Consulting tips

• When all is said and done, it is the clients decision not yours. The goal of a consultant is to facilitate decision-making by the client-not for the client.
• Keep your ego in your pocket. Remember that you are getting paid to help the client be successful, not to make the client wrong so that you can be right.
• The client often knows the right answer for them better than you do. You just need to help them discover it.
• Nothing you have to say is as important as anything the client has to say. Listen actively, and empathetically. Frequently summarize the clients needs, ideas, feelings.
• A consultant should try to learn not to take things too personally. The client often has a hidden agenda that has nothing to do with you.
• Listen, listen, question, question, listen some more. Sub text - just shut up. This must be constantly in your conscious mind.
• Focus on customer benefit, not your feature.
• A successful consultant is a great listener. Listen carefully to make sure you understand the client's needs and you deliver exactly what is expected of you.
• One of the most important skills we can use to be a more effective consultant is to listen!
• Ask questions.
• Focus on the Business Success Basics: Keep costs low, productivity high, service positively outrageous, and black ink on financial statements.
• Verify how the client defines success.
• Summarize. Before you end your first meeting with a new client, summarize what you think you heard. Summarize. Don't recommend. Don't empathize, apologize, or sermonize. Rather, do what you can to make sure that you understand what your client wants, and that your client knows you understand.
• Leave your assumptions at the door. Every client situation is different.
• Be clear with your client on what your deliverables are and make sure you have a common definition of them as well!
• Never answer an unasked question.
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Starhub customer service (by call) short-cut

After dialing 1633, press 1-1-1-0, it will get you to a consultant.

Consistency (in customer service)

Inconsistency in customer services can cause confusion. Recently I encounter a problem because the mobile service company I used asked me for a "Customer No." for a certain kind of service. I look through all the relative documents but couldn't find such a term. Then finally, I called the their hotline (while is not quite hot) and learned that it's actually the "Account No." that is printed on the bills. My goodness, why didn't they use the same term so that I could have save the time for searching?

That's one simple thing for any company to do, but a great help for people, who are the greatest assets of the company.

Open Office?

After trying the OO-1.1.5, I think MS-Office is still better in its interface and functionalities. What are your opinions?

Apple's baby step

After read the BusinessWeek article, I think it's very possible that Apple can make the history again.

One of the implication of the Internet is to make copying and distribution of information very easy. As music and videos can be digitalized on the PC, they are "shared" as easily as any other information on the Internet.

Eventually, this kind of "share" actions among the consumers will force the intellectual producers to change their business model in sales and distribution. And now, Apple has proposed one, though not very matural yet.

I am back

After reading an interesting blog just now, I feel like returning to continuing nuturing my own after a few months of "abandon".

Read a few spam comments and some friendly ones.

To the friendly fellow bloggers, "thank you for visiting and sharing. Please leave your link if you want." :)

An inspiration from Dell

"Speed is critical in computer industry." Speed is critical in the information age. Information is like computer hardware, in general, the older it is, the less value it has.

"Such rethinking of operations lets Dell operate more efficiently than any other computer company." An important character of a mechanic is to improve every component of his career gradually and continuously.

The "How Good Can You Stand It" Credo

Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like there's nobody watching.