The Unservicing

By definition customer service is defined as the process which starts before purchase and becomes critical post purchase when the customer has a problem.

Anil Garg posted on FB, poor service by bigbasket.com (the online grocery in which SRK says ‘I am a big basketeer, are you?’); this was followed up by the bigbasket delivery chap attempting to steal Rs. 200 by sleight of hand. He was of course caught and fessed up saying ‘mistake zhala’. Many days post the event, the company has not come online, called, or done anything reasonable to keep this customer. And thereby hangs a tale.

It is true, that new companies, especially in e-retail have innovated in pricing, distribution and technology. The Economist has written their praise. They are strong on acquisition process, fast distribution, money/cash collection and very sales focused.

On the other hand, they lack respect or care for their customers. In fact customer service/care is limited to mentions in their websites and company PR handouts.  All FMCG companies have a phone number printed in the smallest possible typeface on the packaging. In most cases, this telephone number is manned by informal call centers with equally informal telephone call receivers who haven’t the foggiest about customers or care.

CEOs have long forgotten what a customer looks like. The distance between their office and the customer is about a light year. When they do ‘market visits’, it is reported in the press, especially the ET. This should change. That a CEO should go incognito to understand customers’ problems is a historical concept, which has receded into history.

The next rung of people around the CEO are involved in elbowing their cohort to be as near to the imperial ear as possible. The next rung apes the one on top and so on. The only people left holding the customer service bag are on the lowest rung or at outsourced call centers.

Apart from the above, six contributory factors are at work:

1.     ‘Shortage’ in our DNA

2.     Non-service orientation.

3.     Self-righteousness.

4.     Suspicion.

5.     Lack of training/awareness creation.

6.     Lack of empowerment at customer interaction points.

Prior to the 1990s, we were in a perpetual shortage economy. Rationing, queues, long wait times and shoddy goods were part of life. Acceptance was the norm. This situation is far behind us; but it seems to have left a footprint in our DNA – be glad for what is given.

We somehow equate ‘service’ with ‘servitude’. We dislike being asked to serve. Having gone to college somehow ingrains in us a sense of haq/divine right that listening to and resolving a customer’s problem is below one’s dignity. Maybe we should become waiters for a week? (Refer to Author’s advice in my review Lata’s Book)

We are deeply suspicious of motives of and untrusting of others. Supermarkets across India routinely have uniformed guards roaming aisles, manning entries and exits – especially exits where they demand the bill, to ensure you carry out what you have paid for. This is mostly in plain eye-shot of the transaction having taken place. Management’s explain this as protection against shop lifting. They should know better than that; their own employees contribute more to ‘unexplained contraction of stock’ than do shoppers. In my experience, only Marks & Spencer does not ask that bags be kept outside and check bags on departure.

If customers have a problem, they must be wrong. How can ‘our’ product or ‘our’ service be flawed or faulted? Arguments ensue; ending with the customer losing out. There is a campaign titled ‘jaago grahak jaago’, which is all good but its implementation is so stretched that it becomes an almost useless exercise.

The way forward is to create Service orientation through focused training, conferences and incentives on par with sales conferences, dealer conferences and celebratory conferences for meeting or fixing targets.

If the customer’s complaint then falls on receptive ears and there is nothing they can do – it’s because they are simply not empowered to act. They have to refer upstairs through a bureaucratic process which gets lost in the labyrinth.

The solution lies in Management shedding their command/control outlook to one of trust. At a minimum this empowerment of the front line will create a sense of purpose for the employee help in employee retention and create an espirit d’corps which a minimum increase in wages can’t. It will also mean an increase in customer loyalty which no loyalty card can achieve.

Peter Drucker observed that the whole purpose of a business is to create and recreate customers. It’s the latter part which matters. To be purposeful in business, we should rediscover the definition we started off with, especially the emphasis:

By definition customer service is defined as the process which starts before purchase and becomes critical post purchase when the customer has a problem.

Rajesh Pant, 

Pune, 

20 April 2016