From Target to Best Buy, from utility companies to moving companies, everyone try to beat the others in friendly customer support/service. 2008 is the the best time to buy EVERYTHING, because everything is already here, no new invention of a space age tv {at least not yet}, everything is cheap - a 34′ flat screen tv cost under $600! what about Brand? yes it matters, but a $600 flat screen who the F cares about brand! let me just watch it now and throw it tomorrow. so if money and brand isn’t important then what is, what will drive the traffic to one store/brand but not the other. A perfect example - The Chase commercial - A guy buying a flat screen with a flip of the phone he can know how much he has to spend from his savings account, right there, right at the min. he needed it! now that’s fast, reliable customer service. That’s what’s driving sales!

I for example, loves Ikea but I actually do most of my shopping at Target {same quality, same stylish design, same price range, difference in customer service}. That doesn’t mean I’ll prefer to shop at any target over all Ikea stores. The staffs at our local target are very friendly and helpful, on the other hand our local Ikea is packed with lazy asses that likes to chat around a computer stand, every-time you ask them for help you have to wait for them to finish their juicy gossip first, then followed by an ‘Alright, i’ll HELP her now, be back in 5!’ {WTF, I paid to have you work here}. That in turn makes me limit my visit to our local ikea.

Most people knows me know that whenever I make a purchase I do a price list compare like crazy, money does matter! If I want a camera the cheaper I can find it the better, then I make a final list of final 5, within that list I’d always to stick the company that I trust, might not be the cheapest of the 5 but it’s a company that’s the most reliable and a company that has a better customer support.

My mother used to tell me: If you want to keep your customer, then stand by your quality and maintain a honest, reliable costumer service!

Sometimes been TOO friendly can be very scary for the costumers, tonight I went out for dinner my waitress first complimented on the lovely color of my lipstick + wonderful smell of my perfume, I said thank you and felt really good about it. When our food arrived, before I had the time to fork it, she sticks a question at my face “you haven’t told me which brand of perfume you used” - that’s fine people always ask me where I bought this, where i got that. Then on her trip around to check if everyone’s enjoying their meal, she noticed that I was speaking Chinese, so she asked what language I was speaking, I said Chinese, she then went on saying it’s a beautiful language and that I’m really beautiful … at this point I’m not sure if she’s actually hitting on me or wanting more tips {last week I did had a weird bathroom experience with a girl, ahaha so now i’m all confused by them!}. At the end I don’t think I’d like to visit that resturant again. There is a thin line between friendly customer service and annoying one. So beware don’t over do it!

Okay, since I haven’t blogged about any juicy happenings lately let’s play catch up and put more detail into my ‘weird bathroom experience’ - Last Thursday I went on a dinner date, the date was fine, the funny thing started after I spilled some red wine on my dress. Went to the lady’s room to clean up since I figured it’s women’s bathroom so I took the top of my dress off and started to clean the bra that’s all wet. just I was busy cleaning up, A girl doing her makeup 2 mirrors down looked up “are these real” “hum?” I replied wasn’t sure if she’s talking to me or on the cell. “you boobs! are them real?”. Annoyed by the question, I said “yeah!” Then went to the dryer, try to dry my bra, that’s when she came behind me grabbed my boobs “hey beautiful, if your date gets too boring you are welcome at my table” … WTF , how the heck, what the… i really can’t wrap my head around this one, oh woah, that was so totally random I didn’t see that one coming, ahaha due to my slowness It took me a good 10min to figure out what had just happened. Anyways it was a pretty weird + fun experience.

Good night! yes, I’m stilling running on stolen WiFi and are feeling pretty bad about it :P

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Word of the week: Social Media Strategist , looks like I was M.I.A on my blog for a while, Here are some links I’m currently enjoying.

Just checcked Google Analytics to see how’s DannieG.com doing, surprisingly it’s actually doing better than I thought; some pies and graphs to showoff.

you know your blog has reached the design community when: you have higher Mac visitors than Windows, with a 27.35% of screen Resolution set at 1680×1050 :) Gotta love those 20″ Cinema displays

If you are bored looking for a place to openly discuss something then - Join my Apple TV or Mac Mini discussion on Get Satisfaction

Random Question: Do guys clip their finger nails so they can type? It seems like I have to clip my finger nails every other week or it gets too long and slips off keys, is it a girl thing?! just wondering.

I’m crazy about Crepes, my favorite Boston place for crepes has to be Z-Square on Harvard {their Goat Cheese and Smoked Salmon Crepes are to die for}. That brings up my next fav. link of the week - I’ve find a wonderful Spinach and Ricotta Cheese Crepe recipe for make at home meals :) Breakfast sounds wonderful.

I love Treehugger’s take on Earth Day Survey ‘blah blah Earth Day blah blah blah blah’ I think if you are reading TreeHugger it won’t matter what day it is, you’ll try to be as eco-friendly as you can.

Love to show off your design skillz? how about showing it off on a side of the building for free!!! check out Diesel’s the wall contest

Last but certainly not the least - my hat goes off to a flickr/twitter/linkedin web buddy of mine - Kevin Lim. a few days ago, I was really surprised to receive a Linkedin email from him reads:

Hello,
Most of you know me as an avidly curious blogger, so I’d like to ask you something I’ve been pondering about for a while: “If you managed a company, would you hire a social media strategist?”

In this open-ended question, I’d like to get a sense of whether there is a need for someone culturally strong in the social media space (e.g. blogs, forums, social networks) to help companies communicate with their relevant public. This is in contrast to hiring a traditionally trained marketing person.

1. Do you see a need for a social media strategist today? (Yes / No + Why)
2. If yes, what kind of qualifications do you expect? (List some)
3. Also, if yes, what kind of bottomline (returns) would you expect?
4. Any further thoughts?

Your collective response will help me understand if we should expect a “dot-com bubble” for the social media industry. I’ll share the results once I get enough replies.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

Kevin Lim

I found the email message very interesting, would love to see the results. If anyone wants to give him your piece of mind then visit his blog post on this topic and make sure to post a comment :) In my view, I don’t think all PR keeps up with the different media, some are more traditional, I do think SMS is different than PR.

Digital design/tech is such a new field, people often generalize us - a good example … Doctors, it’s a field since the birth of mankind so by now doctors are finely filtered into different areas/specialities - heart, skin, legs, boob job, pet health … etc - but I think in the new media field there isn’t a clear line between what’s what, sure by now most people know a trick or two in Photoshop that doesn’t make them a designer - I studied art since age six, has a degree in fine art + digital art, how am i different than someone that has no background in art/color  just barely studied a year or two of Photoshop? when someone took one course on website design back in college, does that gain them bragging rights and the ability to give talks to developers on web standards? If a PR firm surfs on the net all day does that mean they are on top of the wave? Have you ever saw an ad that says: looking for someone that can design, code and do flash? who’s to blame?!

FIN

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