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Shifting houses – Done

July 2, 2007 in Weekend with 0 Comments

The weekend was filled with packing and shifting. We had to shift because our house owner figured his house was worth more than what we were paying him. More because the real-estate market in Chennai gave him that impression! Anyways…we found a place nearer to office. So thats neat. It took us 7.5 minutes to walk to office today. Yipee! (0.5 minutes was spent waiting to cross the Velachery (Chennai, India) roundabout. If you ever come to that junction, make sure you believe in God!)

After shifting, it was not all bliss. Our new landlord actually told us, “As you use the bathrooms, it will get cleaned automatically.” In all my years in this world and using bathrooms, I have never seen a bathroom get cleaner as I use it. If that was the case, we would never need Harpic and Clorox.

Anyways, we shifted in. Cleaned the bathrooms. It still needs more. Puff! We are kinda settled down. We need to get some electrical fittings and call a carpenter and electrician. I also need to get my broadband connection transferred to the new home. I may not be able to blog frequently till that is done.

iPhone Mania?

June 29, 2007 in blog, Marketing with 1 Comment

I wonder if I will be grilled for saying, “Americans are crazy”. But I have no choice but to feel that way (particularly for the last 6 hours). Reason: I have been following the iPhone release for that long. And all I can hear everyone and anyone talk about is the iPhone. There are long queues.

Waiting for the iPhone the iPhone WaitRobert Scoble, Kristopher
Photos credit: Gabe Rivera of Techmeme

TechCrunch is covering it. GigaOm has a series of posts ranging from comparisons between iPod and iPhone to speculates why Edge is not included in the iPhone. Seth learns a lesson from why Verizon turned down the iPhone. And Zooomr’s Kristopher is playing the host live on Ustream.tv. Robert Scoble is in line. And there are lots more.

In India, waiting in queue for a new gadget (or anything new for that matter) to come out is unheard of. Please correct me if I am wrong. And I find it amazing that people would go to such lengths to do this.

Steve Jobs must be so happy! And GigaOm says there is still 5 hours and 16 minutes left.

Activated Feedburner

June 29, 2007 in blog, Tips with 0 Comments

Finally got Feedburner activated here. I have found it an easier way to share feeds and add to a wide range of web based rss readers. So if you plan to subscribe to my blog, the link is on top of my right-side panel or click here – http://feeds.feedburner.com/ashed.

Tip: If you are trying to use an offline RSS reader like Mozilla Thunderbird or MS Office Outlook, you just need to use http://feeds.feedburner.com/ashed for Feed URL and the application should automatically detect the posts.

Happy reading!

Sputtr: Multi search in one

June 29, 2007 in Ideas, Web 2.0 with 0 Comments

It can be called “multi search in one”. But it really isn’t. Sputtr.com is a new search website that helps you search across 36 (as of today) different websites and search engines.

Sputtr Search Engine

Simple layout. A text box and a whole lot of buttons underneath. Each button corresponds to a website that you can search. It is quite simple and easy to understand. The last button lets you suggest a website to the Sputtr team to add to their list of sites.

They also have international sites – 7 of them now, including Chinese, Italian, German, Spanish, French and even UK English.

I love the idea. But the issue I am finding now is that I have to keep using the back button in the browser to search with any other search engine and that’s quite a pain. Even the “right click and open in new tab/window” won’t work. It would have been great if they have a “framed” version too. A toolbar with all these options would be a thriller.

But yes, if you like specialised search and don’t always rely on Google for everything, this may make a lot of sense, especially as your browser start page. You have all the options on that page.

Wishing good luck to the Sputtr team!

Poetry & Drawings

June 29, 2007 in blog with 0 Comments

There are wonderful people on the web and they have wonderful blogs. http://ohgimmeabreak.blogspot.com/ has some classic poetry. (For some reason, she has stopped posting for a while.)

The other one is in sketches. http://inktales.blogspot.com/

Love their creativity!

Positive Marketing

June 27, 2007 in Advertising, Marketing with 1 Comment

Seth Godin talks about Verizon’s rant against the iPhone. Well..it is a memo to Verizon employees on how the iPhone is not such a great phone and what they should know to possibly dissuade customers from getting the iPhone. Seth makes an interesting statement – “your criticism of the phone is also criticism of my judgment”.

Positive marketing means you focus on the pros of your product or service. It also means that the customer understands what stands out in your offering.

Negative marketing may mean harping on the bad points of your competitor – or just plain poking fun! But does it really help? It may just put off the customer and help tilt the scales in favour of the competitor.

Scoble wants to get three iPhones. Wow! But that’s exactly the problem (not Scoble getting three phones!). You see Apple has created such good hype over their latest offering – everyone wants it. And you putting some mud on it is not going to take off the sheen. You need to make yours shine better.

Security & the Buying Process

June 26, 2007 in Customer Service, Music with 0 Comments

I was looking for a guitar processor and decided to go for a used/refurbished model. My friend recommended Guitar Center (www.guitarcenter.com). I spent close to 12 hours researching what would be my best buy. I called the store finally to confirm availability. It was. But I ran into trouble because they said the shipping address and the billing address needs to be the same. So plans squashed.

Another google search landed me in Daddy’s Junky Music (www.daddys.com). Found my processor. Made the call. Again the same issue. But this time, the store clerk asked me to call Daddy’s corporate office and find out if something was possible. Well l did just that and they said it is quite possible to buy with separate billing and shipping address as long as I am able to validate the genuineness of card and card owner. Voila! I ordered my guitar processor and look forward to it.

Two similar situations. Two different approaches. It is good to know that stores are taking precautions to avoid credit card fraud. But when every other online store has some approval mechanism in place, why should you miss out? Security is a good thing. But it shouldn’t come in the way of the buying process. It should enable it.

Could it be possible that the Guitar Center store clerk did not know that his corporate office may have had a workaround?

How to put off a potential customer?

May 7, 2007 in Marketing, Tips with 0 Comments

Isn’t Blackberry a productivity device? Then why is it that when I go to www.blackberrypearl.com (their latest model), that I have to wait for at least 6 minutes to get any information? The Flash took so long to load!

Blackberry Pearl Website

All they had to do is – share some information about the device on the same page or at least have a HTML version for impatient people like me! They do have a HTML version but you have to wait for the initial flash to be loaded before you see that link. It is like the designer wanted to make sure that people see his/her work!!

How much for your smile?

April 27, 2007 in Customer Service with 0 Comments

Indigo Air RampI liked their prices. Their airplanes were comfortable. The service was prompt and good. But when I approached the Indigo airline counter at the Chennai and Delhi airport, I did not see any smile on the lady behind the counter. When I entered the aircraft, the airhostess standing at the door did not smile. When they offered me the complementary bottle of water, there was no smile. It was like they had a ‘no smile’ poilicy. Eeks!

Then I got into a discussion with my friend and he thinks the reason they did not smile at me was because I look intimidating. I have a look that scares people. Hmmm. But really, do my looks really matter? I am a customer. I deserve a smile. Don’t I?

So what if the customer has a stern face? Or if he/she does not even smile back? But they still deserve a smile. Customer service must always be proactive. Every organization must lay down clear rules for customer service. It is definitely not dependent on one’s mood. The airline’s policy must be “Smile at every customer. Whenever you come across them.” It does not cost money. It is not time consuming. It is definitely not difficult.

Interestingly, there was only one person from Indigo Airlines who smiled at me. The man who took my luggage and kept it on the scale in Delhi airport. Now I wonder, where he got that from?

Powerpoint Presentations: Where are those words?

April 21, 2007 in Learning, Marketing with 1 Comment

I bought Seth Godin’s idea on presentations the first time I read it. And I have strived to follow his rules every time I make one.

But problem arises when I have to make presentations for others. I follow the same rule and when I show it to them, the first thing they say is “Where are the words?” :) (No, I really find that funny!)

We have got so conditioned to seeing bulleted points in PPTs that anything without them seems so vacant. Of course, it is a lot of work, as compared to dumping all the words into the PPT. But it would surely be effective. People are really bored with presentations. They expect the drag. So when you are different, they sit up and listen. If that is your goal, you should seriously think of investing some time into your slides.

Borrowing from Seth Godin, these are the rules that I keep in mind when making presentations -

  • Never use more than 5 words in a slide
  • Do not use the template backgrounds. I generally use plain white and stock images.
  • Images speak louder than words. So if you can find an appropriate image for what you want to say, use it.
  • Never read from the slide. Ofcourse, if you have less than 5 words, then you don’t have a choice!
  • If you want the listener/audience to take back something, give them handouts. But please don’t give them the slides.

It really works. Try it!

Happy presenting!

Customer, who?

April 2, 2007 in Customer Service, Marketing with 0 Comments

Last Friday, I got a call – a sales call. It was one of those leading banking instituitions. The lady introduced herself and then started talking about something she would like to introduce – in Tamil. I am not very good at understanding everything in Tamil. So I asked (or rather requested) her to “please speak in english”. Bleep. She had actually cut the phone!

Last Sunday, I was having my lunch. I get a call. It was one of those leading bankin…………”please speak in English”. Bleep. Another sales call cut me off.

What am I supposed to think? How much would it cost to teach those girls to say, “Sure sir, I will connect you to another executive. Please hold.” or “I am sorry, I don’t speak English. But I will ask another executive call you.” What does it really take for an organisation to give good customer service or a good sales call? Some basic courtesy, please!

I visited a photo studio today to get some prints. I carried my snaps in a USB drive. The copy process (from my USB drive to his computer) was very slow. The guy behind the counter actually asked me, “Is this a very old model USB drive?” I bought my Sandisk Cruzer less than six months back!

Customers enjoy it when you treat them well – with respect. We don’t need to stand on our heads for them. Give them the basics first – isn’t that the least we would expect ourselves?

How are you going to spend your weekend?

March 31, 2007 in Ideas, Learning, Weekend with 3 Comments

Have you tried something new recently? In the last six months, I tried the following:

  • learning the guitar
  • design and host a website
  • getting more organised (I started keeping a diary)
  • start a new blog :)

I must admit that I have not been successful in most of the above. But the joy of trying something new is wonderful. And the pleasure of completing it is even better. It keeps me refreshed without having to think of my (official) job all the time!

You should try something new too. Weekends are a wonderful time to do that. It leaves you fresh for the new week ahead. Some of the other things that come to my mind are:

  • read a new book
  • organize your drawer
  • backup the data on your computer
  • learn a new skill or a language

Don’t let the weekend pass you by. Share your ideas here.

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