Tweet a Prius

Where is UMW Toyota hiding the Prius?

I have been looking high and low for the Prius since it was launched. The two dealers that I dropped by are clueless on its whereabouts.

UMW Toyota should have a Twitter so that they can tweet tweet on Prius whereabouts and for me to follow the Prius.

Toyota's tagline is 'Moving Forward'. However it seems to be moving backwards (or not moving at all) by not keeping up with the trend. I've embraced social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) two years ago. When is UMW Toyota jumping into the bandwagon?

cc, UMW Toyota management,
Please 'move forward', along with the aid of technology. Boleh, tak?

Tweet your customer right

Twitter has reached the corporate mainstream.

Internet savvy startups such as AirAsia has been using Twitter to provide quick and short responses to customers. Today, veteran companies such as Singapore Airlines use it too to reach out to the web savvy customers.

There is a particular group of customers that prefers to communicate through Internet than making a call to the call centre (I'm not sure if their reluctance to call is due to their limited phone budget or level of patient in maneuvering the complicated IVR).

Customer centric companies go to the 'hang out' places of its customers whereas arrogant or ignorant companies force customers to wait eternity on the line or at the counter queue.

Remedy to declining profits and share price

At last, Dell is listening to the customers. Sometimes, it takes continuous declining profits and share price to force a company to listen to its customers. It makes me wonder why it is not natural for companies to listen to the customers. Have they not heed Sam Walton's advice? He said "There is only one boss. The customer, and he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else."

Recently, Dell launched several Web2.0 initiatives with the hope of reviving the company, i.e.

1. Self-awareness program

2. A site that lets anyone offer suggestions and vote other people's ideas up or down

3. A self-help site

4."Dear Michael" postcards with the computers he shipped. (A pre-Web2.0 feedback mechanism)

The self awareness program has a squad of 42 employees who spend their workdays engaging with the communities on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. I wonder which profit-driven company would put 42 people on the payroll to surf and chat from 9am to 5pm.

The self-help site is my favourite because it allows people solve one another’s tech problems. Dell should take it further by allowing the users to rate the ‘helpers’. The 5-star ‘helpers’ become ambassadors of Dell. Every aspiring tech support geek would love to have a badge of honor.

Interestingly, here are the results of these initiatives :

"The latest quarterly figures from the University of Michigan's customer satisfaction index show that Dell is at the top of the rankings again for Windows PC makers, as rivals HP and Gateway sink. According to a study Dell commissioned from measurement firm Visible Technologies, negative sentiment toward the Dell brand has dropped from 48% in 2006 to 23% today. Even some of Dell's harshest critics are softening a bit after the company's recent online moves. Ben Popken, editor of the Consumerist blog, says, "They've been downgraded from evil to bumbling."

Can a Malaysian company emulate Dell? Boleh, tak?

Service us. Listen to us. And in return, I will pledge my loyalty!