Account 1

My high school had really weird timings. Infact I guess most schools in India have got weird timings, or maybe all schools start pretty early, and if it is so, I guess they should all change it. Anyways, my school starting pretty early at 7 am in morning meant that most of the children won’t be able to wake up early enough to have breakfast on dining table. They would either munch on the way to school or some other way. Near my school was this little shop. It was the only shop opened so early in the morning. It sold burgers, sandwiches and other fast snacks. I never liked those guys, cause the quality of their food was below average and the cost they used to sell it for was way more than the usual, and lastly, they didn’t even treat us well. But we had no other choice, as it was the only shop opened so early and we were hungry.

Eventually, one day we saw another shop, just as small and standing right opposite to this one. The vendor was smiling and the shop also looked pretty neat and nice, obviously it was new. I couldn’t resist visiting it. Luckily, the food quality was just as good as average. I mean, even though it was average, it felt good, also the price were usual. So this shop was cheaper yet better qualitatively as compared to the old shop. It didn’t take two days for the new shop to steal all the crowd from the old one. Well, the old shop vendors did decrease the price but it didn’t help them much, cause children didn’t forget the ill-mannered staff. I don’t know if they improved quality as I never tried them again.

Account 2

Recently my Omnia was giving me a lot of troubles, so I had to send it to Samsung Service Center. They told me it will take around 15 days to get fixed as they need to replace the touch panel. I couldn’t afford to lose the calls I would get during this time, so I decided to buy a temporary cell phone for these days. Of coarse, I was looking for a pretty cheap phone for only 15 days. During my lunch hour, I saw a big Vodafone board, visited that shop, asked them for the specific Vodafone model I was looking for. He said that he is not an official Vodafone retailer and the board is only there for promotional purposes. So he didn’t have the model I was looking for, but  he offered me to check out some other models. I thanked him for offering and asked him if he can guide me to the nearest Vodafone store. He bluntly said he don’t know. I didn’t like that. Anyways, I came out, I asked another shopkeeper about Vodafone store, and he told me that it was just four shops away. Now, there is no way that the previous shop keeper didn’t know where the Vodafone store is. He just didn’t want me to go to a competitor, or worse, he was showing the frustration that I wasn’t interested in the phones he was showing to me. Anyways, I found the store and bought the phone (and eventually lost it after 15 days). Now my Omnia is back in Service Center, and this time for over 30 days. I had to buy a new phone, and I didn’t want to buy the same model from Vodafone again, but while still being random, I was careful enough not to buy from that shopkeeper who didn’t help me find Vodafone store last time. Because I don’t like him.

Account 3

I am very fond of Delhi Chaats. I am not talking about the Delhi Chaat that we get here in Mumbai. I am talking about the various chaats that we can get only in Delhi. You have to taste it to realize that something can even be so tasty. Anyways, I tried almost all shops in Mumbai looking for that taste but couldn’t find it. I found it once in some shop in Infinity Mall in Andheri and it was almost nice. Unfortunately my luck doomed and the mall caught fire one day, and was burnt badly and closed. Later when it reopened, the specific shop didn’t. I was since looking for another place to feed my appetite for Delhi Chaats. Finally I came across this shop in Inorbit Mall in Vashi, called Only Parathas, and it was my lucky day. Now I just need to show them my face and they already know my order. I must have showed this place to tens of my friends. I am sure those shopkeepers must have made some jokes about me and my fancy for Delhi Chaats.

So last week, I visited them with my brother and a friend and ordered 3 plates of Tikki Chaat and Bisleri and 3 Red Bulls. They only has 1 chilled Red Bull and the other two were just not as chilled as one would like. We told them to keep it in freezer by the time when order is ready, but the shopkeeper replied that he will rather get us chilled Red Bulls from another shop, and so he did the very next minute. Not to mention he was proudly smiling at his own customer service when he said that. Now I normally tend to hate people who are proud, but I would rather flatter someone with pride if it means a better customer service to me. I like this guy anywhichways though.

Moral

• Just because you don’t have competitors today, doesn’t mean you will never have them.
• Don’t just sell your products/service; make a relationship with your customers. It helps against competitors.
• One of the ways to make a prospect your customer without being able to sell the product is by giving remarkable customer service.
• Don’t hesitate to recommend a competitor if that is what best suits the needs of your customer. They won’t forget the source. Most people never remember the great article they read online, but always remember they found it trough Google.
• Whatever you do, good or evil, there is always a blogger somewhere writing about you .