Saturday, February 28, 2009

Know Your Customers


As it is the end of the month, I'm going to get a breather from posting long blogs.

I remember the comment made by Abou of Basta in 3 Roses and A Baby "...ang haba whew. di ko natapos.." Well, this one's for you and all those who wants to have a light and funny post from the desert.

Here's a funny anecdote given to me this afternoon by my friend Vilas:


A disappointed salesman of Coca Cola returns from his Middle East assignment.

A friend asked, "Why weren't you successful with the Arabs?"
The salesman explained "When I got posted in the Middle East,
I was very confident that I would make a good sales pitch
as Coca Cola is virtually unknown there.
But, I had a problem I didn't know to speak Arabic.
So, I planned to convey the message through three posters... "

First poster:
A man lying in the hot desert sand...totally exhausted and fainting.

Second poster:
The man is drinking our Cola.

Third poster:
Our man is now totally refreshed.

And then these posters were pasted all over the place.
"Then that should have worked!" said the friend.
"The hell it should have!? said the salesman.
"I didn't realize that Arabs read from right to left"



DISCLAIMER: All characters, names and places used in this blog are fictitious and are used herein for the purposes of comment, appreciation, criticism, parody, and for any other purposes not mentioned herein. Any similarity to real people, without parodic purpose, is a matter of coincidence. All trade names, product names and trademarks of third parties, including any trademarked characters, used in the blog are without the authorized and expressed will of those third parties, and are used only for the purpose of parody and identification. No sponsorship, endorsement or affiliation by or with those third parties exists or is implied.(hehehe)

21 comments:

  1. Huh! Kahit sa mga photos sa posters, right to left pa rin po ba ang pag-analyze ng mga Arabs?!

    Seryoso po ako, ganyan ba silang mag-post diyan? [Saka ko na po lagyan ng "Hahaha" kapag may reply na po kayo sa comment kong ito.]

    NAKAKAPANIBAGO nga po, maiksi lang ang post niyo ngayon. Salamat naman. o",) Hahaha!

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  2. Sige ganito nalang... Mas mag-focus nalang ako sa magandang business management lesson na makukuha rito sa post niyo. Tama talaga, dapat kilala natin ang ating mga customers para mag-succeed tayo sa negosyo o di kaya'y umangat sa position natin sa trabaho. o",)

    [Agaw-pansin din kasi ang joke sa kwentong ito. U ]

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  3. Hehehe :D Ngayon ko lang nlaman un ah...from right to left pala sila magbasa...Lugi ang cola lolzz

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  4. hahaha...
    buti na lang talaga hindi ko tinuloy yung pagiging marketing ko. baka mangyari din sakin to.. haha
    (as TL would say) coot coot!

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  5. marhaba oi nakakapanibago maiksi lng ang post natin ngayon modir nj lol.

    ive noticed here in saudi arabia mas sikat ang pepsi dito at napansin ko rin na ang pepsi became a generic when it comes or pertaining for sofdrinks.Lalo na sa mga bata like for example ung bata humihingi ng pepsi sa tatay pero ang hawak na softdrink ay coke lol.Sa bakala(grocery)nagtatanong ang mama kung may malaking size daw ng pepsi mha 1.5 liter pero ang hinahawak ay bote ng coke lol.

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  6. i remember back then, when i was still a newbie to this blogworld, i tend to write lengthyyyyyyyyyyyyy posts. and my readers were always complaining. hehehe!

    thanks for dropping by, NJ :P

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  7. Doc RJ - YES! In uppercase for emphasis!... Everything is read from the right to the left - be it numbers, pictures, etc.
    I showed the poster to one of my Saudi staff and he kept on laughing at how it was presented.
    Hayaan mo, once I muster my energy, lagyan ko ng chapters and blog - mahaba uli... Seriously I'm thinking of coming up with blogs on installments...
    Oo dagdag mo na lang sa kaalaman mo ang 'know ur customer' sa 5-minute lesson natin.

    Lord CM - Teka san ka ba ngaun? Buong akala ko nasa Gitnang Silangan ka. Sige't dalas-dalasin ko ang bsita sa bahay mo ng makilala kita ng maige...
    Oo, talagang ganoon cla magbasa.

    EdSie - Hindi pa huli ang lahat, pwede mong iwan ang TL posi mo dyan at mag marketing. Yun nga lang be sure to know who ur customer is! Hehehe baka hold-upper...

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  8. Mighty Dacz - Marhabekya (kung Sudani)! Nanibago ka ba sa maikling post...hehehe. Breather lang yan...babalik sa normal...
    Yes, Pepsi is it here not Coke is it. And Pepsi (pronounced Bebsi) by the locals ang mas sikat at mas masarap. I bet you will agree with me na mas masarap nga ang Bebsi dito.

    Lucas - Salamat sa dalaw. Yes, if ur a newbie u have the tendency to write lengthy blogs na parang nobela. Your home looks creepy and paranormal yet impressively cool.

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  9. hahaha natawa naman ako sa post mo, hmmm mukhang madadalas ang pagbisita ko dito hehehe

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  10. Sardz - Salamat sa dalaw at salamat na rin at natuwa ka sa post. Iyan po'y pagpapahinga lang sa mga tila-nobelang haba ng mga nakaraang posts. Kitakits!

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  11. "Know youself, know your enemy. A thousand battle, a thousand victory"

    Hindi nagbabasa ng "Sun Tzu" ang salesman na yun. Isa yan sa paboritong libro in the corporate world.

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  12. hahaha, sabihin mo rin pakibasa ng The greatest salesman in the world by Og Mandino or 7 Habits of Highly Effective People ni Stephen Covey. I always believe that the most effective people are those who find time to reflect and think rather those who speak and wait come what may.

    another great post, short and simple and powerful

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  13. oo nga ano..pero kahit b images ganon pa rin ang basa ng mga lintyak...

    ako po matagal nang sumasakit ang ulo ko sa mga arabo ..lalo na ung mga utak makalumang panahon hehe..

    tayo talaga ang magaadjust sa kanila..pero i remember ung jollibee nong binagay sa lasa nila di pumatok..

    d siguro makarelate ung iba :D

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  14. Hi NJ, was just passing by to check for updates, nabasa ko na to and I though nag leave ako ng comment.

    Anyway I really thought this was funny. Who would have known?! Coke would have freaked out! Hehehehehe!

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  16. Knock! Knock! Aga mo namang magbakasyon?

    Nagcheck ako ng blog mo, tapos ung comments. Bakit wala ako?!! Binura mo no? (Joke!).

    Actually nagleave ako ng comment last week. For some reason, as usual, fast finger, kaya hindi na naman siguro tama ang pagkakatype ko ng password.

    O musta na?

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  17. ahahaha. natawa ako dito ah. palibhasa ofw din ako, kaya mejo familiar. good one!

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  18. Yes Pareng Vox, dpat ngang binasa nya muna ung Art of War ano? Pinaka basic un eh.

    Yes Kenj, dapat equipped nga ang salesman - dapat nagbabasa rin cya ng mga libro. ayun, nawalan cya ng trabaho...

    Josh, anong magawa mo...baliktad talaga ang takbo ng mundo dito...

    Ron, here in Saudi, Pepsi got the upperhand.

    Nebz, I wasn't vacationing, just estivating... tsaka di ko binura comment mo ha... Your comments are too good to be deleted...peks man.

    PogingP, salamat sa dalaw at nagagalak ako na nabigyan ka ng aliw... hahaha.

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  19. ganun pala un left to ryt..hahaha nakakatuwa naman...

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  20. nice article. I would love to follow you on twitter.

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  21. Today is my lucky day :)
    My mom had promised me to gift a nintendo wii this Carnival. But I got it for free, yeee. While looking for some place where I could get it cheap or with some discount, I found this website http://bit.ly/cmmVr7 which offered a chance to win nintendo wii, as a special christmas promotion. All I needed to do was to enter my mobile number to enter into the contest. And yup, I won it. Lucky me. Now I am thinking what to ask my mom as a gift. :P
    What do you guy's suggest?

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