I am no marketing expert. However this is what I know from experience. The biggest and most effective brand ambassadors for any product, be it an automobile, a mobile phone, a hotel, a restaurant, a school, a travel agency etc. are their satisfied customers. Of course it goes without saying that any product’s dissatisfied customers are their most effective negative brand ambassadors.
It is a simple and logical expectation that anyone selling a product will stand by their product, be it the manufacturer of the product, or the dealer, as long as they are serious about their business. If I were a dealer, I would not like to sell products that cannot live up to their promised expectations. Similarly if I were a manufacturer, I would not like to manufacture products that cannot live up to their expectations. There is no compromise on this. Of course I can manufacture and sell an inferior product and then set the expectations accordingly.
A customer’s satisfaction has nothing much to do with how much one pays for a product – it has got a whole lot to do with how much one values what one pays for a product. This means a person buying a “1 lakh rupee car” would expect the same level of customer service as a person buying an “80 lakh rupee car” would expect. The only difference might be that the lounge at the 1 lakh rupee car customer care center may not be centrally air conditioned; it may not have plush leather couches; it may not offer you free tea and biscuits etc. unlike the “80 lakh rupee car” customer care center which may offer you a whole lot more. A 300 rupee cotton shirt can be as clean as a 5000 rupee designer shirt. I hope you get the drift.
But then like Steeroid said there will always be people who may not value their lakhs much. And then there will be people who will never understand much of what the service guys will tell them.
Let us look at some examples.
It is summer and the season of watermelons. When a typical house-wife buys a watermelon (costing between Rs. 30 – 90 in Pune) she insists that the vendor cut open the watermelon and if it is really red, juicy and sweet, she would buy. If it is not, the vendor has to take it back. If a vendor is not willing to cut open the watermelon, she will not buy it from that vendor. Now in this case does the vendor have any idea about how good or bad the watermelon is going to be. Not really. But most of them oblige, agree to her terms and cut open the watermelons.
That is customer satisfaction.
For nearly 5 years I worked for an automobile LCV/HCV manufacturer in India. I know of several cases where an out of warranty truck broke down due to engine problems and other issues and the company replaced the components free of cost in spite of knowing that most of the vehicle owners/drivers abused their vehicles. They mostly did that when the dealers recommended such an action. Were they obliged to do that? No. But they did it all the same.
That is customer satisfaction.
My brother owns a Mahindra LCV. During the warranty period some component in the vehicle was reinforced by the dealer through another workshop because that part was prone to frequent failures. This was often because of the rough terrain they had to run through, like quarries etc. under heavy loads. After the warranty period when that component failed, the dealer refused to repair it and asked my brother to take it to the workshop that had originally reinforced the part through the dealer. I wrote to Mahindra and within 2 hours I had a couple of email responses and their Regional Manager from Kochi was on the phone talking to me. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and he got everything done to his satisfaction. The manager again called me to make sure that we were satisfied.
That is customer satisfaction.
I own a Maruti Swift. I wanted the service manuals for the vehicle. I wrote to Maruti. They arranged for the manuals to be delivered to one of their Pune dealers. Did they have to do that? No. But they did it.
That is customer satisfaction.
After my first service of the Swift, I told the lady who called me up to check if I were satisfied with their service that there was a dirty mark on the rear seat. They sent people home to clean the interiors of the car and I was offered a free wash and service whenever I chose to.
That is customer satisfaction.
I wanted to go on a long trip. I simply drove the car to my Maruti dealer. They checked the whole car and returned it after an hour. They charged me nothing for that.
That is customer satisfaction.
I had some door rattling noise and someone on team-bhp had mentioned about Maruti replacing the power windows regulator assembly in some cars which solved the issue. I wrote to Maruti and within two days I got a call from my dealer. They took the car and the workshop manager personally attended to the vehicle and did everything they could to get rid of the rattles. It did not require the regulator assemblies to be changed but they did everything they could to fix the issue.
That is customer satisfaction.
May be my dealer (M/S Wonder Cars) is extremely good and cares for their customers. But in my mind it is a reflection of how much Maruti cares for its customers.
In Hinjwadi, Pune, there is a restaurant called Mezza9. The food is quite good but the service is poor. Once we had a group lunch and we found a fly in the dal. The hotel staff neither apologized for it nor offered a replacement. And they billed for the dal as well. Will we ever again go to that place? You bet! We won’t.
You cannot put a price to the goodwill of a customer. It has to be earned. When you sell a car it is YOUR car. The dealer is only a middleman. Everything that the dealer does is a reflection on the company. It is for you to take measures to ensure that what is reflected through the dealer is a true picture of the principles your company stands for. If you have neither the willpower nor the means of ensuring this, then you should not be in business. And if you decide to continue to be in business, it will not be that long lived. There will be good dealers and bad dealers. It is YOUR responsibility to track down the bad ones and shut them down. Similarly every dealer will have good and bad people. It is the responsibility of the dealer to flush out the bad ones.
Go through the various threads on team-bhp. People have heaped praises on
NIKE for their products and for the way they have cared for their customers. You will find both bouquets and brickbats wherever they are due.
Take the case of the Indian Consumer. Taking the legal route is not everyone’s cup of tea unlike in some of the western countries because of the rampant corruption and the archaic legal system. Taking advantage of this state of affairs, manufacturers leave their customers high and dry when product/service issues crop up. It has become easy for the manufacturers and the dealers to pass the buck, knowing fully well that the customers cannot do anything much. It is only people like Harish who make a difference and his effort should be applauded. Unlike the olden days, communities like team-bhp are there to support people like Harish and that makes a huge difference. So in the end even if
Skoda India wins this case against Harish, they
would have only won the battle and lost the war.
-Biju