What Promo? What A Shame! (4)

Yesterday I took my family for a treat at a fancy Western Restaurant on Bintang Walk. I was attracted by a large poster outside the reataurant promoting their alliance with a loyalty card. It said very clearly that members could get loyalty points or redeem their points in the restaurant.

Well, the three of us ordered our dinner and drinks, and I gave my loyalty card to the waiter and asked him to check my points for redemption against my dinner bill. After about 10 minutes, he brought my card back and said rather nonchalantly that their “machine is out of order and cannot check the card“.  I couldn’t believe it but held my peace.

After the meal, I went over to the cashier and said that I would like to check my loyalty card for my points. He swiped it and lo! the slip printed ourt my points! I told him that someone else told me that the machine was broken and my card could not be checked…but he said “no problem”. OK, so far so good. Next, I said that I want to redeem my points against my bill. The guy looked confused and off he went to get another guy who was obviously his supervisor. The second guy berated the first guy on the “right” procedure to swipe my loyalty card and my credit card and I thought to myself, “Good, here’s someone who knows his job!”.  That is..until I asked to redeem my points and he looked just as confused by my request as the first guy. He paused and then said that I could not redeem my points but he has credited the new points to my loyalty card. I pointed out to him that the poster outside clearly said that I could redeem my points in the restaurant…but he said that he does not know about that procedure.

I decided to let it go….but I wonder if the new points are even credited to my card at all!

Once again…..a grand promo plan but poor execution where the front-line staff have no clue as to what to do about the promo at all!

Do you have a similar experience? Tell us about it!

Golden Rule, Silver Rule, What Rule?

With the present (or has it always been like this in Mankind’s history?) chaotic state of the World, we all try to look for Rules that we can live by; that which may bring some sanity to the madness we face everyday.
What follows is largely from the material contained in Carl Sagan’s “The Rules of the Game” in his book “Billions and Billions”.

Most of us can relate to the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you”. 
However, Confucius debunked the Golden Rule. He asked, “Shall the Masochist inflict pain on his neighbour?” and other similar questions that exposed the weakness of this rule in that it does not take into account human differences.

The Silver Rule, “Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you”, is more realistic and among the famous practioners of this Silver Rule were Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. The nonviolent civil disobedience based on this rule helped to create significant change in India (Gandhi) and USA (Martin Luther King).

For a world in conflict,

Continue reading Golden Rule, Silver Rule, What Rule?

Saving Mother Earth Through Garbage Enzyme

Dr. (H) Joean Oon gave a talk on Garbage Enzyme at the Subang Jaya Buddhist Association on 24-July-2008, 8.00pm, to an attentive audience. Half of the audience, including  me,  were there to learn about the benefits of Garbage Enzyme , not knowing that by the end of the talk, this gutsy lady would have “recruited” us in her Mission to Save Mother Earth by using Garbage Enzyme to reduce Global Warming and at the same time help to heal the environment in many other ways.

 Garbage Enzyme is developed by Dr. Rosukon of Thailand, who was the teacher of Dr. Joean Oon. Together, they passionately encourage people to make garbage enzyme at home by using fresh kitchen waste (fruits and vegetables dregs), brown sugar (or jaggery or molasses) and water mixed together in an airtight container and left to ferment for up to 3 months before use.

The catalysis process during the production of the garbage enzyme will generate ozone gas O3, which reduces CO2 in the atmosphere and heavy metal in clouds that trap heat, thereby reducing the greenhouse global warming effect. At the same time, NO3 and CO3 are also formed which will enhance the fertility of the soil and are natural hormone and nutrients for plants.

Some of the benefits and uses  (extracted from www.justlifeshop.com/changeclimate) are:

Continue reading Saving Mother Earth Through Garbage Enzyme

What Promo? What a Shame! (3)

There’s this prestigious charge card company that has an on-going sales promo with a shopping complex whereby you could redeem some gifts when your total purchases charged to the card reach or exceed a certain amount. Well, I am always a sucker for sales promo (otherwise how do you think I have all these stories?) and I promptly set out to ensure that all my purchases at that shopping complex would be charged to that card, together with my wife, the supplementary card holder.

So imagine my chagrin, when I am told by the Card Staff that we cannot combine our purchases as the card numbers are different. Hey, why not, after all the supplementary charges all appear on my single monthly statement and I pay all the bills.

I cannot help but think that the Marketeer’s intention is to encourage more purchases on the charge card and in that case, it would not matter whether the purchase are on the main card or the supplementary card. It is just a case of someone not paying attention to the DETAILS when designing the sales promo.

Don’t laugh….it could happen to YOUR sales promo, if no-one thinks through the details of the execution.

Care to share a similar experience? Tell us about it!

Urena Lobata for Chronic Renal Failure

Update:

My mum-in-law passed away on May 8, 2010, at 90, because of old age; not because of her kidney. She had a good and healthy life for the 22 years since the doctors gave up on her. We sincerely hope this may help others in the same predicament.


My mother-in-law had chronic renal failure of both kidneys back in 1988. She was 68 then and she’s still alive and perky today at 89 (April 2009).

One kidney was declared completely failed and the other had only 25% functionality left.

She was put on various antibiotics which gave her bad reactions and she also had bed sores due to the prolonged periods she spent in bed.

After a prolonged stay at the hospital, came the ominous pronouncement, “She has only 3-months left; take her home, make her comfortable and give her whatever she wants.” (or words to that effect).

Well, in a no-choice situation, an unexpected “choice” appeared in the form of a Chinese man (Mr Ong of Nibong Tebal; sadhu! sadhu! sadhu!) who heard of my mum-in-law’s plight from my brother-in-law. He introduced us to a wild shrub (Urena Lobata or Congo Jute or Pulut-Pulut) which was used to make a soup/tea for my mum-in-law to drink. That’s the miracle and the reason that she is still alive and well today, we believe. 

The recipe calls for

Continue reading Urena Lobata for Chronic Renal Failure

Natural Treatment for Cancer

Dr Stallion Chan gave a talk to a full house at the Subang Jaya Buddhist Association’s main hall on 25-Aug-2006. Dr Chan made a startling and compelling case on a natural treatment for Cancer based on collagen, papaya and Vitamin B17. 

According to Dr Chan, the body has a natural defence against cancer cells if the body is healthy with a strong digestive system. The pancreatic enzyme of a healthy digestive system can control cancerous tumours and was first recorded in 1906 by embryologist Dr. John Beard who wrote that pancreatic enzyme is one of the body’s defences against cancer and would be useful as a cancer treatment. Dr Chan suggested that a healthy body with a healthy and strong digestive system would secrete the necessary pancreatic enzyme that would help inhibit the formation of cancerous cells. A cancer cell protects itself from the human immune system with a protein shell which can be dissolved by the pancreatic enzyme.

If that be so, how then can we get supplementary pancreatic enzymes if we need them? The answer to this is the remarkable papaya which has an enzyme called papain which aids the digestion of protein. Dr Chan pointed out that the beneficial effects of papaya is aready well-known amongst the indigenous peoples of the varous countries where papaya thrives; from its use as a contraceptive to its curative property for cancer.

In addition to papaya, Dr Chan also suggested that cancer could be in part caused by the deficiency of Vitamin B17, very much like scurvy is simply caused by the deficiency of Vitamin C. When purified for cancer treatment, Vitamin B17 is known as Laetrile. However, this is a banned substance in many countries including USA, UK and Malaysia because Vitamin B17 is related to cynide and is very toxic in the wrong dosage. However, Dr Chan contends that this is as close to a magic bullet for cancer as we will ever find. Laetrile is routinely administered in Mexico for the treatment of cancer. Fortunately, Vitamin B17 can be found naturally in many fruit seeds especially apricot seeds. 

Continue reading Natural Treatment for Cancer

The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History

This article may change your life; read it and see!

The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History  

by Dr. Joe Vitale
www.mrfire.com

money moneyIf you want money, you only have to do one thing.  

It’s the one thing some of the wealthiest people on the planet have done and are doing.

It’s the one thing written about in various ancient cultures and still promoted today.

It’s the one thing that will bring money to anyone who does it but at the same time most people will fear doing it.

What is that one thing?

John D. Rockefeller did it since he was a child. He became a billionaire.

Andrew Carnegie did it, too. He became a tycoon.

What is the greatest money-making secret in history?

What is the one thing that works for everyone?

Give money away.

That’s right. Give it away.

Give it to people who help you stay in touch with your inner world.

Give it to people who inspire you, serve you, heal you, love you.

Give it to people without expecting them to return it, but give it knowing it will come back to you multiplied from some source.

In 1924 John D. Rockefeller wrote to his son and explained his practice of giving away money. He wrote, “…in the beginning of getting money, away back in my childhood, I began giving it away, and continued increasing the gifts as the income increased…”

Did you notice what he said? He gave away more money as he received more income. He gave away $550 million dollars in his lifetime.

P.T. Barnum gave money away, too. As I wrote in my book on him, “There’s A Customer Born Every Minute,” Barnum believed in what he called a “profitable philanthropy.” He knew giving would lead to receiving. He, too, became one of the world’s richest men.

Andrew Carnegie gave enormously, too. While some might argue that these early tycoons had the money to give, so it was easy for them, I would argue that they got the money in part because they were willing to freely give. The giving led to the receiving. The giving led to more wealth.

Today it’s fashionable for businesses to give money to worthy causes. It makes them look good and of course it helps those who receive it. Anita Roddick’s Body Shop stores, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield’s ice cream, and Yvon Chouinard’s Patagonia, are living examples of how giving can be good for business.

But what I’m talking about here is individual giving. I’m talking about you giving money so you will receive more money.

If there’s one thing I think people do wrong when they practice giving, is they give too little. They hold on to their money and let it trickle out when it comes to giving. And that’s why they aren’t receiving. You have to give, and give a lot, to be in the flow of life to receive.

I remember when I first heard about the idea of giving. I thought it was a scheme to get me to give money to the people who were telling me to do the giving.

If I did give, it was like a miser. Naturally, what I got in return was equivalent to what I gave. I gave little. I got little.

But then one day I decided to test the theory of giving.

I love inspiring stories. I read them, listen to them, share them, and tell them. I decided to thank Mike Dooley of tut.com for the inspiring messages he shares with me and others every day by email.

I decided to give him some money. In the past I would have given him maybe five dollars. But that’s when I came from scarcity and feared the giving principle wouldn’t work. This time would be different. I took out my check book and wrote a check for one thousand dollars.

Mike was stunned. He got my check in the mail and nearly drove off the road as he headed home. He couldn’t believe it.

I loved making him so happy. I delighted in giving the money to him. Whatever he did with it was fine with me. What I got was an incredible feeling of helping someone continue doing what I believed in. It was an inner rush to help him. I still rejoice at sending him the money.

And then something wonderful began to happen.

I suddenly got a call from a person who wanted me to co-author his book, a job that ended up paying me many times over what I given away.

And then a publisher in Japan contacted me, wanting to buy the translation rights to my best-selling book, “Spiritual Marketing.” They, too, offered me many times what I had given my friend as a gift.

A true skeptic can say these events are unrelated. Maybe in the skeptic’s mind, they aren’t. In mine, they are.

When I gave money to Mike, I sent a message to myself and to the world that I was prosperous and in the flow. I also set up a magnetic principle that attracted money to me: As you give, so you will get.

Give time and you’ll get time.

Give products and you’ll get products.

Give love and you’ll get love.

Give money and you’ll get money.

This one tip alone can transform your finances. Think of the person or persons who have inspired you over the last week. Who made you feel good about yourself, your life, your dreams, or your goals?

Give that person some money. Give them something from your heart. Don’t be stingy. Come from abundance, not scarcity. Give without expecting return from that person, but do expect return. As you do, you will see your own prosperity grow.

Try it and see.

 

Dr. Joe Vitale is the author of way too many books to list here. His latest title is “The Attractor Factor: 5 Easy Steps for Creating Wealth (or anything else) From the Inside Out.” Register for his monthly complimentary ezine at http://www.mrfire.com/

His Executive Mentoring Program is described at
http://www.joe-vitale-executive-mentoring.com/info.html

 

Copyright © 2005 by Joe Vitale. All rights reserved.
You may forward this in its entirety to anyone you wish.

Hypnotic Marketing Inc.
121 Canyon Gap Rd
Wimberley TX 78676

Member BBB Online 2005

What Promo? What a Shame! (2)

Recall that in “What Promo? What a Shame! (1)” I told you that I can vouch for the fact that sales promo contests are indeed real, or at least those that I have personally taken part in and won. Well, here’s the next story where I won a prize; 3rd prize to be exact.

I received a SMS informing me that I had won the 3rd prize in a contest. I duly phoned back and received the instructions on the day and time to collect my prize from the Store. You bet I was elated and looked forward to the appointment for the collection of the prize.

Come the day and there I was at the Store entrance to meet the staff who was supposed to give me the prize. I half-expected some sort of simple reception and maybe a photograph to be taken for the Store’s promotional use. With such a crowd at the Store, I thought that Management would take the opportunity to hand me the prize in full view of the shopping crowd so that people will know that the contest was real (don’t we all have doubts?). Instead, a staff approached me and after introduicng himself, he asked me to follow him to the Store’s office to collect the prize. Hmm…that was a bit disappointing, but never mind, let’s go get the prize!

The staff mumbeld a soft apologetic comment that we had to walk through the basement carpark to get to the Office. Oh never mind, let’s go! We walked quite a distance all across the basement carpark to the opposite end and then walked up four flights of stairs to the office! No-one else was there. No photographer. No happy greeting nor congratulations from any other staff or management. Sign here in a register to indicate that you have collected your prize (I saw that the first two prize winners had also signed in the register) and here you are…a carton with a number of items inside to make up the 3rd prize. And of course, I had to carry the carton down the four flights of stairs to put the prize in my car.

So here are the Management questions:

1. Why bother having a Sales Promo if you don’t capitalise on it to excite all the other shoppers to show them that the contest is real and here’s a real-life winner to prove it?

2. Why turn a happy occassion for a lucky winner into a dull, uneventful and inconvenient exercise?

3. Hey…where is the Marketeer or Store Manager?

The Management Learning Experience…..don’t let your Sales Promo end without any mileage and oomph!

Ever experienced a similar situation? Tell us about it!

Better Than Red Wine

Tomatoes

 
 
Comes in red,yellow,orange, green and brown
colors.
Contains:
Vitamin A,C,E,B1,B2,B3,B5,B6, Iron,Molybdenum,
Potassium,Manganese,Dietary Fiber, Chromium,
Folate,Copper,Magnesium,Phosphorus,Trytophan,
most important Lycopene.
Benefits:
1. Antioxidant Protection.
2. Anti-Cancer benefits of Lycopene-
    Prostate cancer,Colorectal cancer, Pancreatic
    cancer, Breast cancer, Liver cancer.
3.Tomato Juice-A natural Anti-Inflammatory.
4.Reduction in Heart Disease Risk.
5.Tomato juices reduces blood-clotting tendencies.
6.Helps against Colon cancer,diabetes and migraines.
“Tomatoes are second only to the potato in
terms of the vegetable consumed in the world.”
Complied By Dr Radha Krishna.

What Promo? What a Shame! (1)

Have you ever wondered whether all those promotional contests with fabulous prizes are real? Well, the good news is that Yes, they are real. Or at least those that I have participated and won. But the stories I want to tell are not about the prizes I won, but rather they are Management tales for marketing folks to take note and learn.

The first story may be something that you have also experienced. Here you are at the checkout counter of a large Hypermarket paying for your items and the total bill comes to $29.80.The cashier without so much as a greeting or a thank you, just silently take your money and give you the change and gets on with serving the next customer. What’s wrong with this picture? OK, she’s a miser with greetings, so what? Well, you collect your items and exit the checkout counter….and that’s when you notice a poster promoting an in-store sales campaign. Buy $30.00 worth of goods and you will get a small freebie token as well as be eligible to take part in a simple contest with a $10,0000 prize. Your heart drops…you have just paid $29.80 and you are not qualified for the freebie nor for the contest. You confront the cashier and ask her why didn’t she tell you about the promo…she could have easily persuaded you to pick up an additional item (sweets, batteries, etc) so that your total bill could exceed $30.00. The cashier looks at you unapologetically and cannot understand what the fuss is all about.

So the questions to the Hypermarket Management are:

1. Why are the front-line staff not trained to help make the sales promo a better success instead of making customers feel short-changed and annoyed? After all, most customers will gladly top-up their purchases to make the minimum amount required for the freebie and contest.

2. Why isn’t the sales promo clearly displayed within the Store rather than merely outside the Store? As a Management learning experience, the above story could well be enacted in any otther sales setting and not just in a Hypermarket. So don’t laugh, it could happen in your sales organisation too! Has this happened to you before? As a Customer or as a Marketeer? Tell us about it.

More stories to follow…