Lessons from Vietnam

I'm back from Vietnam, a very beautiful place. Nice people, relatively inexpensive, easy to get around. I definitely recommend it as a place to go. I'd like to write about a business lesson that I learned, or maybe I already knew but it really came to light when I was there.

Successful businesses are run by owner's who care about the business and oversee quality. Successful businesses are customer-centric and provide a unique experience that makes you want to come back again and again.

Let me present two case studies from my experience.

Case #1 -- Mr. Xe

Mr. Xe was a tailor recommended to us in Hoi An. Hoi An is the place everyone goes to in Vietnam to get clothes made. There is literally a tailor every 10 feet. So how does one differentiate itself.

The most successful tailor is called Yali. Through my observation, it seems that Yali because successful by catering to the western travelers (smart). It is clean and the place looks like a Banana Republic. Everyone seems to think its the best, but I have my doubts. When I looked into the sewing room it looked like a sweatshop in there, and the service was terrible.

Mr. Xe on the other hand had a much smaller and more Vietnamese-looking establishment. He was a tiny, gay, Vietnamese man that when I first saw him seemed to be only in his underwear and t-shirt (I later determined that they were just extremely short shorts). When he spoke in English he sounded like Smiegel from the Lord of the Rings, "Yeeessss, peeerrrrrfect" Needless to say, this guy was a serious character.

Every time we walked in the store, and it was at least 5 times, they provided us seats and free water. Mr. Xe and his employees helped us to pick out the linens for our clothes, but in the fitting room it was all Mr. Xe. If anything wasn't perfect Mr. Xe was not satisfied. He even gave me a shirt for free that he felt wasn't perfect even though I thought it looked fine! In one case I didn't exactly like how my pocket was sitting, so he zoomed me over to his tailor on his motorbike. There, in contrast to the sweatshop Yali had going on, the tailor had his own home extension where he worked that was well-lit, pleasant, and covered with vegetation. Mr. Xe had great pride in his business and in his product, and you could see it in the way that he treated his customers and the way he treated his employees (although he definitely dug into them pretty good when things weren't perfect).

Case #2 -- Mr. Kim

Cafe des Amis, or Mr. Kim's place as I like to call it, was rated highly in the Lonely Planet guide and also by fellow travelers that we had spoken with. The highlight it seemed, was that the owner cooked for you whatever he felt like for the day.

When we arrived we were immediately greeted by Mr. Kim himself before even stepping foot into the restaurant. He then rushed us to our table and pulled out his signature book where he showed us all the people that had come from New York and read the highlights aloud to us. He was particularly proud of Justin Timbalake's high praises.

As Mr. Kim talked our ear off the food started to come out. Mr. Kim explained that he was the #1 taster in the South Vietnam army during the war (I think this is supposed to be a good thing). He seemed very proud of that. Each dish that came out he, or one of the waitstaff, showed us exactly how to prepare it before eating it, which was great because otherwise I probably would have eaten everything completely wrong. At one point Mr. Kim was so excited for me to try something that he literally spoon fed me. I'm pretty sure this was the first time I'd been spoon fed since mommy was flying the plane, a little awkward maybe, but an experience nonetheless. Eventually Mr. Kim met with the other tables and gave us some privacy, but it was clear that Mr. Kim loved his product and loved his customers.

These are two of the best experiences I had in Vietnam due to these characters, and I would recommend both of these places to anyone traveling to Vietnam. Larger businesses in the US, and particularly web-based businesses often do not have the customer face-time and ability to give personalized attention that these owners gave, but I think it is a good lesson that if you can channel this passion and customer-centric approach in whatever business you are running you are sure to have happy customers who become advocates for your business.