Insights from India - Part 1
Tom here
Christine & I have just had 4 wonderful weeks in India. We spent most of our time in Rajasthan (15 days) but also spent a few days each in Mumbai, Goa, Agra (Taj Mahal), Delhi and then down in Southern India for the last few days at Varkala beach in the state of Kerala. Every day was a new adventure and we found the Indian people to be very friendly, they loved to get in a conversation with you…luckily most of them could speak English. The best way I can describe the country is ‘incredible’!
The thing that made our holiday so great was the people, they gave terrific customer service and every day we experienced it. My wife Christine often drinks diet coke and when she asked for it one night at dinner, they said they didn’t have it, but they then ran like mad down the road to a shop and bought some for her! Our New Zealand friends who came with us didn’t really eat curry or spicy food, so they really had to work hard to look after them, by making the food with little or no spice…but they did it and were very happy to do so. These people really made our visit very special and memorable….they were always prepared to do that little bit extra.
I think we all start out that way in business, but often we forget this very basic thing along the way. This is what we all have to aim for in our businesses, with every customer who comes in: we need to make them feel special in order to make their visit memorable.
Have you seen the ads done by the Indian Government to promote tourism in India? “Incredible India”.
I tell you, it sure is. While there, I read many ads, stories etc telling people to respect each other & visitors to their country, and pushing the ‘Incredible India’ statement, asking their own people to live up to it. It really hammered home the realization that this is what we have to do in our bakery: if we want to live up to our statement that we are “Australia’s Greatest Bakery”, we have to give the greatest customer service in our business that is possible; we have to walk the talk. It’s easy to talk it, but I have to get my people to walk it!
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Reaping rewards of the harvest
I would like to invite you to come along and celebrate our annual Beechworth Harvest Festival which will be held on Saturday 15th & Sunday 16th May.
Once again, I have been roped in to do a cooking demonstration which will be in the middle of the big tent where all the stalls are, on the Sunday at around 11am…So I had better get my act together and make something interesting!
Apart from the opportunity of seeing me make a fool of myself, there are heaps of terrific stalls, selling fantastic food and wine and with plenty of samples to try. It really is a great place to take all the family.
Hope to see you there!
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Having goals is not enough
We’ve all heard about how important it is to have goals. For me goals give me purpose & direction in my life…without written goals, who knows where I would end up!
But even if you go to the trouble of working out your goals, how do you actually make them part of your life, part of your daily routine? In this little clip I will share with you how I have made goal setting a part of my daily routine. It works for me, so it can work for you too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q9WEKvphXg
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Life’s worth celebrating!
I celebrated my 58th Birthday in the town of Bikaner in Rajasthan India and I won’t forget it. Our Indian guide, Mayur, took us out to a private farm, 20km out of town, for a beautiful dinner and got us all to dress up in traditional clothing. We sat around a big camp fire to eat our dinner and were entertained by some local dancers & musicians. In no time they had us all up and dancing…we weren’t very co-ordinated...which resulted in lots of laughs all round. Mayur also organised a big birthday cake for me, which was not easy, considering where we were in the country side.
The Indian people, we found, were all about looking after the customer… they were always prepared to do that little bit extra. What a celebration! |
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