Category Archives: Customer Value Creation

My Experiments with Customer Service Part V ….. The ‘Just Plain & Simple’ Logic

From the Crucibles of JPS Customer Value Academy

 Just Plain & Simple                                                     

 ….. Helping Create Customer Value

The Indian Optician, July-August, 2010 Issue

A lot of communication designed for customers, is full of high sounding claims and big promises. Special courses on communication reinforce the need for ‘hyping’ up your message to attract customers towards your products and services. There is great merit in identifying a niche, ‘focusing’ communication and polishing the messages that go out. But very often, what happens in the process is that the final message comes out quite distant and different from the actual benefits of one’s offerings. Exaggeration as an art form is very effective, but there is a thin line, which when crossed, can make the same claims unbelievable and misleading.

Part of the contributing factor could be the formal ‘art and science’ of communication. The process is quite evolved for sure. With logical steps and holistic mapping, it is meant to create ‘compelling’ messages for the consumers to ‘want’ your product (needed or not) and to ‘call to action’, leading them into stores as if following The Pied Piper. Dissection of elements, researching of responses, studying consumer behaviour ….. all good techniques, but sometimes leave me wondering at the ‘unrelated and unrealistically’ hyped up messages that actually emerge as an outcome of the exercise. I remember my childhood days and the vendors in our local mela (fair), who used to scream at the top of their voices, attracting customers with ‘Tall Claims’. How was that skill different from the one we see today, bringing out well researched but excessively hyped up claims !?

Perfumes that attract the opposite gender (sure enough there was litigation when a person did not find the fairer sex getting pulled to him, even after years of use of a specific brand), toothpastes strengthening teeth to break rocks, slimming products that show results in inconceivably short time periods, banks that have smiling employees spending all the time in the world chatting with you, four hour complaint resolution promises ….. Cinderella like transformations galore !!

There is a pressure to have cash registers ringing. Sales targets have to be achieved. Investments have to be recovered in any case, but then there is also the expensive promotion that took 20% of revenues, even before the first product was sold. It had to have a high reach, be attractive enough to not only create an interest, but also a strong desire in the customer to want the product so badly, that she takes immediate action. So what if the message is a ‘bit’ unrealistic !?

One is reminded of leading Indian actor Dharmendra, in the 1970’s hit film ‘Sholay’. Standing atop a water tank, intoxicated enough to be in his own world, he screams at villagers gathered all around, threatening to jump and commit suicide if he is not allowed to marry the village belle. Nothing happens though. Good example of excessively hyped communication, without any intention to deliver on the same. He comes down, once the effect of liquor wears away.

We need to realise what happens when the novelty and excitement wears off after the first hyped up trial !? The fall, obviously, is from the height that had been soared in the flight of imagination. Expectations don’t match. The employee behind the bank counter does not have a smiling face as shown in the advertising. Infact he has no time to listen to your questions, let alone sit and chat with you. So what if your complaint has not been resolved for four days as against a promise of four hours !?

The customer, if she has an option, will not come back. However, making simple commitments and meeting them consistently, creates long term customer relationships. The power generated is so strong that it even obviates the need for loyalty cards, as is the case with a low cost airline in India these days.

I was really very impressed when I recently saw a Professor at a well known management institute, taking a lot of effort to drill in his students the concept of ‘Under Promising and Over Delivering’ ….. Now that is teaching some good values, I thought !!

Small acts of help, being there when needed, genuine love, are enough to build relationships even otherwise in life. Business and Leadership, as a philosophy, are an extension of the fundamental principles of Life itself.

This is not to take any credit for myself here, but I have some of the oldest friends and contacts still intact, from school days and from the first job. I may not have succeeded in every job interview or in every new client presentation. But each job lasted very long, each job gave me a lot of lasting contacts and the clients I got, continue to stay with me for long periods of time. I am extremely grateful to so many of them for being referrals for me as well. Infact that is also a reason why I never felt the need to hype up my promises.

On reflection, I realise that I have never made Big, Unrealistic claims in interviews or in client pitches (this perhaps does make my pitches unattractive to some employers and clients), but with the ones who agreed to have me work with them, I try to meet commitments to the best of my abilities. No tall claims, no big promises ….. Just Plain & Simple ….. trying to help them sincerely and also, consciously never restricting my interaction to just predefined and signed up deliverables only, but ready to go that extra mile to provide optimum satisfaction.

When I decided to set out to be on my own, I went through quite a debate in my mind. I did not want to fall into the trap of big sounding claims. I gave myself the below mission statement for how I wanted to lead the rest of my life, that is, for my Second Act :

“To help organisations and individuals in realising their potential by facilitating through Strategic Consulting &/or Enhancement of their Capabilities  in the areas of Strategy, Marketing/Branding, Leadership, Business Processes and Customer Value Creation.”

You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him find it within himself ….. Galileo Galilei

While Just Plain & Simple matched my initials, I realised that it also captured my intentions of not making lofty statements, but quietly ‘helping’, working with others and co-evolving solutions. So whether it is ‘Helping Realise Potential’ or ‘Helping Create Customer Value’, JPS Consulting and JPS Customer Value Academy both have ‘help’ as a key element, reflecting my strong belief in the concept. I would rather try and help sincerely, than make big claims to get a job, contacts or clients.

Treat people as they ought to be and help them become what they are capable of being ….. Goethe

Believing that business should serve the common good is one thing, but combining profit with purpose is no easy trick. Mark Albion, an entrepreneur, ex-Harvard Business School Professor and author of ‘True to Yourself : Leading a Values Based Business’, is confident that it’s possible to build a business with social conscience without sacrificing business acumen and financial reward. To learn how, he interviewed 75 leaders of ‘not-only-for-profit’ small businesses. The heart of his instruction : ‘To reach your dreams, you must help other people reach their dreams’.

So Just Plain & Simple it is for me ….. No Tall Claims, No Big Promises ….. Helping Realise Potential & Helping Create Customer Value.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication ….. Leonardo da Vinci !!

J.P.Singh

Justplainandsimple Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

JPS Consulting

Just Plain & Simple                               

….. Helping Realise Potential

JPS Customer Value Academy

Just Plain & Simple                               

….. Helping Create Customer Value

www.justplainandsimple.com

jpsingh@justplainandsimple.com

7,108 total views, no views today

Passion Trumps Technology

TRIM Quarterly ….. A Showcase of Industrial India, July 2010

It was a pleasant evening in Delhi, unlike the excessive, record breaking summer heat this year. The event, Bharat Shiromani Awards, organised by The Shiromani Institute. The venue, a five star hotel in the heart of the capital.  Guests had arrived and the hall was fully packed.

The list of awardees was a who’s who of celebrities from diverse fields like sports, music, dance, politics, films, medicine, technology ….. Guests of Honour were Orissa Governor Mr.Bhandare, Arunachal Pradesh Governor General J.J.Singh, Chairman Law Commission Justice Laxmanan and Member of Parliament Mr.Tarlochan Singh. Some of the recipients who were present were, General J.J.Singh (also as Guest of Honour), Abhinav Bindra, Daler Mehndi, Mohd. Azharuddin, Jaya Prada ….. among other illustrious personalities.

The Master of Ceremonies requested everyone to take seats as the evening’s proceedings were to start. Two screens on either side of the stage lit up and the Tri-Colour fluttered on them. Everyone stood up for the National Anthem. The much cliched, ‘technical snag’ developed at that very moment and there was no sound from the audio system. Seconds flowed in silence as the two screens continued to show the Tri-Colour. The audio had failed. Another attempt was made by the technicians, but still no sound.

A meek voice, from one side of the hall started ‘Jana Gana Mana …..’ and stopped. From another side, another person began to sing ‘Jana Gana Mana …..’ and like the first one, finding herself to be the lone voice,also stopped. Someone else attempted again ….. and then, I guess, the earlier ones joined in and one by one the crescendo built up ….. everyone joined in ….. all awardees, guests of honour on stage and everyone in the hall was singing !! The entire National Anthem was sung completely by all present !! And then, as if nothing had gone wrong, the proceedings carried on after The National Anthem ….. !!

I am sure each one present there, had goose pimples, as did I. It was an amazing experience and feeling, as if some super power had charged everyone in the hall with the same energy ….. A Passion for India !! It was unsaid, unrehearsed, unprepared, but to an outsider it would have appeared as if there was a tremendous level of bonding and understanding and that a lot of preparation had gone in.

Jai Ho !!

I said to myself, “In India’s race into the future, Technology will play the role of an accelerator for sure; but what will POWER it, is The Soul Stirring Passion I experienced first hand that day” !! Passion is the energy that ‘fires’ organisational and societal engines to run faster and more effectively and efficiently, technology at best being an enabler, a catalyst, an accelerator. Passion is the ‘Extra Premium Fuel’ that is at a premium. It runs through the soul of Indians truly, I realised !!

We see examples in sports, in corporate performances, in concerts and in various other fields, where similar magic is created, going beyond the limits of technology. There are organisations where use of the best technology fails to bring about results and then there are operations like the Mumbai Dibbawallas, who are so tuned in, passionately, efficiently, effectively and accurately carrying out their work day in day out, rain or no rain, that they TRUMP Six Sigma processes without any technological gadgets !! One wonders what kind of a spirit is alive, spreading homogeneously like a cloud, encompassing all the constituents with A Divine Energy …..

How is it that certain teams achieve extraordinary excellence, day after day, year after year and manage to stay committed to each other, their customers and their organization’s mission ? What explains the romance of synchronised rowing by boatmen in Kerala !! Or what explains the Olympic Margins of Victory ….. fractions of seconds !!

Why is it that all teams are groups but not all groups are teams ?? Passion resides in each individual as a nucleus of energy and also pervades all across the team, as if there were multiple bodies but one soul. Behaving very much in the manner of wave-particle duality in quantum mechanics. Each one may ignite and vibrate separately, but with the same frequency. The resonance creates an energy, which individually and collectively can trump any obstacle and lead to great achievements. That, like my experience on hearing The National Anthem being sung by everyone together, can unleash The Energy of Collective Passion ….. creating A Harmonious Soulful Symphony.

“An ignited mind is the most powerful resource on the earth, above the earth and under the earth ….. Creativity and imagination of the human mind would always be superior to any computer” ….. APJ Abdul Kalam

J.P.Singh

Justplainandsimple Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

JPS Consulting

Just Plain & Simple                               

….. Helping Realise Potential

JPS Customer Value Academy

Just Plain & Simple                               

….. Helping Create Customer Value

www.justplainandsimple.com

jpsingh@justplainandsimple.com

2,494 total views, no views today

My Experiments with Customer Service ….. Part IV

From the Crucibles of JPS Customer Value Academy           

                                             Just Plain & Simple                                                                

                                            ….. Helping Create Customer Value

The Indian Optician, May-June, 2010 Issue

Management journals and literature are full of writings on customer service. There are numerous ‘Tips’, ’10 ways to improve’, ‘How to’ types of articles floating all over. One wonders what it is that really lies at the core of ‘ Good Customer Service ’. The ‘made easy’ types of write ups probably do help in some ways, but they handle the topic in a very simplistic and superficial manner, without touching the essence of ‘why’ there are differences in so called ‘customer experiences’ at different places, by different people, at different times ….. What are the motivations and drivers behind such ‘experiences’ ?  The question keeps coming to my mind again and again. I tried thinking of various customer service experiences that I have had in the space time continuum ….. at different times, different locations and through different people. Is the issue really so complex or is it possible to resolve the equation and lead to simplicity lying on the other side of this complexity !?

Many years ago, infact, it was almost about 30 years back, we were on a trip to Himachal Pradesh, the hill state in Northern India. Tired through the long and winding road journey from Shimla to Chail and extremely hungry, we stopped at a local ‘dhaba’ (roadside eatery) just outside Chail. It was mid-day and quite a few people – locals and tourists – had stopped at the dhaba for lunch. A matronly middle aged lady sat behind the tandoor (clay oven), baking fresh ‘rotis’ and overseeing the activities of the dhaba. There were two kids in their early teens, one boy and one girl, most probably her children, serving customers who were seated on wooden benches and ‘charpais’. The pace of activity was quite hectic, with the two kids busy serving food and the lady multitasking by giving instructions from her strategic location, welcoming customers, taking orders, baking rotis and supervising. As we walked in, she welcomed us and asked us to take a seat. The boy came to take our order. We asked what all was available and he rattled off the menu items rapidly. Being students then and with limited budgets, we did our calculations and placed the order. In a short while, we were served hot, freshly cooked, deliciously smelling food in absolutely clean dishes ….. and it looked appetisingly attractive !! However, there was one bowl of ‘kadhi’ ( a North Indian delicacy), also served. We pointed out that we hadn’t ordered the same and they should take it back. The lady, from her perch, said “I have just made it fresh. Why don’t you taste and tell me how it is ? This will not be charged for”.

Thirty years and much customer service literature and related experiences later, I have not been able to forget this incident. The picture is still so clear and vivid in my mind ….. The serene surroundings of Chail, taste of the food, humility and warmth, aroma of freshly cooked ‘tandoori rotis’, cleanliness of the place, radio playing in the background, noise of customers chatting, orders being taken, instructions being passed, the smiling lady with her two children ….. all the elements combined together made for a great experience and above all, the ‘genuineness of the intentions with which the lady asked us to taste her simple, but freshly prepared kadhi’ !!

It was obviously not a ‘sampling’ exercise, with ‘calculations’ of trials generated, conversions expected and future revenues therefrom, that she was doing, hoping to entice us back again and again. She would have known very well that we would probably not go back to Chail again for a long time and even if we did, maybe would not have remembered or gone back to the same place. But the ‘authenticity’ of intentions was amazing.

Zooming forward to the first decade of the 21st century ….. with tension due to the financial crisis brought down on mankind through American Greed.

A few years back, I had to take a home loan. In my effort to understand the process and various offerings better, I called 3-4 banks. All it needed was a call and they would have their agents (sorry, or was it relationship managers !?) swarming all over, calling you incessantly, willing to promise anything and to meet you anytime, anywhere. I even asked one such agent to meet me outside an auditorium at an odd hour after a show and sure enough he was there, with all the brochures and details and promises, ready to get me to sign immediately. “Sir, we will get the loan sanctioned tomorrow”, he said !!

After the initial market study, I zeroed in on one bank. Let’s call it ‘I-Bank’ (Apart from their attractive schemes and promises, they have a great advertising campaign on ‘friendliness and transparency’ ….. “I See, You See, We See” things clearly !?) I signed up for a floating rate of interest. A day after I signed the papers, I wanted to clarify about something and called the ‘relationship’ manager who had been handling my case ….. all I got to hear was the caller tune on his phone and over the next few days, I got used to the tune. He had got his ‘kill’ and was probably on the hunt for the next !!

Over the next couple of years, recession hit and interest rates went up. So did my floating rate. Then one heard about low interest rate options on home loans and I asked about my ‘floating rate’, only to be told that it was for new customers only. Sure enough, I-Bank had its old customers trapped in well, so why bother about them, when they could attract more customers with attractive discounts. Don’t we know from various marketing lessons that ‘getting new customers is more expensive than retaining old ones’ ? And I-Bank was very sure that with old customers shackled in well, it could spend more on new customers by way of throwing extra discounts, not to mention the costs of unleashing their so called relationship managers on them as well. It was as if I-Bank was desperately trying to prove right the above point of ‘acquisitions of new customers’ being more expensive. The intentions with which they went ahead and the approach they adopted, I am sure they ended up alienating a lot of their customers, which, ultimately would prove to be definitely detrimental going forward.

With higher interest rates now (while there were options of moving to lower interest rates with other banks, after paying foreclosure charges etc., I am keeping that out of the scope of the present discussion, purely because it will get into balancing of interest rate savings vs foreclosure charge and I am restricting myself to the customer service domain here), I decided to start part pre-payment and gradually reduce my already high interest and EMI burden. Armed with a cheque book, when I managed to gather enough to make a respectable pre-payment amount, I went to I-Bank. I was pleasantly surprised when the person behind the counter said that they now had a scheme whereby I could get a much lower rate with a small conversion charge. All I had to do, he said, was to take an additional insurance policy from their company in the name of my wife, the co-applicant. But, I told him, I already had an insurance coverage in my name, on the full loan amount. “Sir, this is the bank policy”, he said. In any case, the new interest rate looked quite attractive and I agreed. He said the terms would get approved in a few weeks’ time and I would get then get documents. That was the last I saw and heard from him.

After the ‘few weeks’ passed, I called his phone number to check about the documents and it would be either switched off or I would get to hear the caller tune. I went to the branch office to inquire about the documents. That is when, on asking for details, to my surprise, I was told that the actual interest rate I would get would be higher than what he had told me and that there was no need for the ‘mandatory’ additional insurance policy. This person happened to be from the ‘insurance’ department, manning the counter for a few days and in the process, was ‘motivated’ to sell additional insurance policies. So much for genuineness and authenticity of intentions and that too in a well known, well promoted organisation of the modern financial world.

It took me four months of continuous follow up to get my premium refund, but the ‘promised’ interest was still refused. This was after innumerable calls and Emails (I have more than a hundred and fifty mails in a special folder that I created) and navigating through extremely difficult and unfriendly complaint system on the bank’s website ….. you have to experience it to believe how difficult it can be or was made to be (intentionally ??), inspite of technology used for the purpose.

The ‘kadhi’ offered by the smiling lady in the tandoor in Chail, originated from such genuine and pure ‘intentions’. How does one compare the same with those of the ‘well trained’ relationship managers in highly evolved financial institutions of the 21st century, supported by ‘pleasing’ advertising and high technology ?

JPS Consulting

Just Plain & Simple                               

 ….. Helping Realise Potential  

JPS Customer Value Academy

Just Plain & Simple                               

….. Helping Create Customer Value

Website : www.justplainandsimple.com

4,774 total views, no views today

My Experiments with Customer Service ….. Part III

From the Crucibles of JPS Customer Value Academy
 
                                Just Plain & Simple                               
                                ….. Helping Create Customer Value

The Indian Optician, March-April, 2010 Issue

Any mention of interaction with government departments conjures up negative emotions and images. And this is not without any basis. Most of our experiences with them have been bordering on the ‘darkest’ end of the spectrum. We all have our own perceptions, but most of these are associated with bureaucracy, red tapism, rude behaviour, inefficiency etc., etc.. 
  

Infact Customer Service and government departments cannot probably be even used in the same sentence ….. an oxymoron ….. ox·y·mo·ron n. (ŏk’sē-môr’ŏn’, -mōr’-) A rhetorical figure in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined, as in a deafening silence and a mournful optimist.

 

Leading this ‘image creation’ effort are departments with a public interface/dealing, like municipal corporations, post offices etc.. Through years of interaction, our minds have been programmed to think of them in the most negative way. Absolute apathy, disinterest and inefficiency are immediate associations.

 

This was the thought with which I went to the Lodhi Road Post Office in New Delhi a year back. I had to withdraw some amount from the PPF account of my wife ….. “50% of the balance at credit at the end of the 4th financial year immediately preceding the year in which the amount is withdrawn or at the end of the preceding year whichever is lower”.  As you can make out, I went through a lot of preparation, studying all the clauses in the passbook, so that I was well prepared with the challenge of entering a post office. Armed with her identity proof, passbook and an authorisation letter, I reached there, ready to spend a good part of my morning waiting (I even carried a book to read while I waited) and also to come back another day to complete the transaction. I had memories of such interactions with public sector banks in the past, where it had taken multiple visits for resolution of similar issues.

 

On entering, I saw a help desk where I asked how I should go about getting my work done. Expecting a rude reply and a ‘you don’t even know that’ kind of look, I was surprised when the person nicely guided me to the correct counter. There were only two people ahead of me in the queue. In less than three minutes I was presenting all the papers I had carried, to the clerk behind the counter and told him what I wanted. No questions asked, he understood everything and asked me to come back after 10 minutes. I went out and waited. After about 15 minutes I went back to the counter, expecting ‘a reason why it can’t be done today’ and ‘you have to come back on so and so date again’ excuse. To my surprise, the clerk handed over the cheque to me alongwith the duly updated passbook !! I thought of pinching myself and checking ….. was I dreaming ? What could be wrong ?? I looked at the amount, signatories, date ….. but everything was perfect. I thanked the person, he nodded in acknowledgement and I walked out, all in about 20 minutes !!

 

This could be a fluke. Too good to be true …..

 

This is what I thought for a full year, till I got a form from the same post office a few weeks back, wanting to reconfirm my contact details. They were computerising. I filled up the form and went there. A similar sequence followed ….. I inquired at the help desk, was guided to the correct counter, only two people ahead of me, my turn came in less than three minutes, I handed over the form, the clerk acknowledged it and also updated the passbook ….. and then it struck me that since I was there, I could also deposit the minimum mandatory annual amount in the account. “Can I pay the minimum Rs.100/- also now ?”, I asked. “Yes. The amount is Rs.500/- and not Rs.100/-. Please fill up this pay in slip”. I filled it up there and then and handed over the cash and slip. The whole process took about five minutes and that too because I decided to deposit the money as an after thought.

 

I came out and thought how the clerk could have reacted in an unfriendly manner as well. My sudden decision to deposit cash, filling the pay in slip while standing in the queue and ignorance about the minimum amount could all have extracted rude comments from him. Infact I was really attracting such a behaviour and reaction !! Nothing of that sort happened though …..

 

The thought stayed in my mind and I kept reflecting on it. What could be happening there ? How is it that such an oasis exists in the desert of a dry emotionless organisation ? I had to understand this. Last week I decided to go back one morning. This time I went straight to the office of ‘The Post Master’. There was a person at the door who politely asked me what I wanted. I said that I wanted to meet The Post Master. “You can tell me what you want Sir”, the person said. I repeated my request, but he insisted that I tell him and that he would help me. “I have not come with any complaint, but I have had a Great Experience here and I want to understand what you people are doing”, I requested. He smiled and took me inside. The Post Master, a smiling lady, sat behind the table.

 

“What is happening here ?”, I asked after I narrated my experiences to her. The lady gave an understanding smile and replied “We have regular training for our staff. They go through a full one week programme and then we repeat it quarterly by rotation for all staff members. We discuss how they should never get angry with customers. You will never find our staff getting angry. We tell them that no matter what the customer says, they have to stay calm. We train them on handling customer queries. There are role plays and discussions”.

 

I kept listening, amazed at the initiative being taken at this post office, that too, when obviously, the compensation levels are so low. “But how come the cheques were made within minutes and that all interactions were so fast and quick ? Even I-Bank and H-Bank, who advertise (if only they could spend that money in genuine improvement) and talk a lot about customer service levels and preferred customer treatment, come nowhere close”, I asked. She went on to explain that they had delegated authority right up to the front end counter level. They also rotated people across multiple counters so that each person had exposure to multitasking, increasing efficiency and empathy. Staff was short and retiring staff was not replaced, but multitasking and continuous training ensured a high level of efficiency and customer service. They have a very cordial working atmosphere and all members were like one big family. It could be seen in the calm that prevailed in the atmosphere as well as physical cleanliness of the place !!

 

WOW !! I was amazed. We hear about all this, we talk about such things. Here was a place, an oasis in the midst of an uncooperative, unfriendly and inefficient ecosystem, in hostile desert like conditions, which was making such a big difference. Who says you cannot change things in an unsupportive environment amidst challenges. It all starts with a desire, genuine effort, a spirit of partnership and an ability to transcend oneself !! I was reminded of Gandhi ….. “Be the change that you want to see in the world” !!

 
 
 
 

 

 

Phone : +919810170678

2,892 total views, no views today

When God was ridiculed …..

The Indian Optician, October, 2009

A few weeks back, I was with a big group of dealers from the optical trade. Various topics of common interest were brought up and the discussion moved towards how one could maintain and increase customer footfall. There was, and rightly so, concern and anxiety about the issue. Everyone was genuinely involved and interested. Increasing competition, organised players, mushrooming of shops, improved ambience, price cuts etc. were indicated as being factors that played an important role.

At that point, someone asked for my comments. “In such a situation, one cannot compete on ‘pricing’ and/or by spending money on ‘advertising’ alone. Each of these can be matched or overdone by other competitors, draining everyone’s resources, leaving everyone’s efforts ineffective or yielding suboptimal results”, I said. My view is that ‘customer experience’ becomes important to create a difference under these circumstances. One should not only look at ‘customer satisfaction’, but beyond that, at ‘customer delight’ ….. leading to loyalty, repeat visits and referrals !! See whether you have a ‘delighted’ customer walking out of your door !!

“How does one know that the customer was delighted ?” asked someone. While there are techniques and ways to find this out (like calling up the customer, having a feedback form, tracking repeat visits or just plain and simple asking the customer there and then) your sixth sense helps you know, feel and realise within yourself after you have dealt with the customer …..

At this stage of discussion, someone in the group stood up and said “Where does this lead to ? The other day I had a customer in my shop, who was bargaining for Rs.20/- for a solution bottle. She would go to a parlour and spend Rs.1000/-; she would spend Rs.200/- at a chaat shop without asking any question. But for a solution bottle she was bargaining for a mere Rs.20/-“. At this, the whole group broke into a hearty laughter and applause, as if each one was saying “Yes, I can understand this so well, it happens so often at my shop too”.

This reaction was quite shocking. My question to the group was “Do you have a plaque in your shop with ‘Customer is God’ written on it ?”. Everyone acknowledged having similar quotes put up at some location or the other. All I could say is that it was belief in that quotation that would make a difference in ‘customer experience’, leading them from mere ‘satisfaction’ to where they would know for themselves whether they were giving delight or not. It is one’s conscience which plays back the ‘truth’ in all such situations and that they should go back and ask themselves whether the ‘applause’ really showed that they ‘cared’ for their customers and ‘respected’ them ….. This was the time I thought God was ridiculed …..

Care and Respect are the initial and very basic conditions in the long and tough journey towards customer satisfaction, delight, loyalty, repeat visits and finally referrals, where the customer becomes your ambassador ….. helping you create your very own ‘Distinct and Unique Brand Identity’, which no one can match or replicate.

How or why should one then expect the customer not to bargain for Rs.20/- ? If the customer happily keeps feeding on ‘gol gappas’ without asking a question, she definitely sees more value creation and a better experience from this ‘chaat’ seller, compared to what she is paying !! One necessary condition for creating this ‘experience’ is that the ‘perceived value’ by the customer, should be higher than what ‘price’ she pays. This is the only way the equation will work !! And The Only Way to create a distinction and acceptance, is to ‘Step into The Customers’ shoes and see how things look from there …..

There is saying in India ‘Atithi devo bhava’ (A Guest is to be treated like God). In any case, even if a customer does not buy anything, he/she is a guest in our shop, to be treated like God !!

Would the person, whose comments about his customer brought an applause from the group, buy from himself ?????

If ‘Customer is God’ the least one can do is answer the following :

  • Do I truly care for and respect my customer ?
  • Do I feel good about representing my organization – and its products and services? Why / why not?
  • Why should customers invest their time and money with us?
  • If we were the customers, would we want to do business with us? Why / why not?
  • What can we do to improve the experience our customers have with us?
  • Why should we bother? What are the benefits for us?
  • What do we need in order to make that improved experience happen?
  • What can we do to help each other be more successful in that effort?

God is about love, and we can dialogue with Him and ask Him anything we want to know. Same is true for customers as well.

Have a delightful journey ….. but DO NOT RIDICULE YOUR GOD, ever ….. remember that he feeds your family too !!

 

J.P.Singh

JPS Consulting

Just Plain & Simple

….. Helping Realise Potential

JPS Customer Value Academy

….. Helping Create Customer Value

4,675 total views, no views today