Value Added

I agree with my preacher.  For him, one of the best places to experience real service is at a five-star hotel. You do not have to book a stay, just ask where the men’s room is (or the ladies room, for that matter) and expect to be escorted to your purpose. They do not merely point the way, they lead the way.

I would like to add that there are supermarkets staffs, rare they maybe, with the same 5-star attitude. I am not only pointed to the aisle where the dried Kafir lime leaves are but am actually led to them.

I love being treated this way. It makes me feel like royalty. It feels good to be seen as a person and not merely a number or a prospect.

Sadly, this type of thinking is grossly missing in most businesses these days. The focus is at ramming as much and as many products as possible, needed or otherwise, down the customer’s throat. No time for relationships, no time for connection, nothing personal only business.

Lucky for mountain bikers like me, there is one company that believes on seeing their customers as persons. Not only did they pioneer a product that will allow mortals like me enjoy the benefits of a mechanical upgrade only the mega rich can afford, they went further by investing on engineering research aimed at addressing issues that comes with innovation. They led the effort.

It is rare for a company to develop a well engineered add-on to improve the performance of an already good product and then included it as a freebie in their subsequent deliveries. More than good, now the user has something better. And never wanting to ignore early adapters, they offer the add-on at prices nearly half their competition. As Stitch would say, “No one gets left behind.”

Importantly, they welcome technical opinion from people keen on elevating the sport, whether they buy from their catalog or not.

This practice creates one important impression: the customer is king. It makes the loudest marketing noise and fosters brand loyalty.

Seth Godin once issued a challenge: rather than find people who will buy your product, find products people will buy. One company rose to the challenge.

What makes me brave the trails more than personal skills are the parts I chose to install. Knowing fully well heart and foresight was involved in developing my equipment, I climb that hill with confidence. I know things will never fall apart, thanks greatly to that company who never saw me as a number but as king.

To Find Joy in Incompleteness

The moment I learned about it I started losing sleep. It was definitely a level up. It might not be an Iphone5s like the one it replaced but the freedom that comes with a smart phone is, for this bumpkin, mind boggling.

My current Samsung is a far cry. With its temperamental keyboard that sometimes require severe pounding before it displays an “a”, its minuscule screen, the overly low resolution camera, and its WiFi un-readiness, I am in need of change. Yes, this one coming is definitely something to be excited about.

And an IPhone, no matter if it is only a hand me down IPhone4, carries with it some bragging rights. I would like to believe this last one was the main reason for my lack of sleep.

Alas, the road to happiness can sometimes be gutted with slippery roots and deep ruts. As we later discovered, this model needs to be factory unlocked before it can be used for other networks. Here in the Philippines it meant responding to an $85 question. The reason for the hand me down was I have no $85. If I had, I would have bought myself a brand new android phablet from Starmobile. Immediately.

I went from asking the shops inside the Alabang Town Center in Muntinlupa, to Trinity in Baguio City and then finally a friend in San Fernando in the province of La Union. Desperation brings you places. But no joy at all.

Thanks to the wisdom I acquired from being friends with my mountain bike mate Alex, I looked beyond what I cannot have and examined closely this gadget in my hands.

It may not be able send text messages but my “new” IPhone4 allows me unlimited information exchange with Alex without going through the trouble of searching which Globe promo on unlimited texting to all networks is currently available to prepaid users. I can even send pictures or call him from anywhere in the world free of charge. Viber is heaven sent, I tell you.

And since my netbook is currently taking ages to load Windows (it shamelessly accuses me of using counterfeit programs), with this Iphone4 I receive alerts of new messages in my inbox instantly. No boot up misery hence no 3-day waiting period before being able to access my email.

A few months ago, Cecille treated us for a vacation in Macau and Hong Kong. All the great things we saw and experienced were fully covered by this wonderful thing called IPhone4. I may not be looking as cool as the next tourist with his latest Nikon or Canon but man, I was able to take pictures of all the food we came to seek (then mercilessly devoured) without being obvious. Some restaurants demand you eat their food not make fashion models out of them.

Now my friends know what a pork chop sandwich looks like. Or the two ways to put down a roasted duck.

And yes, posting updates on Facebook can never be simpler. No more lugging my netbook to do that.

I had so much fun I am having second thoughts about getting it opened to be used on the local networks. I believe there is severe injustice in the statement “Ate, please load my IPhone4 P50 worth of prepaid credits." Sadly, I will be forced to speak this language once it is made ready to receive a Globe prepaid SIM. If I can, I would like to avoid that route, non bragging rights notwithstanding.

On a more serious note, more important than enjoying it, it’s what I learned along the way that stands out: impressions are only skin deep, true value is much deeper. Rightly so. What is profoundly important is not immediately obvious.

Yes the bragging rights may be absent but I have yet to find something man made, after my bike Efcie, which will give me so much joy in its incompleteness.