Yesterday, I called the Apple Store in Austin to solve a problem.
As soon the phone was answered, the recorded voice said ‘Thank you for calling Apple. You are caller No 6 and will be attended to shortly’.
Immediately thereafter came some nice piano music, interjected by the regular update of ‘you are number 6 or 5 or 4’ on the call. Note that even if my position was status quo, the voice regularly told me which position I was, in the queue.
I didn’t enjoy waiting for 12 minutes, but let me tell you, it was one the most ‘tolerable’ waits I’ve had. Every time the voice came back on, I hoped to have progressed one step ahead. It was like a mini ‘waiting’ game. Once the person spoke to me, the matter was resolved and I felt very happy. Almost short of Delighted. And that’s after I HAD A PROBLEM!
Now – and without thinking – do this: Call Vodafone India Helpline on 98200 98200. Just type in in any mobile number (start with 98200) and pretend to be a Vodafone customer. Just EXPERIENCE the TRAUMA of holding on to their call. (I would suggest having a family member stand near by in the event that you suffer from a brain hemorrhage) .
I promise you that even if Vodafone gave you a free sim and free talk time for LIFE, you would have a nervous breakdown listening to their call waiting messaging.
Instead, Vodafone can bark ‘Press 100 to pay Rs 100 and speak directly to the operator’ – and I promise you lots of people will. In fact I think it will nicely increase the ARPU of Vodafone.
Ok, moving on….
Last morning, I had breakfast at TGIF.
Yeah – I know your thinking ‘WTF’? and probably assuming that I was trying to knock down a few beers at 8 am. But that wasn’t the case. TGIF IS the ‘default’ restaurant in the hotel I’m staying in Austin – so there was no other choice of restaurant to go to.
In my typical ‘Indian’ mentality (to save money) I didn’t go for the buffet and instead ordered A La Carte. I mean a vegetarian doesn’t eat so much… so why pay for all that meat and sausage?
I asked for a juice, a scrambled eggs with whole wheat toast and coffee. While I was waiting, I happened to see the ‘breakfast buffet’ price and I gulped; it was FAR CHEAPER than the sum of the food I had ordered. I felt bad and made a mental note to be even more marwari and do a ‘diligence’ before eating or ordering randomly next time.
Post my meal, I asked for the cheque, and the pretty waitress handed it to me, saying ‘ Sir, I just calculated that you ate more than the price of the buffet and yet consumed lesser food – so I just thought of charging you the Buffet price’.
:-)))
How DELIGHTFUL is that?
Try doing this at the Oberoi or the Taj.
My point is – why don’t Consumer facing brands understand that their BEST MARKETING is Consumer DELIGHT?
I know the Nobel Institute will NOT give away a prize for Consumer Delight, but why can’t we the stuffy Corporates award it to ourselves?
NOBEL PRIZE FOR CUSTOMER DELIGHT?
So why there DELIGHT happening?
Maybe:
– We think of business as ‘pre-transaction’ not ‘post transaction’?
Be nice BEFORE the cheque is paid; the order is signed ; the food is ordered ; the deed is done.
Afterwards, ‘who cares’…?
– Our attention is on MORE customers – not DELIGHTED customers.
So what if Alok is overcharged for his breakfast – there are 100 other Alok’s who will take his place.
– The customer is a PRIZE before a purchase and a LIABILITY after the sale. Errr… where did DELIGHT creep in??
Shakespeare said ‘Maids are May when they are Maids, and December when they Wed’.
How true.
– The CFO can measure Sales and Costs to the last paise…. BUT DELIGHT??? Now what the hell is that? They never taught him this in the CA exam…
This blog can go on and on.
The point I am making is that the INVESTMENT in Customer DELIGHT is so badly forgotten by most Companies (and especially the Indian ones).
I say – like all long term investments, DELIGHT will REWARD you handsomely, you will never need work again.
And to think of it, we will trudge to work every day of our waking lives….
So, please DELIGHT your Customers!
******
Related articles by me on this subject:
Why my Paanwala is better that the Honda car salesman
Why service at Indian Retail is so bad
****
KriShna KuMar
I have loads of good & bad experiences & possibly some analysis for the bad.
In fact here let me state the good rather than bore the readers about the bad.
South West Airlines:
I think they have an exceptional service & know how to take care of their consumer
1. They entertain you with rap music announcement inflight & in the airport. Now… when did you ever witness the whole airport come to a stand still just to hear an announcement of a flight departing & the gate number. I witnessed it in Orlando airport & also heard the applause once the announcer had finished singing the rhymed announcement. All absolutely extempore…
2. SW take advance bookings for seat numbers & i didn’t know it so we were the last in queue & friends warned me later that the 3 of us would probably sit separately, When i broke the news to my daughter, she obviously was flustered. So one of the flight pursers noticed me explaining to her & asked if we were a family. Next, she makes a call & the chap standing at the last row makes sure he reserves a row for us. He actually blocked it & ensured no one came near it saying its reserved. Then he makes sure “the princess” is comfortable by giving her few extra packets of pretzels.
If I’m writing about this, i suppose I’m delighted!
Car Sales Woman:
Recently booked a car but the sales woman had a wonderful role to play. I called them asking for a test drive appt & they said its normally given a day in advance. Recommended i speak to this lady & she asked for my contact details & told me she will surely try as the schedule is packed. She said a call will come in 1 hr & she actually did call & organized the test drive. Then she made sure the experience was fabulous with absolute courteous body language. Something you rarely see in a Indian retail outlet. The package was so good that i booked the car without doing my customary detailed analysis.
Final Take:
I don’t think companies pay attention to training the staff facing the customers. Also, they don’t empower them for instances like your breakfast experience to change a bill if need be.
Also most of it comes not from training at work but what you are taught in your schooling. We don’t have most of the basic etiquette’s taught in all schools. Some have the ability to learn thru practical exposures in life but most just are plain “uncouth”. No wonder you still see BMW owners open their doors & spit out the pan masala.
Prajith Nayar
How true?
Trying to tell this to Indian corporates is even more difficult than trying to sell ice to eskimo. While selling the new flashy CRM tool version 46.0 is so damn easy.
However few things I feel contributes to this:
1. Iam sure TGIF pays a salary in Austin through which the waitress can eat food, have a home, have internet to go through facebook in the night and some time in the day after work to think about future. Indian waiters at same TGIF will be paid 3000 + tips and Montek Planning Commission calls them way above BPL. Point being , your employees have to stop thinking of your own troubles to think of customers troubles
2. TGIF thinks and is probabaly true that waitress is not related to you and has no ulterior motive to pass on a few bucks of discount. In India you suspect your employees and are also probabaly true that they will happily pass on discounts to family members, friends as well as others. Now its a different matter that a customer is a customer , related or not. Point being empowering employees in India is tricky but also only way to deliver customer delight
3. Reacting to krishna kumar: It should not matter if BMW owner spits on road. Anybody spitting on road should be an issue. Why do i react about this here? Because see retail store reps reacting to well dressed man to a shabbily dressed customer or even more simple somebody who turns up in designer labels shorts and adidas shoes to somebody who wears check shirts, black pants and floaters. Customer is a customer. Yoru job is to make sure each one likes you irrespective of the fact he is a warren buffet or not. If you need to differentiate , please do basis of economic model and not on stupid perception based segmentation. Point being thats why customers in India angrily shout, do you know who Iam. Simple, It works in India.
Similarly Mr Krishnan I will spit on roads till the day everybody who spits is equally punished. You can call me uncouth and I can call you names as well. But probabaly from a pure economic sense, the BMW guys probably (only probably) paid more taxes, definitley paid road tax and probabaly has more right to spit on the road than the beggar who sleeps defecates and does various other stuff. Humanitarian grounds, beggar is excused, but BMW is still not guilty.
Overall Point being: Customer reps should think like company. For that to happen companies should think of how employees live and work. Good marwari businessmen know where to spend and where not to. But many Indian businessmen believe anyone spending his/her money is a crime. Owners, entrepreneurs …think hard. For you both employees and end customers are customers, as both are buying your idea of a company. Company is not a living, breathing entity, it has no emotions and hence any emotions towards it is a fallacy or fantasy. You are human and so are your employees as well as customers. Connect directly 😉
Karan Pandhi
Thank You Alok Sir,
I think its a quite a required read for the QSR people like me, Divyesh, Tejas and Hitesh Sir, Thank you Alok Sir.
A lot of point to be remembered for me.
Aman Jha
Its not been forgotten but taken for granted in India! The foreign brands serve their customer and make them feel delighted in 1st world countries, and same brands operating in India takes customer for Granted…..!
I bet if you go to Vodafone store or call Vodafone helpline in US, they will treat you well and in India the same brand take us for granted!
Ashish Shah
I am sure that we all agree to the above post..Customer service is below average in India.In west they trust the customer and would like to delight the customer.
So in effect ,there is the whole economics of scale which come into picture and most of the people don’t mind poor customer service(lack of expectation?)
My 2 cents/paisa