Minor mistake for the company, but from the point of view of a customer - Blunder

India has a population of 1, 66,079,200 (2009 estimate). There was a time when agriculture was a major contributor to our GDP. More than 55 % of our annual GDP was contributed by the agriculture. But the scenario is totally different now. Today, agriculture is replaced by the Service Sector. Service sector contributes 52.4% to our annual GDP (Msn research figures). This figure leaves no reason for us to neglect the importance of services in the modern business field which is so diverse and dynamic that even an eye blink is enough for a miracle or a catastrophe. Services marketing has become a necessity for the organizations today rather than just being a need.

Most of the organizations today if we notice, strive to build up their customer strength and maintain a ‘relationship’ in the long run. They try to build up long lasting trust so that they can get more figures at the end of quarters. In the race to be in the front, most of the organizations sometimes commit minor mistakes which come up as a blunder from the point of view of the consumers. They often lapse on the general expectations of the consumers. My personal experience with companies like Reliance, Big Bazaar (Pantaloon retail), etc’s will probably help me justify my notions.

I was recently looking for a broadband internet connection at my place for my personal use. I tried looking for all the players in the market at present and I finally ended up making a decision to go ahead with Reliance. Even though my friends reminded me of the fact that Reliance has a bad name as far as the customer service is concerned, I went ahead because I was interested in the tariff plans they had. I fixed up a meeting with the sales person for the procedures, everything went on smooth. I paid up the installation charges of Rs 500 (INR) and was committed duration of 4 days when my services will start functioning. I was happy as I didn’t have to run for installation and documentation purposes. Here began the problem. It was over a week since I was promised that my services will start functioning. I tried calling up the sales person- there was no response, I tried calling up the sales manager- no response, I tried the customer care- I was given the number of the zonal sales manager and was asked to speak to him. This was the worst case when I tried calling up the zonal sales manager, he didn’t even receive the call. I hooked up the same sales person by making one of my close friends to call him for a new connection. Once he came, I asked him to connect to his manager I spoke to the manager in this regard. I was asked to wait for another 4 days and the services will be done. I had no reasons left to do a business with them. I asked for a refund of the Installation charges. For a refund as well I had to wait for 4 days. There was a loud conversation between us (I guess you know what ‘loud conversation’ means). I went to the extent of not letting the service person leave until my money is back. The sales manager had no other option than to transfer the call to his superior sales manager and there as well was pretty similar scenario between us. Finally I was transferred to the zonal sales head for Reliance Broadband who was quite calm when I was aggressive. He listened to the overall issue and checked with his data. This is what he said, “Mr. Ashutosh, I can understand the mistake is from our end and so please allow us to rectify it. I am 36 years old and please take my word, you will have your installations by tomorrow this time and your services will begin immediately.” The way he interacted with me, I thought of taking a last chance and agreed upon that. The next day, by 11 in the morning, an engineer was there at my doorstep to do the installation. I got a call from the same manager in the evening for a follow-up whether he had kept his word or not.

I don’t say, Reliance did a good job by making me to get into such inconvenience, but they at least were successful in retaining a customer. If I could have ended up taking my money back at any cost, I would have always done a negative word of mouth for Reliance and they could have never regained me, but now when I have faced this and with such response from the manager, at least, the trust is instilled within me. I remain a customer of Reliance. As the research says, an unsatisfied customer speaks to 13 other person and spreads a negative word of mouth, whereas a satisfied customer speaks to hardly 3 persons spreading a positive word of mouth.

What I want to say here is if the junior level employees of Reliance are trained in a better way to interact with the customer and to deal with them, to do better servicing for the customer, the company has much more scope to build their customer base and make profits.

Services are intangible and cannot be seen, it is related to the feeling of a consumer. Selling something becomes more difficult when it has something to do with feeling and which does not have any tangible value. Successful companies like Walmart, Microsoft, etc’s are successful for one major reason that they are good in providing services. In terms of management jargon, ‘client servicing’.

Competition is cut throat in the market. One companies’ loss is another companies’ profit. If such is the scenario, companies need to be very particular in terms of ‘what they provide to the consumers’ and what they should bother the most is ‘how do they provide it to the consumers’.

Thank You,

Ashutosh Arun.

Marketing in modern business

All these days when the slowdown has hit various organizations including the few huge giants across different sectors of the economy, most of the organizations are trying to come up with an antidote that could treat 'Recession'. Organizations today are mostly striving to survive in the market rather than just making profits. Cutting down costs, downsizing, ignoring CSR's, e.t.c are few of the tricks most of the organizations are trying to play.

Organizations basically are into the business of buying and selling of either a product or a service in the market. One of the major functions of any business is Marketing of its products/services. Marketing is no longer the conventional theory where it was synonymous to 'selling'. It is a complex function now. We all know the 4 p's and 7 p's of marketing, we all know Porter's model and we all have read the great Sir Phillip Kottler as well. Yet we are not able to make out one logical thing, Innovation. Innovation is the antidote required to revive this slowdown and fly against the storm. The market today is full with players providing the same kind of Services or the product what other organizations are providing, what is new in us is the question that matters. Why will a customer purchase a 'Samsung' and not a 'Nokia'? this is the question we should ask and think upon literally. The simple answer is Innovation. If we keep providing the same and in the same way to our customers, the customers are one day going to get bored of what we are providing and will shift to something new and preferable. In terms of marketing, first we need to look into the needs of customers and then we need to act accordingly and should make sure the customer is not just satisfied, he is delighted. It is an old saying that 5 fingers cannot be the same. But in today's scenario, if the fingers are our customers are the fingers, each of them should be delighted equally.

Lets take a couple of examples.

Linc pens were about to die in the market. The competition in the 'Pen' market was so high that even major players like 'ADD' thought to diversify. Linc pens did a huge market research and tried to look into what is it that the customer needs from a pen? The findings were very difficult to interpret but after long hours of hard work, they came up with a new product- The pen was common just with a slight bend at its nib. The pen was a huge success in the market. Actually the customers basically needed comfort and ease while writing. Many a times the ink would dry and so they were looking for a pen which could avoid these issues. Linc pens came up with a product which actually complied to all the issues of its customers. This is the innovation in marketing i am talking about.

In Japan, recently, the watermelon sellers were worried. Actually the trucks that used to carry the water melons had the capacity to carry 9 tonnes of water melons whereas, due to the shape of the water melons the trucks used to carry only 6 tonnes. This was a loss on the side of the company. They, collaboration with some Japanese horticulturists, developed Square shaped water melons grown organically. This was not only the solution to the problem of the company, the customers were indeed more delighted to see a square watermelon, it was something new when compared to the mundane round water melon. The company was now able to transport 9 tonnes of water melons at once and the sales were also high.

These times of recession is the best time to reinvigorate the general practices of Marketing. Marketing is complex but, if handled properly, it accounts for huge revenue as well. A marketer in these times of slowdown has to be Innovative yet Simple.

Thank you,

Ashutosh Arun.