With all the raves about customer service around, do companies really care if the customer service they provide is going to translate into Brand Equity? Maybe we should give a thought to that.
I was reading the blog of a lady called Brenda, who put her iPhone in a purse along with a sauce sachet.. You guessed the rest! The iPhone was floating in a ketchup pool by the time she got home. Needless to say, the apple of her eye, her iPhone stopped working. Absolutely aghast at the prospect of losing it forever, she goes to one of Apple's customer service guys whom they call a "Genius Bar Person" (trust Apple to make a job title sound cool).. The guy informs her that the pin inside the jack hole of her iPhone had been permanently damaged and it is not repairable. Adds on to say that the warranty obviously doesn't cover damages arising out of such misuse.. And then when she's having her "Oh Nooooo" moment, he informs her that since its the first time Brenda's walked into an Apple customer service, he'll make an exception for her and replace the iPhone at NO EXTRA COST!
Will Brenda ever vouch for any other company other than Apple in the future? Will she miss telling her husband about this? Will she forget to tell each of her friends about her story the next time she meets them? Will she miss buying many more apple products for herself, her husband and her 4 kids? Will she skip a chance to blog about this? Answer to all these questions is a resounding NO.
Lessons to be learnt-
1) Make customer service sound personalized and ensure that the customer knows that this is being done "specially for him/her".
2) Never give away anything on a platter or else it fails to make an impact. Give the customer his "Oh No" moment. Make it sound that its virtually an impossible request. Don't make him expect it out of you. Give it out when he least expects.
3) Customers think its a pain-in-the-a*s process to get something repaired or to get some issue sorted out. Make it a pleasurable and memorable experience for them. Make it sound cool and fun- like with apple's "Genius Bar Person" tag :)
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Letting It Go!
A lasting memory from the movie titanic is the scene in which the captain of the ship just surrenders to the inevitable and waits for the water to engulf him.
Makes me think.. makes me wonder if giving up is as inglorious as it is made out to be. In our world, heroism is a concept that stresses on being a never-say-die warrior. A man who fights tooth and nail and doesn't accept defeat even at the moment of death.
My question is- is man trying to assert his supermacy on the supreme? Isn't it just as glorious to accept at an appropriate stage that there’s something that you have to eventually bow your head to? This lends an interesting paradigm to heroism, love, careers and life as such.
Err… wait.. Did I say love? Purely intentional sir.. I have seen two kinds of love- the crazy love and the controlled love. I’ve seen people rant- if love isn’t crazy, it ain’t love! I believe in the contrary. I don’t believe that true love begets madness. I don’t believe in the “get her at all costs” syndrome. Its coz I believe that this popular attitude turns love into a conquest.. a maniacal pursuit.. a path that focuses on the prize, not the journey. Love is a beautiful journey.. one that should be enjoyed and relished.. the focus should be on giving as much of happiness and smiles to your partner as you possibly can.. Its not a mechanical quest that concentrates on the person, not the persona.. the target, not the trip. And then love reduces to just two outcomes- win or lose. But if you are controlled and are prepared to let it go, you know that love will always be a win, no matter what the outcome. Coz love, like nature, has its own queer way of finding its path and you disrespect it by defining the path by yourself.
So, my friends.. my way of life is- live it to your fullest and don’t decide destinations, but decide directions. Do your best, but always remember that not all things are worth winning. Sometimes, the charm is in letting it go..
Makes me think.. makes me wonder if giving up is as inglorious as it is made out to be. In our world, heroism is a concept that stresses on being a never-say-die warrior. A man who fights tooth and nail and doesn't accept defeat even at the moment of death.
My question is- is man trying to assert his supermacy on the supreme? Isn't it just as glorious to accept at an appropriate stage that there’s something that you have to eventually bow your head to? This lends an interesting paradigm to heroism, love, careers and life as such.
Err… wait.. Did I say love? Purely intentional sir.. I have seen two kinds of love- the crazy love and the controlled love. I’ve seen people rant- if love isn’t crazy, it ain’t love! I believe in the contrary. I don’t believe that true love begets madness. I don’t believe in the “get her at all costs” syndrome. Its coz I believe that this popular attitude turns love into a conquest.. a maniacal pursuit.. a path that focuses on the prize, not the journey. Love is a beautiful journey.. one that should be enjoyed and relished.. the focus should be on giving as much of happiness and smiles to your partner as you possibly can.. Its not a mechanical quest that concentrates on the person, not the persona.. the target, not the trip. And then love reduces to just two outcomes- win or lose. But if you are controlled and are prepared to let it go, you know that love will always be a win, no matter what the outcome. Coz love, like nature, has its own queer way of finding its path and you disrespect it by defining the path by yourself.
So, my friends.. my way of life is- live it to your fullest and don’t decide destinations, but decide directions. Do your best, but always remember that not all things are worth winning. Sometimes, the charm is in letting it go..
Friday, December 4, 2009
The Redundancy of the Past
A not-so-famous dialogue exchange from sholay:
Veeru (to Thakur): Hum do log dus logon ko sambhal sakte hain
Veeru (to Jai): Dus kuch zyada toh nahi bol diya Jai?
Jai: Ab bol diya hai toh sambhal lenge!
Pardon me for not reproducing the exact words, but this innocuous dialogue from sholay has been my favourite ever since i saw the movie. Though plain and simple, something about it struck the right chord. Jai knows that Veeru might be over-committing, but then he confidently seconds him as if it was his own opinion.
Over the years, the deep insights that I have derived from this seemingly insipid sentance has become engrained in me as an important part of my attitude towards life.
Have you ever wondered why life seems to suddenly come to a halt? Why everything seems dull and boring? Why we don't seem to want or do anything? More often than not, these are the times when our mind travels back in the past and conducts a mental post-mortem of the life we've spent. Life is made interesting by only two possibilities: One, the joy of experiencing the present and two, the drive to experience an anticipated happiness in the future. But the times when we foray into our past are ridden with self-doubt, grief, regret, self-critique and more questions than answers. I'm not saying that such times do not highlight the happy times spent in the past, but these are usually few and far between.
It is in this context that the significance of that dialogue can be appriciated. I believe that instead of dwelling with questions like "Did I do the right thing?", "Why did I do that?", "Why does this always happen to me?" etc, we must take the past in a matter-of-fact way. It is something that cannot be changed. Something that is as indelibly a part of your life as you are. There is no point in pondering about all these questions and missing the joy of relishing the present or preparing for the future. I think the right attitude is: "Ab jo ho gaya so ho gaya.. Let me live by it rather than question its very premise". That is the exact attitude that is beautifuly captured in that dialogue.
Also, another thing, albeit minor, that emerges out of it is that you need to stand, no matter what, by what your partner has committed to the outer world. A partner's words are your words. And if you have any reservations about it, you better not wash your linen in public by objecting to his commitment in front of anyone.
Another takeaway is about confidence in your decisions. Life is hardly ever about taking the right decision. It is mostly about swiftly deciding what seems right and sticking by it with confidence. Seldom does the key to great decision making lie in the decision itself- it is in the implementation thereoff.
Sometimes, life does teach you a lot in little doses right? Like in that one line of a 4 hour movie!
Veeru (to Thakur): Hum do log dus logon ko sambhal sakte hain
Veeru (to Jai): Dus kuch zyada toh nahi bol diya Jai?
Jai: Ab bol diya hai toh sambhal lenge!
Pardon me for not reproducing the exact words, but this innocuous dialogue from sholay has been my favourite ever since i saw the movie. Though plain and simple, something about it struck the right chord. Jai knows that Veeru might be over-committing, but then he confidently seconds him as if it was his own opinion.
Over the years, the deep insights that I have derived from this seemingly insipid sentance has become engrained in me as an important part of my attitude towards life.
Have you ever wondered why life seems to suddenly come to a halt? Why everything seems dull and boring? Why we don't seem to want or do anything? More often than not, these are the times when our mind travels back in the past and conducts a mental post-mortem of the life we've spent. Life is made interesting by only two possibilities: One, the joy of experiencing the present and two, the drive to experience an anticipated happiness in the future. But the times when we foray into our past are ridden with self-doubt, grief, regret, self-critique and more questions than answers. I'm not saying that such times do not highlight the happy times spent in the past, but these are usually few and far between.
It is in this context that the significance of that dialogue can be appriciated. I believe that instead of dwelling with questions like "Did I do the right thing?", "Why did I do that?", "Why does this always happen to me?" etc, we must take the past in a matter-of-fact way. It is something that cannot be changed. Something that is as indelibly a part of your life as you are. There is no point in pondering about all these questions and missing the joy of relishing the present or preparing for the future. I think the right attitude is: "Ab jo ho gaya so ho gaya.. Let me live by it rather than question its very premise". That is the exact attitude that is beautifuly captured in that dialogue.
Also, another thing, albeit minor, that emerges out of it is that you need to stand, no matter what, by what your partner has committed to the outer world. A partner's words are your words. And if you have any reservations about it, you better not wash your linen in public by objecting to his commitment in front of anyone.
Another takeaway is about confidence in your decisions. Life is hardly ever about taking the right decision. It is mostly about swiftly deciding what seems right and sticking by it with confidence. Seldom does the key to great decision making lie in the decision itself- it is in the implementation thereoff.
Sometimes, life does teach you a lot in little doses right? Like in that one line of a 4 hour movie!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Finding your bearings!
I'll always remember 20th Nov 2009. Not coz a suicide bomber bummed out 16 people in Afganisthan; not coz Airtel slashed its roaming rates by 60% but coz.. aah! u saw the subject line smartie!
It was just another day in the life of an MBA student. Woke up with a hollow feeling of having done nothing notable of late made worse by having nothing notable to do in the near future. Attended classes and a recruitment test with the hollow feeling of not knowing whether it was the company I really wanted to work for. More classes to shut the lid on a drab day in office.. But somewhere, not very far, I could sense an alarm ringing.. A feeling of a smouldering pot in my head that's been boiling for a while.. Perhaps, the time had come to realize my calling and stop riding on two boats at the same time.
With this feeling and having nothing else to do in particular, I sat down in the library reading a few journals and magazines. Now that's something I've never done for passing time! Like an engine that was waiting to be cranked, my mind was as alert as that of a teenage boy who's browsing through an adult magazine for the first time. And surprisingly for a marketing enthusiast, the articles that really aroused my sleeping mind were finance related. I took my jolly walk in the world of finance like a fascinated kid holding his dad's lil finger in his first walk outside home. 4 hours of my life vanished like thin air without me realizing it and I walked back to the hostel knowing that I've found what I've been looking for.
Sometimes it just takes a moment of thought for you to figure out which of your two girlfriends is the one that you wanna live for. For me, the moment lasted a full minute- the walk back to the hostel from the library under the watchful moon and the twinkling stars. I knew what I wanted to do from the next moment onwards. I knew I wanted to be a finance guy with a behavioural undertone, thanks to my command of marketing. I knew that these two years in a godforsaken college holed up in a godforsaken city were worth their weight in gold. I knew that sometimes it takes 25 years for you to figure out what you are meant for. I knew I'm chucking the "generalist" tag I had trudged with all along- I don't need play it safe any more. I knew I'd found my bearings!
It was just another day in the life of an MBA student. Woke up with a hollow feeling of having done nothing notable of late made worse by having nothing notable to do in the near future. Attended classes and a recruitment test with the hollow feeling of not knowing whether it was the company I really wanted to work for. More classes to shut the lid on a drab day in office.. But somewhere, not very far, I could sense an alarm ringing.. A feeling of a smouldering pot in my head that's been boiling for a while.. Perhaps, the time had come to realize my calling and stop riding on two boats at the same time.
With this feeling and having nothing else to do in particular, I sat down in the library reading a few journals and magazines. Now that's something I've never done for passing time! Like an engine that was waiting to be cranked, my mind was as alert as that of a teenage boy who's browsing through an adult magazine for the first time. And surprisingly for a marketing enthusiast, the articles that really aroused my sleeping mind were finance related. I took my jolly walk in the world of finance like a fascinated kid holding his dad's lil finger in his first walk outside home. 4 hours of my life vanished like thin air without me realizing it and I walked back to the hostel knowing that I've found what I've been looking for.
Sometimes it just takes a moment of thought for you to figure out which of your two girlfriends is the one that you wanna live for. For me, the moment lasted a full minute- the walk back to the hostel from the library under the watchful moon and the twinkling stars. I knew what I wanted to do from the next moment onwards. I knew I wanted to be a finance guy with a behavioural undertone, thanks to my command of marketing. I knew that these two years in a godforsaken college holed up in a godforsaken city were worth their weight in gold. I knew that sometimes it takes 25 years for you to figure out what you are meant for. I knew I'm chucking the "generalist" tag I had trudged with all along- I don't need play it safe any more. I knew I'd found my bearings!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Mohan Kuruvilla.. To sir with love!
Whoever said 13 was an unlucky number? Finally in my 13th month out here at LIBA, here comes a prof who has made me stand up, clap and say Wow!!He's redefined a lot of terms for me- Sales and Marketing would never be the same again! Why, he's redefined the very paradigm of learning that existed in my mind.
An impeccably adept communicator, he is the first teacher who's taught me for 5 hours on the same day and still left me wanting more! He brings the students to rapt attention with his gentle well-modulated voice, amazingly sophisticated accent and perfect intonation
The ability to translate practical experience into logically coherent thoughts and weave it with theory is an ability that rides easily on his shoulders. Every word he speaks sparkles akin to a diamond and ignites the thought processess of the students like nothing else can. Sample this- "Selling begins when the customer says NO".
Before you begin to imagine his lectures to be as devoid of humour as this blog has been uptill now, I must serve to you on a platter some of his pet dialogues that make the class split into peals of laughter! Imagine him saying this in his trademark Bihari-accented Hindi- "Purchase Manager ka saara khoon paanv se chehre pe chad gaya.. CORPORATE YOGA sir" :D :D Or some of his patented lines- "Kuch toh bol dijiye sir.." , "The MD started looking out of the window", "Kotler ne kaha hai, hum nai kahe", "Ek company thi Hindustan Lever.. Abhi bhi hai", "Nadi kinare baithe the sir", "Maine apne professor ko phone lagaya jisne mujhe B2B padhaya tha"...
His classes are so mesmerizing that the whole batch is in awe of him. His superlative marketing ability combined with his intelligence make for a potent combination that's earned him the adage "GOD of sales" all over South India. His tests are so well authored and application oriented that you feel like sitting with the question paper "nadi kinare" and think of the answers :D His passion for the subject and its application reflects from the emotion in his eyes- an earnestness that can be born only out of pure love.
Sir, when I decided to be a marketing professional, I had a fairytale image of the subject. It was like an imagined dreamland which I always wanted to explore but could never reach out to. You made me feel the intoxication of marketing and made me touch the magical world of my dreams. Hope I live to see the day when I will be able to proudly proclaim that I did justice to what all you taught me about this fascinating game of Marketing. And Sir, all that can offer you in return is just "thanks". Surely, I won't give you what you asked for- "sir, aap sey kuch nahi maang rahe hain, par agar kabhi apki company mein aaye to contract hamein hi dijiyega"- I'll surely evaluate you with the same tenacity of a hawk as you yourself advised :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)