Tuesday, September 8

So what if you are my friend?



For budding franchise entrepenuers, do you know that Subway has one of the cheapest franchise system around? About US$10k for annually licensing. Anyway, if your good friend one day tells you that he has opened a Subway franchise in the city area, will you go and support him?

Will you support him if you are not a fan of the sandwiches?
Will you support him if you live and work far away from the city?
Will you support him if the sandwiches are more than double the price of your favourite chicken rice?

I am not one who do things for show (except attending weddings and funerals, which I consider basic respect). I will not show support to a friend just because I want him to earn my money. Friend or stranger, you will have to work to earn my cash.

I can help you in other ways like publicity. These are ways in which I won't have to force myself to contribute cash, but you will still get that incremental marketing (no matter how insignificant) required for generating more sales.

If the business you offer does not appeal to me, I will tell you straight in the face. If the prices are steep, I will not be a sucker for it just because you are my friend – but I will tell you which of your competitors are offering a better deal.

I am one who believes that money should be circulated within the inner circle. After all, that's what those rich people always do. Small companies often subcontract to a company or subsidiary belonging to his family or friends. If a friend and a stranger are offering me a insurance policy from the same company at the same cost, I will try to buy from my friend, or his recommendation.

A person’s nett woth is determined by his network.
It’s something that network marketing industries always emphasize on. A friend’s friend will turn out to be your friend. For every friend you have, you are looking at him and his 200 other friends.

The real estate agent I engaged is a church friend of my insurance agent.
And the renovator I engaged is recommended by my colleague.
And one of my insurance agent is my former colleague.
And my broker is the dad of a friend.

But still, just because you are a friend doesn’t mean you can give me less than desired services. Remember the power of the word of the mouth. If an insurance agent who is a relative gives me poor service, you can be assured that he will not be getting any referrals when my friends ask me for recommendation.

Also, just because you are a friend doesn’t mean that I should be serviced by you without any profits or at steep discount. Recently, a insurance agent of my wife offered to help us buy our travel insurance without charging us a single cent (his family is pretty rich, so he’s doing it for friendship). I denied the offer, and asked that he charge us the same amount that any insurance agent from his company will charge. After all, he has to help us get quotes, run down to the office to make apply and make payment etc... if he doesn't charge us a cent, he is actually earning negative profits for this transaction.

I know of another insurance agent who was mercilessly asked to be treated free meals by his prospective clients (who are his colleagues) in consideration of him buying numerous policies. After he had his fill, the client ended up buying a cheap policy. Well, obviously the agent ended up being the sucker in this case.

I don't expect my insurance agent to treat me drinks. In fact, I buy drinks for my agent because of all the hassle that she saved me from.

Business is about making money. And your time is money.

I do not take advantage of anybody. And don't expect to take advantage of me.

Business is a transaction.
Be my friend, and I guarantee you first consideration.
But bite me once with your lousy service/products, and you can say goodbye.

Earn my trust, and convince me why your goods and services are superior.
Then we can talk about how to make me part my cash.

12 comments:

Cherish Tulips said...

hehe..my insurance agent will normally treat me for a nice lunch..a way I guess for her to show her appreciation in supporting her and so far, I'm happy with her services and will buy and even recommend friends to her..win,win situation..

Donna said...

I will support from aspect like ENERGY!! Hahaha.. =.=”
No money to support more than that.. XD

****
The mushroom hair never explode loh.. hahahaha…

Grass said...

Agree with you on this. However as a friend we should always give the first chance to try out the service.....

HappySurfer said...

You are a good man, Shingo. Kudos!

wenn said...

indeed time is money..esp when u are working..

keeyit said...

Money is important..

Anonymous said...

One time bad service or poor quality, it's bye bye from this customer.

Roxy. said...

Hmmm, a hard decision i must say for me. I would probably go for my friend's opening day but if its not good enough. yeah, nothing to say.

Yeah, subway is one of the cheapest. I went to check to create some wealth for me too. haha.

foongpc said...

Now if only more people are like you! Unfortunately, you are in the minority.

Shingo T said...

Cherish Tulips:
You are so nice to your agent. I guess one good service deserves another in return.

dolly:
Don't underestimate the power of energy. Publicity can work even better than giving cash directly.

Grass:
Agreed. Friends have priority, but I expect no second rated service.

HappySurfer & Foongpc:
I put on a false front to make everyone think I'm a good guy. In real-life, I'm so so so evil. Muahahahaha.

wenn:
Agreed. Time never mattered that much when I was studying.

keeyit:
Money is important. And excess money is good to have.

Mei Teng:
Good for ya. In fact I think as friends, we should get even better service!

Roxy:
Ooohh... I smell some entrepenuership spirit from ya. But the question is... will it sustain? The employment world will brainwash ya.

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Nat said...

hmmm... You should do something about spam comments here...

tried recaptcha? Not sure if blogger allows it. Anyhow, you read about it, I am sure you will find it interesting even if you don't use it to fix your spam issue here.

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