When it comes to business, should it be "customers are always right" or "let customers think that they're always right"?

Jokes aside, it is important to have a relationship with your clients because the best form of marketing is still word-of-mouth. So how do you keep current clients happy in order to win more clients? You build RAPPORT with them!

Review
This is the first step to coming up with not just a business model but also strategies and an accompanying marketing campaign plus possibly a change in company culture. I like to think that this is where you look at your business from a broad perspective before you funnel down into the nitty gritty details.

If you don't already have, you should implement a feedback system for both staff and customers. This feedback system is important for you to understand pain points for both customers and your staff so that you can review and improve upon them.

Act
It’s now the constructive strategising portion. If you have listened to your customers’ and staff’s feedback, you would have a list of issues to tackle. Now, how then do you act on them? An action plan should read a bit like a laundry list but with a timeline and priority. I normally like to put it all into a table and even add in a column named "person-in-charge" so that you know who to look for when it's time to Review the situation again.

Prove
Now you’ve got your theories and your action plan, it is time to prove them. Go forth and roll out your surveys, forums and do the research plus interviews. Remember to stick to the timeline that you put in your action plan. There may be a chance that the results end up giving you a slightly different conclusion or result, which means that you will have to Review and then come up with another Action plan before you can Prove it again and then Promote.

Promote
Now that you’ve got an action plan on how to carry out these changes, you will also need to know about both the industry trends and marketing trends in order to promote your business’ services. If you only know one and not the other, your promotions will fall rather flat.

Marketing trendsIt is important to keep ourselves abreast of the latest trends when it comes to marketing because it also gives you a glimpse into consumer psychology and how you package or repackage your current suite of products and services. Every year, I would attend various conferences (e.g. Marketing Magazine and Adobe’s) to both keep myself on track as well as to network. Reading up on forums and articles are also very important.

Collaborations or PartnershipsIt is important nowadays to collaborate and do partnerships with other companies so that you can leverage off each other. The simplest method would be to hold joint promotions with another company. Alternatively, there are quite a few loyalty programmes out there were businesses can list themselves and it'll be the loyalty programme who will be helping you promote your business and promotions. Thus, you can get real clients into the door to test out your action plan.

Observe
After rolling out a new promotion or memo, remember to keep that line of feedback from staff open as they will definitely start telling you whether it works or not. Look to see whether there is a pattern in the feedback that clients give and which manner do they prefer to give their feedback.

Make sure that you pick up on both the verbal and non-verbal feedback from both staff and clients. I’ve often noticed (and I’m also guilty of doing this) that clients often tell you that everything was “fine” or “good” but if you observed them, perhaps they look like they’re ready to bolt out of the door or they say it in the most non-committal manner simply because they don’t want to commit to your sale. 

If you see positive feedback but then there’s no conversion, do note that down for review later. If there’s positive feedback that translates to positive returns, take note of what exactly worked and how to better improve on it and make it such that it becomes a habit or company culture.

Reflect
Make it a regular occurrence to take what has been promoted and observed, and reflect upon them. When I was in marketing, my team and I would normally look at how our campaigns are running at a monthly as well as on a quarterly basis because our campaigns normally last for 3 months and we plan for the next one a quarter ahead of time. There was a period of time where we would even meet once a week to catch up on what each of us was doing and the different observations we saw over the week. It’s easy to forget things after a month has passed, which was why a weekly review helped.

After a month, that’s when the financial figures will show. Have sales increased or dropped? If so, why? Do not forget that there may be several factors that come into play. If sales decrease, do also look at the economic climate because people will first eliminate what is deemed as ‘luxury’ or ‘pampering’ if they’re tightening up their purse strings. If there is no drastic change, maybe the ‘solutions’ in your action plan are not obvious enough. If there is a spike in the first month but not the next, is it because the advertisements ended too soon? 

Train
As Richard Branson once said, “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to. If you look after your staff, they’ll look after your customers. It’s that simple.” Just like how we’ve often heard how we should do unto others how we would like to be treated, the same goes for customer service. They way you treat your employees will be how they treat the clients. 

Building a relationship with anyone takes time and it is also a process. But it's worth it in the end when you see clients coming back to you and staying loyal with you because they know you.

If you're interested to have a free marketing consultation on how the RAPPORT model can work for your business, please email me at melissa@passhen.com

I'm quite excited to attend Bliss Out which is happening on Sat, 12 Dec! It's going to be Singapore's first mega event combining yoga and music at the wonderful venue of The Meadow, Gardens by The Bay!

I love listening to live performances and if you've been following me you know how yoga has impacted my life in a positive sense so although I'm not as crazy as some of my friends are, I really do enjoy yoga a lot! So...when I heard about Bliss Out and how it has both yoga and a mega concert...my reaction was "where do I sign up?".

The evening will kick off with 2 yoga sessions by renowned festival instructor Sianna Sherman and Official Yoga Studio-Space & Light Yoga. After the yoga sessions will be the PARTY!

It'll be interesting to watch this indie Kiwi electronic band, The Naked And Famous, perform live and of course, I'll be there to support local artiste INCH Chua!

I do know that the tickets seem rather pricey at first:
Yoga + Concert  S$110
Concert only  S$90

But here's the good news. You, my dear faithful readers, can get 10% discount by using my promo code BLISSOUTBLMELISSA! 

To register, visit www.blissout.com.sg and again, don't forget to use my promo code before 12 Dec to get your discount!

Was lucky to be invited to the Singapore launch of US-based Vita Coco's cold pressed organic coconut oil on Wednesday! Vita Coco's coconut water has already won the hearts of millions internationally since it's processing from fruit to packet ensures that drinking from the packet is almost like drinking from the nut itself.

The humble coconut has been heralded as a wonder fruit and thus, this jar of coconut oil has been aptly called the 'little jar of wonders' as coconut oil is packed rich with good fats (medium chain fatty acids) and acids (Capric, Caprylic and Lauric) which nourish, energise and stimulate your body’s metabolism. In fact, the only other natural source of such a large quantity of these rich fats and acids are in mother’s breast milk, which strengthens the immunity of her baby.

Due to the wonders of coconut oil, the running tagline for Vita Coco is "Eat it. Wear it. Swear by it!". Let's touch on the "Eat it" portion as food is always close to the heart.

Here I am enjoying a glass of Coconut Margarita and mind you, this was my 2nd cocktail. I had earlier drunk a glass of Coconut Water Mojito! Yummy and refreshing! There were mocktails too but I wasn't driving so bring on the alcohol!

The team had engaged the chefs at Glass House, Hotel Fort Canning, to come up with a 3 course meal to showcase the variety of ways that Vita Coco's coconut oil and coconut water could be used in one's cooking.

First came a simple salad of baby spinach, tomato, cucumber, roasted walnuts, mandarin orange slices drizzled with some coconut oil. The result was very refreshing and it was interesting to smell the coconut but not eat something that is very rich but light.

Second course was the chicken soup that was cooked with coconut water. It was a bit too sweet for my liking and I reckon that it's because the chef added sugar and not because of the coconut water. I've cooked broth with coconut water before and it tastes really yummy, especially when you mix it with chicken broth as the coconut water adds another dimension to it. Alternatively, I feel that coconut water is a good vegetarian broth! Just remember to add the salt.

Lastly is Coconut Butter Chicken with Savoy Coconut Rice. It uses both coconut oil and water as part of the ingredients.

Chef preparing the Coconut Butter Chicken

We had a cooking demonstration as well! Chef taught us how to prepare the Coconut Butter Chicken dish and if you'd like the recipe, you can head on over to my other blog In Chef Mode to download it.

As mentioned earlier, coconut oil is versatile and not only can you eat it, you can use it and this brings us to the "Wear it" portion.

I'm currently using Coconut Oil in what is known as oil pulling. Basically, you gargle with coconut oil for about 20 minutes before brushing your teeth. This 'pulls' the bacteria and dirt in your mouth due to the anti-bacterial properties of coconut oil. I've done it for about a week or so and what I like about it is that it doesn't dry my mouth and lips, unlike normal mouthwashes.

One of the attendees getting a scrub made with Vita Coco coconut oil

Model having a mask applied onto her face after makeup removal using coconut oil

Due to its moisturising properties, you can use the coconut oil as a body scrub by mixing it with rock salt or sugar. Also, you can use it as a harmless and effective makeup remover!

Another way of using coconut oil is a hair conditioner, just like how a lot of Indians use it traditionally. If you have fine hair, it is also advisable to coat your hair with coconut oil before shampooing. Called a 'pre-poo', this prevents your hair from getting dried out during the shampoo process.

You can get more information and tips on how to use coconut oil at http://www.swearbyit.com.

So where can you get your hands on this little jar of wonders and the refreshing coconut water? The 250ml Vita Coco coconut oil is retailing at S$20 and will be available at all major supermarkets and specialty stores from November 2015 onwards. The coconut water are already on sale in the major supermarkets!

To find out more about Vita Coco and their nutty story, visit http://vitacoco.com/sg.

Look what greeted me at home one day! Such a nice gift from Nutella Singapore!

Tada! My personalised Nutella! Now I can safely say that the jar of Nutella has my name on it!

If you're wondering where you can get yours, the roadshow at Bugis+ unfortunately ended on 13 Sep. However, you can go to www.yournutella.com and get your personalised label (limited to 9 characters and no jar) sent to you free. Alternatively, there will be 20 supermarkets in Singapore that will have the personalisation machine but for the schedule, stay tuned to www.yournutella.com or follow @NutellaSEA on Instagram for updates.

Have fun and remember to upload your personalised jars with the hashtag #yournutella!

I was really excited to go for my second Macallan event on Saturday and this time round, it's to celebrate the launch of their first batch of Rare Cask whisky. Why is it called Rare Cask? It is because it is a celebration of their Oak Barrels and the head whisky maker selected 1% of their usual barrels to produce this series which has 16 distinct notes.

For Macallan, it's all about the oak barrels. Their Oaks are a mix of American and Spanish oaks, and the barrels made with them are first 'cured' with sherry before whisky is aged in these barrels. The organisers invited Tio Pepe down to give us a taste of the said sherry, which is in the glass that you see above.

I loved how each glass of sherry was poured with such flair and if you've got a camera in front of him, he'll be so obliging in making his movements even MORE exaggerated! But back to the sherry. I was really surprised that although the nose of it was really strong, it was a super easy wine to drink. It was a bit dry but wasn't too overpowering so you can pair it with all sorts of seafoods, especially those that come with cream sauces.

What Macallan event would it be without welcome drinks? The above is the Macallan Macarena, a special cocktail made specially for this event. As you can tell from the menu below, it contains the Macallan 12 yrs, Amarena, egg white (for the froth) and orange bitter.

I joked with the bartender that this cocktail is so healthy since it as protein from the egg white and fibre from the cherry served with it plus carbs from the whisky. All contributing to our 1 of 5 servings in a day. LOL. Honestly though, the taste wasn't that great. The previous welcome cocktail for Toast The Macallan was a lot tastier but I liked that the Macarena was prepared fresh for us on the spot, unlike the last event in January.

It was soon our turn to go into the 'warehouse' where the organisers turned the place to resemble the cellars/warehouses in Europe where the Macallan sits and ages for a minimum of 7 years. It is supposed to be cool and damp.

The actual oak barrels were also there for us to take a sniff at - smell the glorious sherry residue.

But the day's event was all about the Rare Cask, which was why we were there in the first place. To taste this first bottling.

On first whiff, it smelt a little creamy and my friend Joe said that he could smell mainly chocolate. On first taste, it was quite spicy and when it went to the back of the throat, the subtle flavours of the vanilla and citrus started to come out. It was the opposite for Joe who only felt the spice as an aftertaste.

There are less than 3,000 bottles brought into Singapore for sale and it retails for about S$550/bottle. An expert that we spoke to that day recommended that we buy a bottle as an investment as it was going for sale at S$475 at the event and they had already opened 1,000 bottles for this event. Thus, it would triple in value within 10 years. Especially since this is the first bottling. The second bottling may be able to replicate the hue and the smell but it will still be different because it'll be made from different batches of whiskies aged in different barrels of oak. Oh well. I don't think I'll be storing them properly. I still have lots of my D'Arenberg Dead Arm Shiraz 2005 to sell (please contact me if you'd like to buy...even if its just 1 bottle).

Overall, I enjoyed myself at the event and I'm looking forward to the next one! Great marketing Macallan! You've just upped the ante for the other whisky brands ;)

"People don't buy what others want to sell; They buy what others want to buy."

This is one of the fundamental principles of the Campaign Driven Enterprise Masterclass.

Secure your seat »  

In Paris, there’s a department store called Galeries Lafayette; it’s is one of the world’s most famous stores for fashion. Inside is an exclusive area that stocks Chanel handbags. You can’t enter the area just by walking in. You line up, an attendant comes by and asks you what you’ll be looking at in the store.

The wait isn’t normally too long, only 10 minutes or so and the security staff are quite pleasant. After a short line up, you’re in the store and you’re pleased to be able to finally browse a very limited range of designer handbags. 

You might look around, and spot something you like. Aren’t you lucky to be able to hold it finally! You don’t take too long, people are lining up behind you and they can’t come into the store until you’ve finished. You make your selection and you snap up one of the bags (at a price that could buy a full set of luggage and the airfare as well). They thank you and you leave the store proudly as you bask in the adoration of the people who await the same opportunity. 

Outside only three streets away is a store full to the brim with handbags, belts, shoes and jewellery. A man stands outside shouting into the street, partly in French and partly in English. He’s shouting that his stock is on sale, it’s cheap, it’s half-priced. People try to ignore him, they make an arc around the store pretending not to notice him in his desperation. They glance inside and they notice the store is mostly empty other than a few older tourists who are hopefully too deaf to be put off by the shouting. 

The handbags in both these stores aren’t that different. Clearly the genuine Chanel bags would cost a little bit more to make and would last a little bit longer but if aliens landed on Earth and had to figure out which one was better they might struggle with the challenge. 

There is of course a big difference though; the prices. The brand name bags in the exclusive store cost 50x more than the street store bags. Isn’t it odd that a bag that costs 50x more is the one people queue up for and the one that’s barely selling for its production costs isn’t getting anyone engaged! 

The reason is because people don’t buy what others want to sell, they buy what other people want to buy.

My question for you today is..

“What are you doing that makes you and your business exclusive, special, desirable and valued?”

We have a goal to help more businesses to become more highly valued and highly paid. We want these businesses to be in demand, which is what the upcoming "Campaign Driven Enterprise" masterclass with Daniel Priestley is about.

For more information and to secure your seats: click here.

That's my new company's logo and it's pronounced like 'passion'. Not pass-hen. Interesting feedback on the name though. 5 people (the parents included) mispronounced it while 1 friend was even more appalled than I was at people mispronouncing it!

Anyway, back to the story behind Pásshen. As you've probably guessed, it is a play on the word 'passion' and 'pash' is a short form as well as a slang for passion too.

Be The Best Of You

If you head onto www.passhen.com, you'll realise that it's an e-booking system for all your spa, beauty and wellness needs. That tagline represents what I hope to achieve and that's my real passion. After going through my 1 month no-pay leave and making serious changes in my life, I realise that I  want to give women who are tired, stressed and feeling plain ole crappy, an avenue to easily find ways to unwind and just relax.

Which is the same principle as to why my friend and I started WellnessYogi RESET. It was not easy when we first started this project but now that the schedule has fallen into place, I must say that I'm heckulluva proud of ourselves! I wanted the programme to be holistic. Not only focusing on yoga, although it was key, but also reaching out to people who need a day to themselves. So...the schedule is now like this:

8am        Sunrise Yoga
9.30am   Chill out with juice
10am      Learn how Yoga can be used to treat illnesses
12 noon  Picnic lunch with non-dairy ice cream
2pm        Make up workshop
2.45pm   Hair wellness workshop
5.30pm   Taiji intro workshop
8pm        Kalari Yoga

Some people need to feel good on the outside before it shows on the inside while others need to feel good on the inside before it shows on the outside. Therefore, our programme is for everyone!! Haha...

Anyway, because I feel so strongly about this, I've got GREAT news for all of you. If you sign up as a member of Pásshen (it's FREE btw), you'll get 20% off WellnessYogi RESET!

How does this work?

1. Go to www.passhen.com and sign up as a member
2. Book an 'appointment' for WellnessYogi RESET
3. An email with the discount code with the discount link will be sent to you

So...I'll see all of you on Sat, 11 Jul at the Marina Bay Waterfront Promenade!!

Successful businesses don’t get clients one at a time.

There are restaurants that people queue up for, products that you must pre-order months in advance, tickets that sell out on the day they are released and stocks that go roaring up in value right after they float. 

There are cars that were bought before they were built. There are properties that sell when they are nothing more than a set of drawings. There are consultants who are booked six months in advance.

There are hairdressers who charge five times more than others and you have to book weeks in advance. There are bottles of wine that are purchased while their grapes are still growing on the vine. 

There are people who don't chase clients, clients chase them. 

In a world of endless choices, why does this happen? Why do people queue up? Why do they pay more? Why will they book in advance? Why are these people and products in such high demand? 

This is called being "Oversubscribed". It’s when your business separates itself from the market and becomes its own mini economy and in that economy demand is greater than supply. 

There are three ways to move yourself closer to being oversubscribed: 

1. Become a Campaign Driven Enterprise 

These in-demand businesses don’t go after clients one at a time. Instead, they run promotions, events, special deals, launches and other campaigns. They engage groups of people, they build a crowd before they give their performance. Apple doesn’t just put their products on the shelves and hope for the best, they run campaigns for months in advance.

2. Educate the market 

These businesses are generous with their insights. They position themselves as thought leaders and market educators. They promote causes, they rally people to adopt new ideas, they call the trends before they are obvious. People like Jamie Oliver, Oprah and Richard Branson are constantly sharing their view from the front line. 

3. Choose who you want to do business with 

Rather than trying to sell to everyone, these businesses select their clients on their own terms. They set a criteria for who they want to engage as a customer and they stick to it. They don’t try to please everyone, they do extraordinary things for the type of clients who will appreciate it. 

Unless you can get your business into the enviable position of being “over-subscribed", it’s nearly impossible to make any money above and beyond wages. We have a goal to help more businesses to achieve this outcome and you could be one of them.

If you find yourself struggling with creating campaigns, you may want to come along to Campaign Driven Enterprise (CDE) hosted by Daniel Priestley - author, entrepreneur and sought-after speaker. You can secure an early bird ticket at only $897 if you register before the 30th of June and save almost 30%.
 
For more information and to secure your seats here: http://www.entrevo.com/

In the past few week’s, the guys over at Key Person of Influence Singapore (KPI) have been working to get Daniel Priestley to run one of his acclaimed masterclasses here in Singapore. Daniel Priestley is a renown entrepreneur, sought-after speaker and author of the three best-selling books including Become a Key Person of Influence.

Just yesterday, they unveiled a new two-day masterclass:

“Campaign Driven Enterprise”

Here’s some more information.. 

Most businesses are designed to win new clients one at a time. This is a really slow and shaky way to grow a business. Campaign Driven Enterprises however create killer promotions that allow them to bring on a LOT of new clients, all at once. 

Successful companies often start with great campaigns. Nike, Apple, even Virgin started (and continue to thrive) using campaigns. It’s how Daniel started a successful business when he was only 22, creating an immediate impact to his industry.

This is the perfect workshop for helping you drive growth in your business - I've personally been through other KPI workshops and can attest to the quality of their content! I'm learning and trying to apply many things that I've learnt from them into practice.

This event will be limited in seats, so it's interactive and hands-on.

The price for this event is $1,247, but as I am an event partner, I managed to get an early-bird offer of only $897 for my readers! This is only if you secure your seat by the 30th June 2015 (save 28% and guarantee your seat, as this masterclass is most likely to sell out).
 
For more information and to secure your seats, click here.

By the way, I will be attending this masterclass too so I hope to see you there!

I need your help. I want to create a service that caters to YOUR needs and YOUR lifestyle while empowering you to become a better you - both on the inside and out. How can you get your voice be heard in shaping my business?

All you need to do is to fill in a very simple and short survey (10 questions only!). If you sign up to be on my mailing list, you will stand the chance to win a pair of FULL DAY tickets to WellnessYogi RESET, which is coming up on 11 July.

The survey link is https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/D2RJY9W.

Thank you loads in advance and I can't wait to share with you my new company once it's up and running!!

When I went to the gym at Raffles Place last week, I was pleasantly surprised to see the station covered with Tokio Marine's ad and with each passing panel, I was more in love with the whole campaign!

Well done Tokio Marine! You've successfully managed to shed your stuffy Japanese image and gotten a little personal with your audience.

Heard from my media agency that the Japanese HQ has mandated the similar campaign worldwide so the regional offices had no choice but to follow. Which made me even more surprised because I felt the people in the ads looked more Singaporean than Japanese!

Anyway, this is the perfect ad campaign to demonstrate certain elements of what makes up a Good Advertisement. Specifically, the new trend of more emotional soft sell.

1. Audience can relate to the ads

The whole series were about individual needs that are relatively universal - life events such as retirement, setting up one's business, starting a family or owning a car. All these are events that one would probably go through in one's life journey.

They also chose to have a font that looks more like a person's handwriting to convey a more personal touch. They kept the serious, straight fonts only for their contact details and corporate sale spiel.

The ads were personable too, with words such as 'I' and 'us'. Tells the audience what Tokio can do for  a person rather than what's so great about themselves/their product(s).

2. Proper call-to-action tagline

You don't have to read the whole paragraph but notice on the "Talk to us." and "Ready for what's next." These 2 are very clear and personable taglines and personifies the company. My only gripe would be that I wished there was a url or telephone number because I'm not sure whether I should Google "Tokio Marine" to find out their contact details to talk to them or what as not all their posters had the url.

They also played on people's aspirations to own their own businesses or cars in their main titles, such as "Yesterday, I answered to my boss. Today, I answer to my customers."

3. Relatable Faces

It's a little subtle but the models used in this campaign were a mix of races. Spotted someone who looked a little Malay and another few more Chinese. These faces are a lot more catered to the Singaporean audience, plus their relaxed poses makes the ads a lot less forgettable for an Insurance ad.

4. Consistency
They kept to the same colour scheme and the running "Yesterday...Today,..." tagline where they juxtaposition various scenarios for all their ads. This helps in brand recall and you will definitely recognise their corporate colour the next time you see it (think Scoot = Yellow; Tiffany = that shade of blue; Coca Cola = Red etc). They even have that odd blue arc at the bottom corner on every single poster with their contact details under it.

I'm sure that there are reasons why these ads aren't perfect but please...let's give a hand to Tokio Marine and their ad agency. It is NOT easy to book the slots for the posters, turnstiles AND the bottom walls of not just 1 but 2 stations (friend told me that she saw the same ads in Newton MRT station) to show the ad AT THE SAME TIME PERIOD.

Estimated cost? S$300k. Excluding production and design. SMRT doesn't do bulk discount. Oh...and I saw the ad adaptation on taxis but couldn't snap any pictures because it zoomed past me. So...that's probably another $50-60k, depending on how many taxis have the ad.

 I finally spotted one of them Tokio Marine ad cabs on 18 Apr night!! :)