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!
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