Customers are Forever

Tridip Roy, VP Customer Services at Crysta White Goods, was in for a rude shock w
hen he met Kavita Khanna who had hosted a dinner in honour of Roy s new appointmen
t. Full of optimism, he asked Kavita when she would like to purchase a Crysta wa
shing machine. As a friend, probably he could work in a discount as well. Kavita s
response was very curt, I do not want brands anymore. All brands are the same-Vi
deocon to Electrolux. They all just wash clothes. If they were really different
from one another, people would have upgraded their machines by now. Tridip realiz
ed he had a very disgruntled customer here. He probed deeper, So Kavita, what are
you looking for in a washing machine which you haven t found? Kavita s reply was to
the point, I want a company which knows how to handle its customers. Instead of f
uzzy logic and silent driers, I would prefer a human voice when I call in to com
plain, not a voice recording machine.
This set Tridip thinking. In fact he had been thinking about Crysta s future for s
ome time now. Competition was increasing. Players were becoming aggressive, phys
ical product differentiation was merely cosmetic and customer interest was decli
ning. The loss of consumers to other brands was a small problem in comparison to
the larger problem of how to retain Crysta s existing customers. Roy believed tha
t customer bonding was the way forward. The company had to build relationships a
long with the markets. Further, as Crysta planned to enter the refrigerator and
dishwasher markets, Tridip was acutely aware that the market would make or break
Crysta depending on how they perceived the promise delivery on the washing mach
ine. He was also concerned whether some years down the line, when existing custo
mers decided to change their equipment, would they still opt for Crysta products
? Right now, when new products are launched, will consumers choose Crysta over i
ts rivals?
Tridip realized that consumers were becoming increasingly aware of product usage
. He had a plan in mind. He called in Girish Vyas, Customer Services Manager, an
d gave him the following brief: Let s examine the common grouses that consumers hav
e with servicing and product delivery. Customer servicing is an important of pro
duct delivery. It is an assurance of product performance from the manufacturer.
Since we are planning to keep our customers with us in the long run, we need to
find out what makes customers change their brands. Go out and interview 25 consu
mer durables consumers, study their experiences with their current brands and fi
nd out if they are likely to buy the brand again . Girish was also instructed to l
isten to every respondent carefully, tape-record the conversations. Then he was
to tabulate them across common issues. Tridip s logic was simple: The more we build
into our service what they want, the more difficult it will be for competitors
to eat into our marketshare.
Girish returned a month later, having executed his brief, respondents interviewe
d, conversations taped and data ready. Some responses:

Archana Tuli (Water Purifier Owner)

Very unhappy with the preventive maintenance contract from Purifo, her brand of
water purifier. No service person shows up for 10 months. And then someone just
4 months old in the company, with not much information on what to offer customer
s, turns up at Archana s place without even a prior appointment! When Archana aske
d him why nobody from the company had turned up before (as in the contract it wa
s mentioned that the company would service the purifier twice a year), the carel
ess answer of the technical service person was, You should have called the compan
y. When he came around to servicing the purifier, he dirtied up Archana s kitchen a
nd was rather clumsy too. Finally he said that one of the filters would have to
be changed and she would have to pay for it. Archana blew her top, But the service
contract clearly mentions I do not have to pay anything extra, that the company
is supposed to change it once a year FOC. She was shocked when he admitted he ha
d no clue about this. Archana was a very disillusioned customer. She could not
believe that any company could treat her so badly by sending such an untrained,
inexperienced, unaware person for a product in which she put her faith. In the
end, when she switched on the machine after servicing was over, water would not
flow. That was the last straw. She tore up the contract and shunted out the serv
ice man.
Ritikant Sharma (Credit Card Holder)
A Monet Bank credit card holder for the past 3 years and a regular payer of dues
, one month he gets his bill 10 days later than the usual 22nd with a charge of
Rs 675 for overdue interest. On complaining the manager stuck to his guns that
the statement was sent on time and that it was the Ritikant s fault. 6 letters lat
er, including one to the MD of the bank, the overdue interest was waived off but
it left a bitter aftertaste in Ritikant s mind. What about all the months when he
had paid before the due date? What about the fact that he had never defaulted b
efore? Was it not important to the bank that the customer was right? Was the Rs
675 worth all the hard feelings between the bank and the customer? With these th
oughts Ritikant picked up the letter which he had received a few days ago from a
nother credit card company to become there member. He planned to surrender the
Monet Bank card immediately.
Divya Sharma (Washing Machine Owner)
Crysta washing machine owner, Divya Sharma realized she is just a number for Cry
sta s customer service centre. 6 months ago she started complaining about problems
with her washing machine. A month ago when she called again to followup on the
old complaint she was asked to provide once again all the details. On being told
that the details have already been provided many times over, the customer servi
ce person stated that since she was just a stand-in for the regular employee, sh
e could not boot the system and so Divya would have to give her the details all
over again. Divya complained to Girish s field personnel Tell me what am I getting
for being your customer? The V-belt in the machine has been making creaking nois
es and I have complained for that also and am now told that the new vendor which
is supplying these V-belts to your company has been supplying defective goods.
That frightens me. I bought a product from a company which does not even have pr
oper QC checks in place? Why should I be your customer ever again?

The pattern Ritkant saw emerging from more such stories was that even for produc
ts that were not new to the Indian market, such as refrigerators and air conditi
oners, there was a rush merely to achieve larger volumes. None of the innovation
s introduced in the newer models was being translated into real benefits by fitt
ing them into customer s needs. For instance a four door refrigerator has a deep f
reezer section which no brand actually guides customers on how to use. Non veget
arian customers could buy and stock large quantities of meat and avoid going out
every time to buy fresh meat. But what about vegetarians? Do the deep freezers
also allow vegetables to be stocked for long periods? No brand advises on this e
ither. One finds out later that one has to invest in deep freeze boxes and zip l
ock pouches to use the deep freezer section. Couldn t the company have included th
is as a value add feature? No thought is given to what customers actually need.
Shampoos, soaps, washing machines and refrigerators, whatever the product, these
are all being offered to underdeveloped or developing market without consulting
the consumer. We just assume 2 things, Tridip felt. 1) Propensity to consume an
d 2) purchasing power exists here. There is a hunger, so feed it. Does any bran
d really think about life after sales?
Tridip came to the conclusion that a sales is not over when the cheque is receiv
ed. It is a lot more than that. A sale is a relationship that continues for the
life of the machine or product and the buyer. Customers are forever.
Discussion questions:
1. What affects consumer behavior strongly enough for people to stop buying from
a company?
2. Service is vitally dependent on people. What are some ways of ensuring good s
ervice happens?
3. Do first time buyers and second time buyers place the same emphasis on a give
n set of deliverables from a product? Discuss with examples.