompt enough to remind that my favorite travel magazine's new edition had come. I was awed by the fact that he remembered my choice. I am sure that I am not one of his high spending customers, whom he should target specifically. For him, I can just be another customer and he can treat me like a cog which can be replaced easily with another one.

I observe that a lot of small and neighborhood businesses are proactive. They are proactive in remembering my choices. They are also proactive in recommending products based on my previous choices. If a product I am asking for is not is stock, this small shop proactively notes down my requirement. Proactively they give me the time-line by when they can arrange the product for me. When the product has arrived, these guys call me to inform that the product is available with them and I can pick up. I love them for their pro-activeness.

And I will continue to be your customer because you make me feel special. And because I am earning this 'feeling-special-kind-of-thing', you continue to earn my business.

An Ode to Customer Service Professionals

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:10:00 +0000

Being a customer service professional is a courageous decision. Though I am sure most of customer service professionals are pushed to make this decision because customer service jobs are in abundance with none or very less prior experience required. After all, you can teach anybody to follow manuals.

But I still feel that we all customer service professionals are always doing spirited and courageous jigs. Spirited because when whole world is partying, we are serving them so that they remember their party for whole life. When whole world is going around with their loved ones on Valentines Day, we are working hard so that their bond of love gets strong. When whole world is preparing for Diwali/Christmas holidays, we work hard so that these holidays become memorable for everyone whom we touch.

This is a courageous effort also because very few customers acknowledge the efforts of customer service people. It is always assumed we are doing their jobs and we do not need any bouquets for our efforts. After all, we are paid for doing this. And since we are the faces of many service oriented businesses, our share in brickbats is largest. We are responsible for every single goof-up. But we always try to remain cool and continue to do our jobs. If this is not courage, then what it is.

For us, every transaction is a new begining. As we start our new interaction with a new customer, all our past interactions are wiped clean from the slate. After all, every customer is different and his needs and demands will be different from the last one. And our job is to be consistent in every interaction so that customer walks away with fine memories associated with brand. Any goof-up and all our past transactions will not be able to save us from the fury of an angry customer whom we have accidently rubbed on some wrong side.

We customer service guys are a spirited breed and I am proud to be part of this ever expanding breed.

Best Customer Service Person - Woman

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:37:00 +0000

Dear Ladies in Customer Service Team,

Customer service without you would not be same. Your mastery at juggling work, multitasking, dynamism, great emotional connect and empathizing nature makes you extremely good at providing customer service.

Customers trust you because they know they are talking to someone who is high on integrity and is honest. By talking to you, customers know that they are in safe hands and they will get a deal which is fair.

Customers know that decisions will be faster as you can put yourselves in their shoes and help them get resolutions faster. After all your dynamism at work and at home is envied by most men.

Each woman who is a part of customer service department has done what is best in the interest of company, interest of customer, while remaining in the limits of a whole lot of processes. Maybe managing your own homes have helped you in achieving this amazing balance.

As a customer service person, any organization is glad to have you on board because you are the best. You are awesome when it comes to doing service to customers or family.

Happy Woman's Day.

Keep rocking.

Some Apple Highs

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 11:37:00 +0000

Apple is listed as third most innovative company of 2010 by FastCompany.

Apple is also adjudged third best customer service company by BusinessWeek. Apple only mobile or computer maker in top 10.

These two statements might depict two different aspects on the same company but Apple earned both awards for same reason - Genius Bars and its retail checkout experierence. Both these things have improved the overall customer experience inside its stores and its mobile retail checkout is truly an innovative action for any retailer. Checkout which is usually refered as chokeouts are one of the points wherein maximum customer dissatisfaction happens. Mobile checkouts improved overall checkout experience inside Apple stores especially during heavy holiday rush.

In India, though its stores still lack the standards that are being followed in US but it is far better than other mobile and computer retailer. Once you enter an Apple retail store, you play with Macs, iPods, Docks etc for hours and salespersons will rarely tailgate you in an anticipation that either you buy or leave the store. There is rarely a do-not-bother-me look on their face. Yes, knowledge level of staff needs to be improved. I guess Apple's approach is for novices and it assumes that very few seasoned users of Apple are in India. Maybe they are right.

I also stumbled on this newspiece.

"Unfortunately, the whole house and all things in there completely destroyed, so even the iMac.

What's funny is that it is still in operation. While damaged from smoke and dust and partially melted, but yet, however in operation.

After I plugged in the burned power cord and wiped off the worst dust from the screen I pressed the melted start button.

Imagine my surprise when the startup sound sings from the speakers! The screen turns on and the machine connects to the wireless network.

The mouse works flawlessly and the scroll wheel as well.
Firefox starts and I take up the article from the local magazine about the fire ... Fantastic!

I am happy

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:55:00 +0000

Hi Adesh

i am sure zoobie has told you that i am working on a project on service quality for **** and i dont even know the 's' of it.. i did go through your blog and found it extremely good- i might be quoting a few lines from your blog - hope its ok with you.

nyways might even take your help over the weekend also

thanks...

Few weeks back I received above email from one of my friend who happens to be a part of customer service or service quality (organization terminology) team (I am withholding the name of the brand as requested). She wrote me asking to use some of my blog things in her organization presentation. I was glad that someone found something useful in my blog which can be used to make customer service better in an organization.

This happens so often that while working we try to monitor some metrics and feel that they will guide the business to some new heights. If you are in a call centre, your SLAs will be number of calls (more the merrier), average time of call (less is better) etc. In retail, it is footfalls (more the merrier), average value of bill (higher is good) etc. In blogs, number of hits (more the merrier), number of comments (sky is the limit) etc.

But behind all these defined metric, we tend to forget the true meaningful conversations which are building blocks of any business or blog. We never measure in call centres whether relationships with customers got stronger or not. No track of bonds getting stronger or weaker with customers in your retail store.

This mail just showed that there are 'soft metrics' which makes keeping blogs much more worthwhile. I am happy.

NOIDA Half Marathon

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:09:00 +0000

Smiles followed the run...

Yesterday ran a half-marathon in NOIDA. It was cool Valentines Day morning and I decided to take care of my heart by running 21 KMs with running and living. As I ran towards a healthier heart, I also made some new friends.

It is always fun to do things which you love, which energies you and which drives you. In fact , it is always worthwhile doing things which matters to you. Valentines Day or no Valentines Day, I love to run.

Ironical Statement of 2010

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:20:00 +0000

“SAP, the German software maker, said on Monday that it would focus on restoring its damaged customer relationships after a surprise management shake-up that cost the chief executive his job.”

The above statement, to me, is the most ironical statement of 2010. Yes, it is only the second month of 2010 but we have the irony of the year. It will be hard to beat.

Why I find it ironical? Because a company which has proudly helped thousands of other companies in building and maintaining relationships with customers has to work hard to maintain its relationships with its own customers. I think they should have installed some of their own systems for which they are charging a fortune and may be they could have avoided this situation. In case they are using their own CRM systems and still they are in soup, then they should stop selling it.

You can catch the whole story here.

Motive

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:13:00 +0000

These days whenever I receive an SMS, I have fair bit of idea who is the sender. It is either some real estate developer or real estate agent who is making a desperate attempt to sell some dream project at astonoshingly low prices. No, I am not getting into art of predicting future. There are far more capable people in that field. Its just the frequency with which all these builders are trying to woo me. Nearly 80% of SMSes I receive are from someone who has some stake in real estate industry.

I am not sure how and why these developers have a feeling that I am a prospective customer of theirs. I have not received any increment in distant past and my salary is still at pre-recession level. None of my uncles is rich enough who can sponsor me any of their dream project. And also my father is not planning to give me any kind of fortune, so that I can own one these one-of-its-kind property.

I am sure all these developers and builders have some kind of business sense and they must have some kind of mechanism in place to track ROI on their SMS efforts. If their motive is to make me buy something, then they are failing miserably. Either they should look to tap me (in case they are hell bent on me as their customer) by tweaking their efforts or they should stop wasting their efforts on me (best thing to do!!).

In case, their motive is to frustrate me and drive me crazy so much so that I decide to draw an Aloo Kachalu and write a blog post on them, then they are bang on in their efforts.

Shrug it off! and just do it #2

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:33:00 +0000

Yesterday, I was reading an interview of co-founder of Kayak. This is what fascinated me most.

Customers are a big source of my e-mails. Anytime anyone contacts us with a question, whether it's by e-mail or telephone, they get a personal reply. The engineers and I handle customer support. When I tell people that, they look at me like I'm smoking crack. They say, "Why would you pay an engineer $150,000 to answer phones when you could pay someone in Arizona $8 an hour?" If you make the engineers answer e-mails and phone calls from the customers, the second or third time they get the same question, they'll actually stop what they're doing and fix the code. Then we don't have those questions anymore.

This is so easy and sooo coooolll.

Tackling the hassles around system and process issues is something which is so often voiced everywhere included on this blog. Being sucked into the whirlwind of processes and systems is the reason behind most dissatisfied customers.

Asking the one who are building processes, systems to attend customer calls, is nothing short of some-kind-of-wonder. In case problem is recurring, they will sit down and nail the problem so that they do not need to answer same problem over and over again. This is so non-sarkari thing to do. Anybody will love to see more such attitude from organizations.

Chandigarh Marathon - Chaos killed my whole running experience

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:48:00 +0000

Yesterday, I ran my second full marathon in Chandigarh. It was absolutely fun while I was running.

First things first...Weather was perfect for running. It was little cold in the beginning and more pleasant once I crossed 10 KM mark. Track was flat, air was clean as we were running around one of the most beautiful areas of Chandigarh.

I was impressed by my improved timing.

I was slow for first 21 KM but picked up my self in later half. For last fifteen kilometers there was an ongoing battle between body and mind. I am glad that it was mind which won in the end. I was able to finish my run under 5 hours and 30 minutes, which is an huge improvement (according to me) from my last timing of 6 hours and 15 minutes.

Unfortunately, my battle did not end at the finish line. In fact, I realized that real battle has just began. After I reached finish line, I found out that they have removed time-recording chips and there is no way to know my time. When I asked for some guidance, one volunteer came with a piece of newspaper and started writing my time on that. A newspaper which would soon find a place in dustbin or road (considering this is India), was used to record my 'hard earned' time. It was disheartening and showed the extent of nonprofessional. It also revealed kind of inexperience for handling such events where efforts of every runner (long distance and short distance runner, fast and slow, young and old) is special to himself and needs a much better way to record those efforts.

Then I decided to speak to one organizer, who turned out to be some 'sarkari' guy. His attitude can be summed up as if-you-have-bouquets-you-are-welcome-but-incase-you-have-brick bats-get-lost. He plainly said "if you are going to complete so late, we are not responsible for your time". He was happy to brag (that too while shouting) about his presence in the event as if without his presence nobody would have cared to run and the whole show would have crashed. Organizers should have announced in the beginning that any runner finishing after 4/5 hours is on his own and things would have been simple as I would have no grounds to complain. But these sarkari people want participation also and then do not want to take care of participants.

Though couple of other volunteers did come to help me out from this fiasco. But I have little hope of this getting resolve now as Indians truly believe in raat gayi baat gayi.

Anyways, I learnt something important. Next time either I will run in a marathon where there is some respect for slow runners or I improve myself enough to run marathon at fast pace. And while living in India, I am bound to encounter sarkari chamachas and bureaucrats who will make me feel like shit after my all efforts, so I have to learn running marathons at fast pace. And also quitting is not an option especially because of useless fucktards called as sarkari afsars.

Another typical sarkari thing, refreshments were in aplenty for all sarkari naukers and their families, other chamchas but not for runners. I know atleast four runners who were clueless about getting refreshments. Couple of did request some sarkari chamcha for the same and I am not sure what happened to their requests. Did not have any patience and strength left to face these fucktards.

But in the end, I was glad that I improved my timing and intend to do better in future irrespective of the fact whether I have any record to prove that or not.

Note to myself - no more running for certificates. It is only for myself.

History and Apple

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:34:00 +0000

When iMac was launched, prediction was it will not work.

When iPod was launched, prediction was nobody will pay for this toy. It does too little and too costly.

When iPhone was launched, prediction was nobody will pay for this expensive shit.

When iPad is launched, prediction is it does too little. I have iPhone and I don't need iPad. I have smartphone and I have MacBook and I don't want this.

Well, history surely repeats itself!!!

Apple is basking in media glory...

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:25:00 +0000

Apple is about to launch 'some new product' today. Blogs are full of prophecies on what it could be, how it will look, what will be its spec etc. Nearly 25% of blogs which I follow has written about Apple and its upcoming product announcement(s).

Below are links to some of the notable blog mentions of fabled Apple tablet or new product. Read and follow these bloggers in case you like their blogs.

Seth apparently became first person to launch an App for this upcoming tablet (if it is coming at all).
NY Times reports that publishing industry to make some bucks and Businessweek carried report on how App developers are gearing up for this upcoming product.
Ken on his Observatory blog has mentioned it as T-Day (after presuming that Apple will unveil its tablet).
Ramesh has blogged about Apple results and its marketing strategies.
Fast Company has posted an infographic timeline of Apple's journey and efforts to develop tablet.
Matt is gung-ho about new product from Apple because whenever Apple realses new product, volume to his site grows exponentially. BTW he is the guy behind WordPress.
George has some different takes here and here. He uses lot of 'fucks' and 'shits', so please check his blog at your own risk.

Apart from above links catch news, rumors on Apple blogs here, here, here and here.

I hope as you are reading this post, Steve Jobs would have made some important announcements.

Already started saving money for something amazing which I can add to my list of Apple gadgets.

Bad presentations are in abundance...

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:08:00 +0000

My presentation skills are not very good. And I work hard to improve them. I read a lot about them, try to deliver as many presentations as possible. In my search of excellence in giving keynotes or presentations, I have become a student of this subject. I also try to disect, review, critique the presentations which I get to hear occasionally.

Till now only a couple of times I have come across a presentation, which was jaw-dropping. Some of the others were decent. Some presentations were a passe. Most of them were pathetic.

I try to gauge presentations on the kind of slides the presenter is using, engagement levels (with audience) of the presenter, and communication skills.

Yesterday, I was in a CRM workshop and most of the presenters were bad. Slides were full of bullet points. Presenters were reading from slides and ignoring audience. Eye contact, engagement with audience was missing. In a nutshell, presentations were horrible and it was apparent that presenters had spent time only on putting text on slides and not on how to deliver that text.

As I was killed by boredom during the presentation, I started surfing internet. While surfing, I came across this article. Apparently presenters in front of me were not ill prepared to deliver presentation, organizations like Google also falter when it comes to presentation.

I absolutely agree with the article that the product presentations by Steve Jobs are amazing, entertaining and you will be awed by his showmanship.

Punch, hit, piss...or whatever

adeshsidhu@gmail.com (Adesh Sidhu) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:36:00 +0000