Friday, March 19, 2010

Test

Over the weekend I was telling my friend about how important it is to protect our eyes from the strong sun rays these days.  I advised him the importance of wearing sunglasses.  He told me he never had a pair.  I told him that he should get one since he leaves 5 sharp after work for home while the sun is still shining bright.  He will need it when he goes out for lunch too.  I introduced him to this optical shop at a  mall.

My friend went to collect his sunglasses this evening and I tagged along.  After the sale was concluded, I asked my friend whether the salesperson gave him any free gifts.  He replied in the negative.  I am pretty good at asking for specials, discounts and free stuffs.  It is a habit of mine.  There is no harm asking.  You sure will get nothing if you do not ask.  The sales person will accede to your request and fancy until the equilibrium is met.  In short they will entertain your whims and fancies and humor you till they cannot afford to anymore.

These sales people want to make a sale.  They want to keep their customer.  They want their customer to be happy, to come back again and to introduce more friends and others to their shop.  The competition is stiff and it still is a buyers' market.  I decided to put my rusty skills to test.  I asked and my friend got a Rayban cap.  I went further and asked for one too.  I was just trying my luck. Guess what?  They gave me one too!

We then proceeded to have dinner at a restaurant.  I had chicken.  I though that there was a lot of bones on this chicken leg.  The meat was tough.  Only later when I have almost finished that I realized that I was given the wings instead.  The picture on the menu was the chicken leg.  I never liked the wing except for charcoal  grilled wings.  We finished our meal and I called for the bill.

I decided to try again.

In a nice, jovial and joking manner, I complained to the waitress.  Surprisingly she responded.  She smiled and told me in a jovial manner that she would inform her manager.  There was light banter between the both of us.  I asked her to tell her boss to throw in  free desserts for the both of us.  She did exactly that.  The manager came, apologized and told me that I could ask for my preferred cut of the meat when I order again next time.  She then offered to compensate us with desserts which we happily accepted.

It was not so much of the free gift or food.  I wanted to test and see how these two outlets would like their customers to remember them as the they exit their premises.  I must say that both the staff at these two outlets passed with flying colors.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

maybe i should try that more often...




[Jino] - A man's not a man unless he knows how to shoot

Legolas said...

For retaining potential long term customers, it is ok to compensate and make them happy at first. It's the right way to do business. The manager of the restaurant should get a praise.

William said...

Very auntie hor. :P

Little Dove said...

That's a gift I wish I had!

carpe diem said...

Ultraman Jino...Yeah give it a try.It then becomes a habit.

Legolas...That sure is a good way to retain customers. I think that is the norm in some countries.

William...Only aunties behave like that?

Little Dove...Try it enough times and you will get excited over the outcome. It is like a game.

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