What does this person wanted from me!!!???
Every day, I am contacted by few people from Singapore for info about HDB and chit-chat, I am also contacted by people all around the world for architecture / CAD design services.
I differentiate customers by chit-chatters by the way they address me and by what pages they click.
Look how THIS guy is addressing me!! Sometimes I mistreat chit-chatters as potential customers, but could be this a potential customer, mistreat as chit-chatter and lost?
Who’s attitude is rudest? my one or visitor’s one? Please leave comments!
Wednesday, 12 Dec, 2012
Country: Singapore
Page URL: http:/www.teoalida.com/cardatabase/
[3:34] Teoalida (trigger): Hello from website admin! Can I help you with anything? drop here a message!
[3:42] Visitor: Hi. What do you do for a living?
[3:42] Teoalida has joined the conversation
[3:42] Teoalida: Are you curious how I earn money?
[3:42] Teoalida: so far I eat parents money, trying to start own business
[3:43] Visitor: I see. I am looking at your website, so thinking of what do u do actually.
[3:43] Teoalida: Nice
[3:44] Teoalida: I am curious too, what others understand about me just by seeing website?
[3:44] Visitor: do you do design for people?
[3:44] Teoalida: yes and this is main income forme (typo: for me)
[3:44] Visitor: I do not know you, so can only understand from your website
[3:46] Visitor: how old are you anyway?
[3:47] Teoalida: you’re in About me page and didn’t saw my age?
[3:47] Teoalida: but that is good, try giving me an age!
[3:47] Teoalida: I am surprised how broad range was other’s guess
[3:49] Visitor: Hmm. Good luck in your venture.
[3:50] Visitor: Not keen in engaing your services from the way you speak. Thanks.
[3:50] Teoalida: Do you have any suggestions? at this moment my business does not work as I imagined
[3:51] Teoalida: from the way I talk? did I made any mistake?
[3:51] Visitor: See ya!
[3:51] Visitor has left the conversation
[3:51] Teoalida: Explain me…. and btw, people looking for my services are NOT asking such questions like you, so I talk differently
[3:51] * You are not in a chat *
I am sorry for being an IDIOT when I said “I eat parents money“, shall say that I am “unemployed, just a little freelancing“, but after showing this chat to 2 friends, both said that the visitor is a BIGGER IDIOT, is totally RUDE to start a chat by asking about personal life! And that is OK to post it on website as funny-stupid chats.
What do I should answer to such people asking “what I do for a living” or saying that “know nothing about me“?
You should ask me whatever do you want and you will see if I can help you regardless of my job (see another funny chat – visitor left because I do not have the job that he thought).
In the same time, I need to know if my website show a correct image about what I am doing, asking such questions or playing “guess my age” with customers NOT recommended, so I do such surveys with chit-chaters. I usually tell my age AFTER I offer what he/she want. Anyway 99% of the visitors using chat do not even ask about age. PS: my age was public in About Me page (deleted soon afterwards), but he may not have read entire page.
After this incident, i have reviewed my style of chatting and identifying customers, next time when someone ask weird questions I will ask him “What are you looking for?”
I also have rewritten the About me page, let’s hope that now is clear what I am doing.
According visitors statistics, he had 7 visits of my website (or shared IP), looking for Singapore HDB floor plans, then clicked About Me, other 8 pages including 2 Funny Chats, then clicked Car Database and started the chat. He did not clicked any page under Design section.
Probably he was surprised to see a Car Database on same website with Singapore real estate, that is why asked me what I actually do…
Not engaging in my services by the way I speak? LOL… was he actually interested in my services?
Real customers interested in my services typically start chatting with “Can you help me…“, “Do you have…” or “I am looking for…” so I speak in different way.
Update: During the following year I has been asked same question “Do you do design for people?” by 2 other people, referring at interior design services. I came in final conclusion that the above guy from 12 December 2012 may have been interested in interior design for a HDB flat , and in this case he would have been my FIRST customer in Singapore and also FIRST customer for interior design services.
I am designer specialized in architecture field so I have customers mostly in booming third-world countries (India, Philippines, etc). In Singapore very few people are rich enough to build houses. On my website I also offer large amount of info about Singapore’s HDB so I expect to be contacted by Singaporeans for HDB-related advices and chit-chat, 99% of them are NOT interested in design services. Considering the RUDE way he addressed me without telling what he is looking for, I did NOT expected that he may be a customer. In the future when someone ask about personal life, I ask what you are looking for, before answering something that may turn customers away.
The following is an example of NORMAL way of chatting
Visitor ask help, I help him, THEN we talk about personal life, and tell him my age. Nobody gets angry.
Wednesday, 20 Mar, 2013
Country: Singapore
Page URL: http:/www.teoalida.com/singapore/hdbfloorplans/
[15:02] Teoalida (trigger): Hello from website admin! Can I help you with anything? drop here a message!
[15:04] Visitor: Hi, i would like to request for a particular block floor plan in bukit panjang. Are you able to help?
[15:04] Teoalida has joined the conversation
[15:04] Teoalida: sometimes yes, sometimes no
[15:05] Teoalida: newer block = hard to find
(private chat)
[15:36] Visitor: I see, so how do u make a living?
[15:36] Teoalida: what do you mean?
[15:36] Visitor: U have another job?
[15:37] Visitor: what u do when u are not online?
[15:38] Teoalida: I live with parents money
[15:38] Teoalida: but I have own money too from part-time work
[15:38] Visitor: i see, semi-retired?
[15:41] Teoalida: How old do you think that I am?
[15:41] Visitor: I would say 22
[15:41] Teoalida: how I could be retired at this age?
[15:42] Teoalida: You’re near… I’m 24, but I am surprised how many people think about 40+ due of my knowledge
Another one asking same question but does not seems to be interested in my services
Country: Czech
Page URL: https://www.teoalida.com/about/aboutme/
Chat started on Sunday, January 06, 2019 9:55:29 AM
(9:55:29 AM) *** Visitor 54785186 has joined the chat ***
(9:55:31 AM) Teoalida (site owner): Hi there… may I know what are you looking for? If you need any help or just want to talk about what is on website, drop here a message!
(9:55:53 AM) Visitor 54785186: what do you do for a living?
(9:56:08 AM) *** Teoalida has joined the chat ***
(9:56:13 AM) Teoalida: a variety of stuff seen on website
(9:56:30 AM) Teoalida: do you have any business proposal?
(9:56:38 AM) Visitor 54785186: cool…nice to be able to make money online 🙂
(10:00:28 AM) Teoalida: you remind me of https://www.teoalida.com/offtopic/2012-12-12/ – starting chat with same question like yours, gave me impression of a curious kid so I replied informally, but actually was a customer looking to do business with me and I LOST him
(10:05:40 AM) *** Visitor 54785186 has left ***
let me tell u…that person was just playing with u…or checking if u are human or robot
u said in about me that u are 23 and part time worker why anyone would ask u?
Possible, but not in this case, I am in doubt that someone who visited my website 7 TIMES, including several pages of Chatting with website visitors, would still think that my chat is just a robot!
I would say you attitude is not good, but that is because of the VERY RUDE question the visitor asked, so visitor’s attitude is even worse than yours. you was very nice while chatting with me.
i dont think he need ur services he just wanted to know ur age and ur personal life and this is rude
I don’t think he wanted anything from you from the way HE spoke
Don’t think he was serious on engaging your servies anyhow. Probably only wanted to probe into your personal life
Most visitors of this website are only looking for information, but I also offer Design services.
Recently another Singaporean asked me what is my job and, surprising, he wanted to do interior design for him, I said YES but since my experience (hobby, not job) as graphic designer is mostly in architecture design, the deal failed.
Thanks for comments, now I think the same, he was just curious about my life.
BUT WHAT IF… that guy was a HDB flat owner intended (by 1% chance) to hire me for interior design or any other service, come back to my website, see this page, and read what those 5 people commented about him!!
i think you are overly cautious with what pple think of you via the cyber space. come on, it is cyber space where pple speak in a casual manner. if that person found you rude, he should at least have the courtesy to say thank you for the content that you are sharing. ignore him and move on.
actually, i find it really weird for pple to even ask what you do for a living and what is your age. does what you do for a living or age really matter? maybe it does in term of experience in dealing with certain situation or make certain decision. but if talent is the point of differentiation then i will go for a talented person. his/her social etiquette will only get better. we were all young once before. rude? i am still rude in my mother’s eyes.
i m not saying that you were rude. i am just saying, it is what you think it is. is up to you to think of yourself.
btw, thanks for all the content. is like walking down HDB museum. it is very informative. i chanced upon your website while looking for HDB floor plans and trying to understand how many different layout is there for HDB 5 room flats. i am still reading off your site for now. THANKS again. cheers.
The main thing here is NOT thinking that I was rude, but thinking if he may have been interested in my design services and I didn’t realized that … in this case I lost a potential customer, and I can lose more!
“he should at least have the courtesy to say thank you for the content that you are sharing” – not everyone is reading website content. Some people come on website and after just several seconds, they open the chat and ask me to work for them… sometimes attempting to hire me for doing something that if they would read website they would see that I am not specialized in that field.
However, he was reading for 13 min, the trigger greeting is set at 5 min delay + 8 minutes until his first message.
Personally, I think that that person deserves it
Deserve WHAT? Deserve being posted in FUN section or…?