Is Customer Really the King?
Context for this blog centers around 'Customer relationship management' function in India and how it could be made better.
CRM - The buzz word. We have heard or read statements like :
'Make it easy for the customer to do business with you'
'Focus intensely on your customer'
'Deliver personalized service'
And some of the following which have been attributed to Gandhi (the original) but not validated:
'Customer is the most important visitor in on our premises'
'He is not dependent on us, We are dependent on him'
'He is not an interruption on our work, He is the purpose of it, He is a part of it'
'We are not doing him a favor by servicing him, He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so'.
Good to hear and nice to read. Makes one to put forth the best step forward in making it happen. Does it really happen? Does any one really care about the customer in the Indian scenario?
How many of us in India go to a bank and wait in line to get serviced? How many of us have to wait in line to get an Aadhar card when the person accepting the application is supposedly "busy" attending an important call on his mobile, speaking with his neighbor about how tough his job is. Ask the pensioners, senior citizens having health issues, having difficulties travelling since no one is there to take care of them (their kin being abroad), and the torture they have to go through to complete a transaction at a Bank or at a Multi-format grocery store. Talk about courier companies who have to deliver some important document to you.
'Everything is in the internet sir, why are you visiting our branch' is the reply you get from the bank. How many are computer literates and how many have access to computers to complete a transaction? How many have computers and how many have internet connectivity? Even if you can afford both, how many can access a website and understand the computer lingo about 'Secure socket layer', 'Multi layer authentication' leave alone all the userids and passwords that they have to remember at their old age. Even Gen-Xers have difficulty managing the userids and multiple stipulations with regards to passwords, leave alone senior citizens. No one seems to understand the problem and provide a solution that is easy enough to assimilate and use.
This article is not about Senior citizens and CRM but CRM in general.
We have companies in India expanding wildly, take Tatas and Reliance for example. In case of Tatas, they have presence in multiple industries and segments. If you look at the consumer segment, Tatas are there in
- Telecommunication (Fixed and Mobile - Tata Docomo)
- Satellite Television (Tata sky)
- Internet (via VSNL acquisition, Tata Photon+)
- Tata Motors (cars et al)
- Fashion (Westside, Croma)
to name a few.
Reliance is not far behind:
- Fashion
- Food (Grocery)
- Telecom (Mobile, Landline)
- Internet (Netconnect)
- Satellite Television
- Reliance time out
- Reliance Digital
and the list continues.........
Each of these companies operate as Independent companies (per company act of India) but do share the same brand name. Such is the brand value that there is a sense of reliability and trust that the customers have in them. Have the companies really used the same or are the customers still kings? If Customers were kings, how would they have been serviced?
Take for instance the case of an individual who has got multiple Tata products at his residence (and potentially at work or at is business too). Does a Tata or a Reliance know that the individual that they are dealing with has got other relationships going as well? I can say with 100% confidence that it is not the case.
Why?
The systems are created such that there is no incentive to reward a customer because the customer has got multiple relationships going? Why should he be rewarded? As long as I am able to get revenue from a customer, I am perfectly fine. What matters to me the most is the 'Top line' and the 'Bottom line'. The customer is incidental. If the customer walks away, it is his problem not the company's.
Why is it that such conglomerates do not have an integrated CRM that has a complete profile about the customer and the multiple relationships that they have? With an integrated CRM and knowing the customer intimately, it is quite possible to build the relationship to such an extent that it would become easier to
- Market new products and services
- Earn loyalty
- Increase retention
- Customers will become torch bearers for the new ventures
- They may be decision makers when it comes to a business they are associated with and hence would become the Advocates for the brand.
Is this possible? Will we able to able to generate a 360 degree view of the customer? Will we be able to capitalize the untapped potential that is out there? Will we be able to break the silo within which we operate today and go further beyond?
CRM - The buzz word. We have heard or read statements like :
'Make it easy for the customer to do business with you'
'Focus intensely on your customer'
'Deliver personalized service'
And some of the following which have been attributed to Gandhi (the original) but not validated:
'Customer is the most important visitor in on our premises'
'He is not dependent on us, We are dependent on him'
'He is not an interruption on our work, He is the purpose of it, He is a part of it'
'We are not doing him a favor by servicing him, He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so'.
Good to hear and nice to read. Makes one to put forth the best step forward in making it happen. Does it really happen? Does any one really care about the customer in the Indian scenario?
How many of us in India go to a bank and wait in line to get serviced? How many of us have to wait in line to get an Aadhar card when the person accepting the application is supposedly "busy" attending an important call on his mobile, speaking with his neighbor about how tough his job is. Ask the pensioners, senior citizens having health issues, having difficulties travelling since no one is there to take care of them (their kin being abroad), and the torture they have to go through to complete a transaction at a Bank or at a Multi-format grocery store. Talk about courier companies who have to deliver some important document to you.
'Everything is in the internet sir, why are you visiting our branch' is the reply you get from the bank. How many are computer literates and how many have access to computers to complete a transaction? How many have computers and how many have internet connectivity? Even if you can afford both, how many can access a website and understand the computer lingo about 'Secure socket layer', 'Multi layer authentication' leave alone all the userids and passwords that they have to remember at their old age. Even Gen-Xers have difficulty managing the userids and multiple stipulations with regards to passwords, leave alone senior citizens. No one seems to understand the problem and provide a solution that is easy enough to assimilate and use.
This article is not about Senior citizens and CRM but CRM in general.
We have companies in India expanding wildly, take Tatas and Reliance for example. In case of Tatas, they have presence in multiple industries and segments. If you look at the consumer segment, Tatas are there in
- Telecommunication (Fixed and Mobile - Tata Docomo)
- Satellite Television (Tata sky)
- Internet (via VSNL acquisition, Tata Photon+)
- Tata Motors (cars et al)
- Fashion (Westside, Croma)
to name a few.
Reliance is not far behind:
- Fashion
- Food (Grocery)
- Telecom (Mobile, Landline)
- Internet (Netconnect)
- Satellite Television
- Reliance time out
- Reliance Digital
and the list continues.........
Each of these companies operate as Independent companies (per company act of India) but do share the same brand name. Such is the brand value that there is a sense of reliability and trust that the customers have in them. Have the companies really used the same or are the customers still kings? If Customers were kings, how would they have been serviced?
Take for instance the case of an individual who has got multiple Tata products at his residence (and potentially at work or at is business too). Does a Tata or a Reliance know that the individual that they are dealing with has got other relationships going as well? I can say with 100% confidence that it is not the case.
Why?
The systems are created such that there is no incentive to reward a customer because the customer has got multiple relationships going? Why should he be rewarded? As long as I am able to get revenue from a customer, I am perfectly fine. What matters to me the most is the 'Top line' and the 'Bottom line'. The customer is incidental. If the customer walks away, it is his problem not the company's.
Why is it that such conglomerates do not have an integrated CRM that has a complete profile about the customer and the multiple relationships that they have? With an integrated CRM and knowing the customer intimately, it is quite possible to build the relationship to such an extent that it would become easier to
- Market new products and services
- Earn loyalty
- Increase retention
- Customers will become torch bearers for the new ventures
- They may be decision makers when it comes to a business they are associated with and hence would become the Advocates for the brand.
Is this possible? Will we able to able to generate a 360 degree view of the customer? Will we be able to capitalize the untapped potential that is out there? Will we be able to break the silo within which we operate today and go further beyond?
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