Customer service is something which can either make or destroy brands.In today's market where 'customer is the king' you need to make your customer happy so much so that they simply love your brand.I know this is not something great I am talking about, everyone knows that and working on it, but the problem is in spite of all the efforts and investment, companies fail to do that especially when it comes to 'service industry' and when I talk about service industry and customer satisfaction, the first thing that comes to my mind is the telecom sector.You rarely find any customers happy with their service provider may it be the telecom giant Airtel or BSNL or any other service provider, people are not happy with the 'service' and therefore the MNP option has changed the statistics of all the players.Airtel caught hold of the nerves of the customer and with their better services have occupied a great share in the market and had almost beaten BSNL at its launching period and of course maintained it thereafter but today with a lot of new entrants the focus is shifted toward 'cost', the one paisa concept has really changed the scenario but till when? and how long? today's customer is ready to pay a price for better service and convenience.This is the reason why some players are able to make a position in the market though the customer base is low and the brands which used to enjoy the greatest market share are shrinking. They loose customers largely because they are not able to see 'who is killing their brand?'Now to do that is really difficult as you may come with fantastic products and services but all those who are delivering them should be under the scanner.
Before I move on further I would share an experience of mine with Vodafone which has superbly performed and has made a place for itself not because of the zoo zoo advertisement or the innovative products( as almost all the other operators have some or the other innovative product/service) but because of the 'customer service and satisfaction'. About a month ago I needed a GSM connection as mine was a CDMA technology and doesn't have advance features. Though the MNP option was available but I thought of changing the number as my department in the organization had also changed, it sounds better to me to keep two numbers so as to segregate myself from the previous one.And the change in technology was an important requirement to my new position in terms of sending daily reports, being online and connecting to key people through BBM et al.So I decided to take a Vodafone post paid connection which my elder brothers uses and were quite happy with that. I find an outlet on the way to my office at Platinum plaza and was happy to have the outlet at a commercial place where it ought to be located at, the main store was at MP Nagar again, a commercial and the appropriate one. Now as it was convenient for me to go as the other one was quite far, I approached the outlet and demanded a post paid connection with a BBM plan. The outlet was almost unfurnished with a seating capacity of two and a couple of desks. There was only one attendant and was not able to provide me a list of numbers to choose from, she said, 'madam is not here,she has the numbers with her,plz. wait for sometime once she returns I will give you the numbers". After a day long job you cannot wait for choosing the numbers for a connection, I told her to text me the numbers and told her the documents required are ready once she give me the list of numbers I will send someone with the money and the documents and requested her to do it as early as possible as I needed the connection urgently.The next day I didn't receive any text, I went again to the outlet while going back home, there was some other attendant and said that he doesn't have the numbers right now, he will provide by tomorrow as the attendant that you met yesterday is on leave, on my complaint of having lost already one day, he gave me the form and a blank sim card and asked me to fill the form and deposit an ID proof and the amount tomorrow, thankfully after a wait of an hour or so I got some good numbers and chose one, he assured me that he has booked that number and said that he will call himself and activate it all I need to do is to put the blank sim card and promised to do it by afternoon. The next day, I called up again on the number he gave(as it was already evening and I did not receive any call), the man replied that he was on the field and gave me a number of the office, I called up on the number and to my surprise it was switched off.
Again, on the way back home, I stopped at the outlet to finally take the connection with the amount and a photo copy of my driving license with me, met another attendant..... different from the other two, introduced himself as the 'store manager'. I told him the whole story, having given due attention to the whole episode, he replied, though he was unaware of all this, will do it now, he asked about the ID proof and I gave him the copy of driving license which I had already kept with me, the man refused to acknowledge that photo copy saying it is photo copied only from one side, the seal at the back must have been photo copied as well.I asked him about the facility of photo copy at the store, he refused to have it, asked him to get it done from somewhere, the payment to be done from my side, I got a sweet reply of 'no' there's no place nearby to do so. I kept my patience intact, as I was so tired to go home that I cannot wait for anything else. Requested him to take the photo copy and promised to submit another by tomorrow but the reply was a ''no maam, we are bound by the rules, will activate only once we receive your ID and the verification team verifies it", I said that I need the connection anyhow by tommorrow afternoon as I need to send the reports by evening, can I drop the photo copy by morning while going to office, by what time the store is opened ?, by 11 a.m he replied, I said, "my office starts at 9 a.m. and I cannot come back by 11, plz have some alternate arrangement" and was shocked to hear a 'no' from him.
Now was just not able to control my anger, I gave a very aggressive reply, " do you think you are the only service provider? what do you think to yourself? In today's competetive environmrnt when every single customer is important, you are trying all means to loose a customer, you don't have a sense to judge a customer, I am not a Rs. 10 pre-paid customer, a person demanding a post paid connection with a BBM plan, writing the designstion as a manager in a reputed organization, go to hell, will take another connection" That idiot said 'ok maam without an apology and I left the store throwing away the blank sim card I got and went straight to Airtel's office next door, the executives not only get the ID photo copied but also asked to take the form and fill it as per my convenience and will send an executive to collect it either from home or office wherever I feel comfortable, was very happy with the customer service and came back home to get the Airtel connection.Got so late in the process, came late, my brother asked the reason of getting late, I told him the whole story, he just asked me to relax and insisted on taking a Vodafone connection only as he and his business group use the same and were very happy with the network and service as well. In the afternoon, went out for some official work to MP Nagar and saw the Vodafone outlet, thought of getting the connection as liked the number very much, in the meantime got a call form Airtel executive, liked the number so much and was very close to the store, I refused the executive and went to the Vodafone store, thinking that the number has already been booked on my name so why to waste it? Went to the store and asked about the number, you will surely laugh on hearing the reply, that the number has been taken up by someone, it was not booked in my name. Now, two days were already past and if I choose another option it will take one more day, having left with no choice I asked the lady to give me some numbers to choose from and finalized one, paid the charges, again the photo copy was needed to get done from my side, thankfully there was a photo copy shop nearby, completed all the formalities and requested the lady to get my number functional by tomorrow afternoon, but the reply was, 'no', it will take 24 hours, I could do nothing but wait, next day by evening the number was not operational, called her up many times but of no use, got busy with my office work and forgot. The next afternoon came and the number was not functional, I didn't call up for two days as it was Diwali- the festive season and then Sunday. Finally I called up on Monday, this time it was this lady's turn to be 'on leave', hearing that I lost my control and shouted on her like anything, she gave me the number of some senior official.I called him up and told him the whole story, the officer wtih all the apologies said, he himself will come to my place and hand over a functional sim to me in an hour. Several hours passed and I kept ringing as I had to leave for some urgent meeting, I made the last call and yelled at the person 'to hell with the connection and sim, ask your senior to be where he was and never come to my place and keep the amount I paid for the connection with him, I don't want to take a brand with a pathetic service" and went off.Got engaged in the meeting, 10-15 missed calls from them but not replied any, finally, got a call from my brother and picked up, he told me that the officer and his team was waiting for me for about half an hour, I asked my brother to shoo them away and keep their connection with them. Again, my brother insisted that they are feeling sorry about what happened and not read to go unless you meet them, I was so pissed off and left it on my brother whether to take their sim or not. My brother, a brand loyal of Vodafone, took the sim and entertained that team.
Now was just not able to control my anger, I gave a very aggressive reply, " do you think you are the only service provider? what do you think to yourself? In today's competetive environmrnt when every single customer is important, you are trying all means to loose a customer, you don't have a sense to judge a customer, I am not a Rs. 10 pre-paid customer, a person demanding a post paid connection with a BBM plan, writing the designstion as a manager in a reputed organization, go to hell, will take another connection" That idiot said 'ok maam without an apology and I left the store throwing away the blank sim card I got and went straight to Airtel's office next door, the executives not only get the ID photo copied but also asked to take the form and fill it as per my convenience and will send an executive to collect it either from home or office wherever I feel comfortable, was very happy with the customer service and came back home to get the Airtel connection.Got so late in the process, came late, my brother asked the reason of getting late, I told him the whole story, he just asked me to relax and insisted on taking a Vodafone connection only as he and his business group use the same and were very happy with the network and service as well. In the afternoon, went out for some official work to MP Nagar and saw the Vodafone outlet, thought of getting the connection as liked the number very much, in the meantime got a call form Airtel executive, liked the number so much and was very close to the store, I refused the executive and went to the Vodafone store, thinking that the number has already been booked on my name so why to waste it? Went to the store and asked about the number, you will surely laugh on hearing the reply, that the number has been taken up by someone, it was not booked in my name. Now, two days were already past and if I choose another option it will take one more day, having left with no choice I asked the lady to give me some numbers to choose from and finalized one, paid the charges, again the photo copy was needed to get done from my side, thankfully there was a photo copy shop nearby, completed all the formalities and requested the lady to get my number functional by tomorrow afternoon, but the reply was, 'no', it will take 24 hours, I could do nothing but wait, next day by evening the number was not operational, called her up many times but of no use, got busy with my office work and forgot. The next afternoon came and the number was not functional, I didn't call up for two days as it was Diwali- the festive season and then Sunday. Finally I called up on Monday, this time it was this lady's turn to be 'on leave', hearing that I lost my control and shouted on her like anything, she gave me the number of some senior official.I called him up and told him the whole story, the officer wtih all the apologies said, he himself will come to my place and hand over a functional sim to me in an hour. Several hours passed and I kept ringing as I had to leave for some urgent meeting, I made the last call and yelled at the person 'to hell with the connection and sim, ask your senior to be where he was and never come to my place and keep the amount I paid for the connection with him, I don't want to take a brand with a pathetic service" and went off.Got engaged in the meeting, 10-15 missed calls from them but not replied any, finally, got a call from my brother and picked up, he told me that the officer and his team was waiting for me for about half an hour, I asked my brother to shoo them away and keep their connection with them. Again, my brother insisted that they are feeling sorry about what happened and not read to go unless you meet them, I was so pissed off and left it on my brother whether to take their sim or not. My brother, a brand loyal of Vodafone, took the sim and entertained that team.
This is how I got the Vodafone connection........
Was just using it, though the plan, the network is good, but the experience was bitter, so never praised it. Keep getting those 'privildged customer' messages but was never happy, few days back got a message, 'Happy Birthday from Vodafone, along with the wishes some free messages and all. On receiving that message and the service message after every enquiry and call has really made me feel good and made me realize some observation about the brand as to how they want to give a human touch to their brand, the service messages after the interaction with a tele customer executive to give your feedback, is really an effective way to know how each and every interaction with a customer is valued, various VAS et al.
Technically the efforts are successful, but they failed to do it on the grass root level, the customer executive on call is being monitored but the executives as the ground staff is not at all being monitored. Some very important lessons has to be learnt from the above story, deliberately shared it so that every one knows that there's some one who is killing the brand, it's not the bad experience at some point makes the entire journey a bad one. Has my brother not being a brand loyal forced me, they would have lost a 'privileged customer'
Was just using it, though the plan, the network is good, but the experience was bitter, so never praised it. Keep getting those 'privildged customer' messages but was never happy, few days back got a message, 'Happy Birthday from Vodafone, along with the wishes some free messages and all. On receiving that message and the service message after every enquiry and call has really made me feel good and made me realize some observation about the brand as to how they want to give a human touch to their brand, the service messages after the interaction with a tele customer executive to give your feedback, is really an effective way to know how each and every interaction with a customer is valued, various VAS et al.
Technically the efforts are successful, but they failed to do it on the grass root level, the customer executive on call is being monitored but the executives as the ground staff is not at all being monitored. Some very important lessons has to be learnt from the above story, deliberately shared it so that every one knows that there's some one who is killing the brand, it's not the bad experience at some point makes the entire journey a bad one. Has my brother not being a brand loyal forced me, they would have lost a 'privileged customer'
'Keeping it human' is the key, you must be empathetic to the customer(the store manager might have understood the situation and have gone an extra mile to come to the office early to collect the photo copy)
You must value the customer's time( the lady must have made sure that it is going to be a holiday, I must send the form by evening to the head office)
You must give feel good factor to the customer(the senior officer no matter how busy he was must have taken the case on a priority bases as it was already delayed)
Just give a 'humane' approach to your customers and see things through the eye of the customer.
Once you give this 'human touch' ( wishing birthday) and the you will have enough 'brand loyals'.
You must give feel good factor to the customer(the senior officer no matter how busy he was must have taken the case on a priority bases as it was already delayed)
Just give a 'humane' approach to your customers and see things through the eye of the customer.
