Case No.

1
DIZZY TOUR
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to:

examine why tourism in India is really an infant industry with regard to this case study. identify characteristics of professionalism.

Jay ant wanted to spend his vacation touring with his family. One of the places that he had not visited was Madhya Pradesh. He sought the services of the Madhya Pradesh Tourism board. The board provided us with a guide. They also offered a Trax vehicle but one was needed to drive it or had to hire the services of a driver (the rates of hiring a driver were exorbitant). Jayant decided to drive the vehicle. This was his experience that he narrates. "I think the MP Tourism seriously needs to have a second look at its service and reconsider it in light of the potential that it can harness. I am bringing this issue as I love to travel and apart from experiencing new places I love to shoot pictures of the places I visit because that gives me a thrill when I see the pictures after few years. The picture also helps bringing the best of conversation when you are describing the place to your friends and relatives that you have visited. I have never been to Madhya Pradesh and their tourism is also not as developed as some of the other states such as Kerala, Rajasthan, J&K in but they have some of the best places which can help them promote tourism. Places such as Khajuraho temples, Amarkantak, a pilgrimage, Bandhavagarh National Park, Gwalior Forts, Mandu - the City of Joy surrounded by defences both natural and manmade, Panchmarhi-the queen of Satpuras which is known as wealth of beauty. We left Jabalpur at around 3:30 p.m. and thought that we would stop in between for a quick meal. After about 30 minutes of drive on the highway we stopped in front of a restaurant to have lunch and before getting out of the vehicle asked a gentleman till what time Den (a respectable restaurant) is open and he told us you have to be there by five.

Cases in CRM

We decided against us having lunch there and thought it would be better if we see the Beda Ghat(on Narmada river), first and have a meal once we are through with it. After reaching our destination, we were followed by all kinds of touts, guides, rickshaw drivers to tender their services. There is quite a bit of distance to cover where private cars/taxis park to reach the ghat, from thereon you either need to go walking yourself or hire an auto-riks haw. We took an autorickshaw (charged Rs. 50 for 7 adults) from there and reached there at around 5 p.m. We got the tickets (Rs. 20 per ticket) and as we were about to stand in a queue, the guide was near the queue for assistance (if we pay extra for his services). He tried his best but as there was quite a long queue, his contacts did not work. So we kept stranded in a queue for about half an hour before we got to get a view. As we entered the narrow path leading to the ghat, it became increasingly suffocating because of the humid climate as well for the crowd that was already present. Aproper system was lacking. It was a wonderful sight, but was not allowed to take pictures, as our guide (frustrated by now, made-up his own rules? not sure) did not permit us. However, later I learnt that photography in only certain sections of the ghat was not permitted. Just as we moved out of the ghat, a little further down the road we spotted Pizza Hut and decided to have a quick meal before we drove back to Jabalpur. The meal that intended to a short one took more than an hour due to a large crowd. The absence of the tourism boards' eatery facilities became very conspicuous. Feeding the guide was also our responsibility. Until now the guide was of little help to us. We rested that day and decided to move ahead to the Khajurao temples early next morning. It was a long journey and took us nearly twelve hours and we reached by 5 pm. We rested a while and went on to visit the temple site. It was marvelous. The Chandella art and architecture was at its precious beautiful. However, on enquiring about various facets, history and myths associated with the temple, our guide was found to be unwilling to assist. I had to pay him something extra to get more information. At night, we decided to have dinner at one of the restaurants suggested by our guide. The restaurant was set in a medieval setting. However, the prices of food served there seemed to be priced well beyond my expectations. Not to spoil the mood, I decided to continue with the plan of having supper here. We had a wonderful dinner, but very soon my stomach began to churn on seeing the total bill. It came to Rs. 12,000 for five people including our guide. On inspecting it further, I learnt that our guide had managed to purchase, three bottles of one litre each of whisky! It was only after returning to our lodge that I blew my head. He consumed that liquor and began to verbally abuse my family and myself. It was then that I decided to get rid of him. I approached the local Madhya Pradesh Tourism office and complained only to be told

Case 1 Dizzy Tour

that I have to pay his fees as decided, for the whole journey! Now this really irked me. Why should I pay him the whole fee, when I am disassociating him from me? I was told that it was the rule. And if I did otherwise, a police complaint could be lodged! This is where my tour ended and I returned to Mumbai. Ofcourse while returning the vehicle, I had to pay extra, for damages and wear and tear!! Questions
1. 2. 3.

What was missing in terms of CRM in this whole episode? Do you think there was a gross absence of professionalism? Suggest ways to improve professionalism with regard to CRM especially in government run organisations.

Case No. 2
THE MIDAS TOUCH
Objectives . After going through this case, you will be able to :

justify importance of culture in customer relations. state the importance of communication. _ _ -overview adaptability and innovation. explain communication.

At 92 years of age, with over 70 years of experience in the gold business, Anant Ganesh Gadgilpopularly known as Dajikaka Gadgil, the founder of PN Gadgil and Sons is the proud owner of a chain of more than fifty outlets spread out across the city of Pune, itself. They also have outlets all over the state in major cities. P.N. Gadgil and sons, the Jewellery enterprise as it is popularly known was established in the year 1832 in Sangli, a small city in Western Maharashtra. It set up shop in Pune city in the year 1958. Its initial customer base in the city was pathetically low, as it had to compete with other entrenched jewellery guilds such as the Jhaveri's, Khari Pedhi among others. Its initial customer size was retained on personal relationships. Today they have a customer base of one million in Pune city alone. On being asked how this was possible, a manager of an outlet in the heart of the city, explains " Trust is what enables us to retain and expand our customer base. In our business, breach of trust spells doom. We ensure quality and transparency. We have in many instances even sold our goods on credit to loyal customers." When this business enterprise established itself in Pune, it only specialised in gold jewellery. However, today its range spans from silver ware to diamonds and gems also. It also exports some of its products to South-East Asia and Europe. Having understood their

Cases in CRM

customer base, that is highly heterogeneous, their products reflect a mix of modern and traditional outlook. "Our society is a cauldron of cultural heterogeneity and this plurality is represented in the products that we manufacture. For instance, we have tailor made ornaments for festivals, weddings and for various other occasions. And thus, our customer base spans a spectrum ranging from traditional to modern, from Pan Indian to Pan global. We customise and tailor-make our products, ensuring customer satisfaction." In this business, the customer base is usually highly stratified in terms of income and class. Thus, catering to the lowest income group and also the economic elite requires a high level of sophistication. Moreover, the business does witness seasonal fluctuations. "To ensure accessibility to our outlets, we work on all days. This has enabled us to attract more customers. Moreover, in a fast paced city as Pune, time is vital for the customer. We endeavour to provide all facilities for the convenience of our customers." As technology allowed the scope of business to expand far beyond where it had been before, the personal connection had begun to shrink rapidly. To remedy this situation, we have developed various strategies, including the development of online surveys to query customers on their thoughts and opinions. We have trained sales personnel who are usually multilingual. We ensure that our personnel are drawn from various cultural backgrounds. With the customer at the centre of our business plans, we take extreme care not to disappoint them in any manner. "In our haste to please people and close sales, we often make promises we can not keep. We tell a customer we will deliver by 3.00 p.m. forgetting that we made a similar commitment to several other people. We promise to return a call by the end of the day but get caught up in other tasks and forget. Or, a salesperson tells a client that a back-ordered product will be available on a certain day without first confirming this. These situations end up causing us stress and strain the relationships we have developed with our customers. Customer service, like any aspect of business, is a practised art that takes time and effort to master. All you need to do to achieve this is to stop and switch roles with the customer. What would you want from your business if you were the client? How would you want to be treated? Treat your customers like your friends and they will always come back."

Case: The Midas Touch

Questions
1. 2. 3.

Is trust an important facet in this case study? Elaborate. - - - Why is good communication so important in this case study? How was this enterprise able to enlarge its customer base? Delineate its customer relations strategies.

Case No. 3
SHRI G VNGA ELECTRONICS
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to:

justify the need of proper after sales service. recognise the impact of sales promotion. ._- - ----identify the causes of drawbacks and flaws in the field CRM.

The female members of AkashDeep Society in one of the growing towns in Northern Maharashtra were enthused by the idea of witnessing a promotional demo of a leading brand of washing machine. The reason was genuine. This society was a medium sized society of 12 buildings of 16 flats each. Occupants were mostly from the middle class, and that too the salaried middle class. The style of living was generally a progressive step from the lower middle to the so called middle class. Barring a ten percent of the homes, rest all had not experienced the usage of advanced gadgets. The two representatives of Shri Ganga Electronics reached on a Saturday in the afternoon and announced that they would like to divide the group into two for better interaction and one to one communication. There were some twenty-two members gathered and by now they were enjoying within themselves. At the end of both sessions, the two representatives were sure that they would be able to crack a good deal. Their proposals to offer better freebies and the financial installments scheme and bank loans were lucrative and the comfort levels they had presented in making the whole transaction smooth were equally impressive. Also as the plumbing connections were offered free of cost, the normal post-purchase installation headache in such purchases was completely avoided. It was decided unanimously that the next meeting has to be done on the next day, Sunday noon so that the gents members could be roped in for the approvals as well as the positive conclusion. As it is, it was the start of the festive period and there was no reason for a negation considering the expected flow of money from sources as bonus and incentives etc. Also as the proposal was with financial backup without much hassles, it made all the more attractive.

10

Cases in CRM

The result was encouraging for the Shri Ganga Electronics representatives. They could bag a order for total thirteen washing machines. Eight of these were the semi-automatic ones with the twin tub and five were of the advanced logic circuits enabled that allowed a total one touch process and timer-enabled washing cycles. The formal paperwork of the financial loan proposals were through and completed in total three days and immediately the families were ready for receiving the deliveries. Deliveries were assured ex-stock and accordingly were received too. The programme was to complete all installations by Saturday evening max. All was fine and in order by Saturday evening. The deliveries were completed and the actual testing happened in presence of installation team. The members acknowledged the deliveries and successful installation on the Challan form and the deal was concluded. Next day, Mrs. Choudhary in the B-Wing Flat number 12 faced a problem in operating the machine. They had gone for the advanced automatic digilogic-xmp machine with one touch function. The water was all clogged over in the machine. The drain tube choked and the machine had stopped working. Mrs. Choudhary attempted to recall all what they had seen in the demo clipping and were told on the previous day and applied all, but that went in vain. She tried another two times and then called Mr. Choudhary for help. Things were repeated as per the manual and did not solve the problem. Mrs. Choudhary inquired at the other four members who had purchased the same variant and understood that their things were quite fine and they faced no problems. Finally, a call made to the Shri Ganga Electronics shop received a reply that on Sundays the technicians are not available and the complaint could be attended only on Monday. The representatives who had given the demo and sold the machines were courteous to understand the case but helpless as they were not able to tackle technically. They too assured of sending the technician on the next day. The Choudhary family was upset and felt their Sunday was ruined. Next day, the technician came and inspected the machine. All connections were correct and the flow was ok but still the problem persisted. A deeper inspection brought the conclusion that the cutout timers were not working and the circuit had some problem. This was beyond their normal scope of work and needed to be sent back to the Company for repair. The Choudharys were shocked. They had just got the delivery yesterday, they had not even used it once and now it needed a repair and that too at the Company Service Centre. The technician also informed that this takes minimum four weeks period as the Service Centre too had many jobs in hand and that if it is beyond local repairs it shall be sent back to the Company as it was a warranty repair. The very idea of opening the machine for investigations on the first day of purchase made Mr.Choudhary totally restless and uncomfortable. They demanded that the Dealer replaces this machine on the spot. The Dealer was not ready for the same. His point was that the particular serial number

Case 3 Shri Ganga Electronics

machine was sold and any replacement can be done only by the Company. For this, it was essential that the Service Centre first registers the complaint, attempts a rectification to the expectation of the customer and if this is not through, sends it back to the Company for further decision. Legally too the machine was in the custody of Mr. Choudhary and was under warranty for repair and replacement if the need be on total investigation. So any replacement at this stage was not possible. Mr. Choudhary then asked for a temporary replacement meaning the dealer should provide any other washing machine that the Choudhary family could use till their own one is back in order. The dealer said this never comes as part of the agreement and they cannot provide substitute for all machines that they get back for repairs. He agreed that it was unfortunate to have such experience immediately but any temporary substitute was out of question. They jointly called the Regional Sales Manager of the Company and explained him the situation and the demand by Mr. Choudhary as well as the reply from the Dealer. He was a very polite and accommodating person who listened carefully and attentively. However, he too expressed his inability to provide the solution that Mr. Choudhary expected. The only assurance he gave was to expedite the repairs process, but this failed to pacify Mr.Choudhary who openly cursed his decision to choose the product and threatened to pull both the dealer and the Company in Consumer Court. Questions
1.

Is Mr. Choudhary justified in demanding a complete on -spot replacement of the machine and why? How could the Shri Ganga Electronics Staff could have handled this situation still effectively? What policy decision is needed at Company level to take care of the first hand feedback from the front end CRM team?

2.

3.

Case No. 4
FLYING HIGH
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to:

examine the interface between trust building and customer satisfaction. find possibilities of innovation in customer satisfaction especially through the lens of modern technology.

On 1994, a Nat-west airways (NW) Boeing 747 crashed in Bobmay. This was the first major accident in more than 29 years of the airline's operations. 81 passengers, of the 179 on board, were killed. The following day, Nat-west airways announced $25,000 in compensation to the families of those who had died, to help them cover immediate expenses. When NW management discovered that it was pilot error that had caused the mishap, the airline offered an additional $350,000 per family - a figure almost five times the amount the company was liable to pay. The Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Parth Singh, said that the company took 'full responsibility' for the accident. No airline had ever before accepted full responsibility or been so generous in compensation in the case of an accident. Over the years, NW has become a role model for 'service' in the airline industry. From the very beginning, it had focused on customer satisfaction as its highest priority. It constantly brought about innovations in its service to retain its existing clients and to attract new customers. NW tried not just to satisfy its customers, but to 'delight' them. ;;:v 4 NW won many awards for its continuous efforts to maintain service standards, both inflight and on the ground. It was awarded the 'Airline of the Year' and 'Best Trans-Asia Airline' awards in 2003 and the 'World's Best Service Award' by Travel and Leisure magazine (US), in the same year. In the preceding years, it won awards in several categories suchas 'Best Long-haul Airline', 'Best First Class', 'Best Economy Class', 'BestForeign Airline' and 'Best Crisis Management'.

13

14

Cases in CRM

NW was the airline that initiated the focus on customer service in the airline industry. In 2000, in a study on airline reputation by the Reputational Institute (a private organisation researching corporate reputations) and Harris Interactive (a global Internet research firm), NW topped the list of international airlines in the categories of safety and trust, customer service and food. Analysts felt that NW's superior customer service has been the primary reason for its profitability over the years. NW was profitable right from its inception. Though its fares were higher than that of its competitors, passengers did not mind paying a premium because of its exceptional customer service. NW started off as Columbo Airlines in 1947. The airline operated services in Kathmandu, Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Singapore, Kuala Lampur, Ipoh and Penang. After the Second World War, Malayan Airlines grew rapidly, and by 1955 it flew nearly 200,000 passengers a year. The Columbo airline was renamed Nat West Airways 1973. When asked about the secret of the success of the NW airlines, Mr. Parth stated, Great customer service is the goal for every business large or small or at least it should be. Businesses depend on clients to generate sales for their products and services. When customer satisfaction is high, people are referred to a business by word-of-mouth marketing. The key to develop a growing business is to make people so satisfied with a product that they 'tell and sell' others about it. Word of mouth marketing is the best form of advertising in existence. Customer satisfaction for every sale and real testimonials are the basic building blocks of a successful business. When someone has a good experience they tell other people about it. On the other hand, when people have bad experiences they go out of their way to let everyone know. The NW airlines ensured that customer feedback was taken seriously and on a priority basis. Mr. Parth argues, "Common feedback questions are posed to get responses that will help deliver services more effectively. One way to do this is to have customers grade service and satisfaction levels based on specific aspects of the service. Another way is to provide Yes or No questions to indicate if customers want a specific service. Feedback forms can also provide a comments section to get personal evaluations from customers. These evaluations are very useful to include in marketing campaigns as testimonials from clients. For anyone who has ever gone on a luxury holiday, the thing they remember most about a trip is the way they were treated, in other words: the customer service. Of course, a vacation is the main reason for going away, but when asked by friends or family if they had a good time somewhere, and if they would do it again, the response is usually, Yes! if the service is good. Nothing gets people talking better than a smile and a great deal.

Case 4 Flying High

Product testimonials based on great experiences are the best marketing tool in the world. Doing business is not always about money. It's about relationships, building trust and offering an exceptional product at a great price."

Questions "" " '-- -"--- -.- .,.-..,...

1.

What is the role of a CEO vis-a-vis customer service with reference to this case study? Was the management's judgement misplaced while offering such ahuge sum of money to families of the air accident? How does customer feedback facilitate building trust and positive customer relations?

2.

3.

15

BIKE
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to:

justify the need of proper documentation in closing transactions. recognise the importance of inter-departmental communication. identify the causes for the lack in understanding customer satisfaction.

Today, was a dream come true day for Sanjay and Kartik as they entered the Two Wheeler Showroom GO ALL BIKE. All payments were made and they had just to take the delivery of the Motor-cycle. The showroom was literally overcrowded as it was the festive season and individuals and families thronged the reception area and lobby. Even though both were a bit tired after the daily grind in their courier office routine of the day, their enthusiasm was not less as it was the first bike of their life. They had to wait more as compared to their college friends who by now were more settled and steady with better professions and jobs. Only graduation in commerce was not enough for them to make better roads in life and this they had understood in a better way now after walking in various offices and business places to make deliveries of the couriers. The pompous atmosphere in many such places made them feel that they should have been more serious on taking at least some post graduation studies, but now it was somewhat late and not feasible for other personal reasons too. It was their inner desire to be treated honourably and respectfully as important customers. Finally, they could make some way and find a place at the receiving counter to comply the paper work formalities. The girl at the counter was quite receptive and gave a warm smile welcoming them. She asked them to produce papers of their bank hypothecation and advance payment receipts. This was a lengthy process and by the time it was completed, they were more than eager to take the possession.

Sanjay took out the list of accessories they had ordered to be fitted in the showroom itself and then asked what was the next

17

18

Cases in CRM

procedure to fulfill. They were advised to make all the payment for this too and they reached the payment counter. All was too exhausting and running between counters was never so interesting. A freshly added sparklingly silver and another jet black bike was getting ready at the delivery area to cruise with the new owner-mates, Sanjay and Kartik. A glance at both the bikes made Sanjay and Kartik forget all the pain that they had to undergo in completing the paperwork and organising for the funds provision etc. They were lucky enough to get good rhythmic registration numbers and both walked around the bike twice to see it from all the angles. The delivery department attendant came forward with a checklist of all the accessories they had ordered for fitments and started with a tick mark for all items fitted accordingly. Sanjay noticed that only the Right Hand Side mirror was fitted and the Left Hand Side mirror was not fitted. Instead a rubber cap was placed loosely on the hole provided for fitting the LHS mirror. The same was with the other bikes too. By this time the Delivery attendant had inspected the bike and filled the delivery form and placed it in front of both these boys to get their acknowledgement of taking deliveries of the bikes in proper condition and order. Sanjay asked about the LHS mirror status and they were told that the LHS mirror was not in stock so the same could not be fitted. Both went through the manual and got it reconfirmed that the LHS mirror too is a part of the standard factory fitted accessory and has to be a part of the vehicle by default. The delivery attendant was not able to reply this properly and kept repeating that there is no stock and it has not come from the factory. Sanjay demanded that they be taken to the showroom Manager to seek his help in getting the LHS mirror immediately. They were then taken to Mr. Khanna who was the manager at that delivery section. Even he responded with the same answer and suggested that if Sanjay and Kartik are so bent on taking the delivery with the LHS mirror fitted then they shall have to wait for another two days until they get the mirrors from the factory. Now this was a point they were not prepared to face. On one side the vehicle was ready and on the other this point was not getting resolved. Time also was running fast and it was already 9.00 p.m. Finally, they asked Mr. Khanna to give them in writing that the mirrors shall be made available in two days' time and then could take the delivery immediately if there was such a written assurance. The Delivery Manager expressed his limitation and said this could be only done by the GM of the Showroom. However, the GM had already left for the day at 8.00 p.m. and the only departments working were the Delivery related departments. After two - three rounds of discussions with the available staff, it was decided that the balance mirrors shall be fitted in a weeks' time after the stocks are received from the factory. However, the Dealer staff refrained from giving this in writing and the duo had no choice but to take deliveries on the trust element in mind.

CaseS Go All Bike ;,-- , ,,-:,-

To their utmost surprise, even after making three visits in a fortnight, they received only negative answers as 'stocks are awaited', 'stocks are depleted', 'factory is sending less stock', 'there is shortage of mirrors at all dealers' and so on. One evening, Sanjay had an idea in his mind. Instead of going to the Delivery Department for getting the mirrors fitted, they walked directly to the Spare Parts Counter and enquired about the mirrors. The tone was as if they intended to purchase mirrors for their bikes. The person at the counter asked the model details and immediately showed the mirror on sale and informed the price of Rs 1507- per mirror. On the stocks available, he confirmed that they had adequate stock and was willing to sell two sets to them. Sanjay and Kartik thanked them for the information and went to the delivery department for asking the mirrors where they were once responded with a stock shortage. This was the end of the patience for the duo and they banged the counter and demanded to speak to the Floor Manager and questioned how the Dealer had mirrors for sale but did not have mirrors for standard fittings. Questions
1.

Do you feel that the o veral 1 background of the customer makes a difference in closing the whole deal successfully and if yes, how ? What in your opinion would have been the right way to face such situation as a customer ? Do you think that what Sanjay did at the end was justified ? How could the Showroom Managers be trained more effectively so that they do not lose credibility in the market?

2.

3.

19

Case No. 6
TRAVEL TRAVAILS
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to:

explain how monopoly can be detrimental for effective customer care. identify how processes can be streamlined for an effective CRM.

I narrate two separate incidents I experienced as a customer with the Indian railways. One was when I had booked a train ticket from www.irctc.co.in for Delhi - Jammu - Delhi in 3-tier AC. Due to heavy rush, my return ticket was on waitlist and did not get confirmed even on the travelling date. I could not check the status of the ticket and checked it at the Jammu station only as I had just returned straight from my visit to Vaishnodevi Bhawan and Patnitop. I went to reservation counter if the ticket could be cancelled as it was still on waiting list. The official at the counter told me as this is a ticket booked from internet, I needed to cancel it from there and the payment made will be credited to my credit card/ debit card account. When I reached Delhi next day, I tried to cancel the ticket from internet, it alerted that this ticket cannot be cancelled from internet as this is i-ticket. Then I checked on the site for more details and found that e-ticket (which you print at your end can be cancelled but i-ticket which is sent to you as a normal railways printed ticket cannot be cancelled online). I called up customer care and briefed them about the issue and was told to take this ticket to any computerised booking centre, from there you get your ticket cancelled and you will be given TDR (Ticket Deposit Receipt), which further needs to be sent to Chief Commercial Manager, Northern Railways via normal post and then your account will be credited. My father went to the nearest booking centre and was told this kind of cancellation is only done at window no. 18 at New Delhi railway station. He went there and got the TDR after standing in queue for 2 hours.

21

22

Cases in CRM

After having gone through such a horrid time and still money was not refunded. What Indian Railways need to understand is that passengers book tickets online because they want to avoid queues and due to paucity of time to engage in conventional possibilities of reservation of tickets. They need to have some respect for time of their customers. If they could make cancellation of e-tickets online, it should not be that difficult to do the same for i-tickets. Just hoping that this ministry tries to improve their system of working to cause customers less agony and keep them happy but Indian Railways is a monopoly anyways... nobody bothers, customers do not have a choice. They also should give an option to customer to book return ticket online. The mismanagement is causing loss to the public and simultaneously eroding its reputation and customer base (that is when one has a alternative mode of transportation). My second experience was as pitiable as the first. I had a reservation from Bhopal to Howrah. I will label it as my worst travel experience. I could only manage to get reservation on the secondclass fare. When I boarded the train at Bhopal, I was rather taken aback when another passenger claimed that the berth belonged to him. I waited for the T.T. to come by to resolve this issue. However, it took about an hour and a half for the T.T. to come to our compartment. On having displayed my ticket, I thought the matter was resolved. However, it was learnt that my cotraveller also had a ticket for the same berth and having the same dates! How was this possible? Without admitting the fault of the Indian Railways, the T.T. fervently began making enquiries. Soon enough, I learnt that it was a mistake on my part to have booked the ticket through a travel agent (one, with whom, I have always done not only for railway travel but also for airways for the past 10 years) With so much commotion, I realised that I stood little chance to secure that berth-more so, on the principle of first come first serve basis. I had to pay that extra sum to get hold of a berth in another compartment. On the arrival of a station, I shifted only to learn to my horror that the same berth had been given to another passenger also, and that too on payment just like me! He too had a receipt that mentioned the seat number and the amount paid, though what I paid seemed higher (of course)! I frantically began searching for the T.T. only to realise that he had got off the previous station. By this time I had already traversed half the distance to Howrah. With aching muscles and joints, I was unwilling to take on the system any longer. Thankfully the passenger who was also similarly duped agreed to accommodate me. I spent the rest of my journey sitting!

Case 6 Travel Travails

Questions
1. 2.

What do these two incidents highlight? Why is it that even after such advancement in communication technology, we continue to suffer in the area of CRM? Is it a lack of professional culture that can account for such incidents? Why is monopoly detrimental to an effective CRM? Suggest ways to improve this system.

3. 4. 5.

Case No. 7
FUN - SPOT ^^\
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to: <.....,

evaluate reasons for high levels of customer retention examine how training and managerial skill can infuse a 'work is play' philosophy within the organisations employees

This is a story that Mr. Chavan narrated relating to his customer experience. The other day I overheard a unique conversation. This conversation took place between a patron and an employee of the restaurant. The patron, obviously a regular customer of the restaurant, was commenting on how he did not understand the success of 'Casata' restaurant chain that specialises in pastries and ice creams. "How can a company be so successful by charging Rs. 100 for a cone of ice-cream when a person can buy the same drink for Rs. 10 from the corner shop restaurant," he asked. The employee warmly smiled back and said,"Idon't know ". After a few more minutes of conversation, the two waved to each other and said their good-byes. It was at this moment that I started to smile because the answer to the patron's question was staring him in the face, he was just too blind (or too close) to see it. The answer is great customer relations. An old friend of mine, who worked at Casata, told me that employees are instructed during training to remember the regulars' names and to be friendly and energetic towards everyone. Thus, the employees help produce a friendly, casual atmosphere. So friendly that many people rather meet their friends at Casata than at their own homes. Casata employees are generally very helpful as well. Customers usually come as a family. The employees take to entertaining the younger lot, so that the elders can have time for conversation. I have seen customer after customer ask employees how to make their favourite pastries at home. Every employee asked has always taken the time to thoroughly

25

Cases in CRM

describe the process and has never said, "Sorry, I'm too busy". 1 have even seen employees give free helpings to regular customers especially so to their tiny customers! A memorable incident that I can never forget, dates to a couple of months back. This was the time when the world cup (cricket) was being played. On that particular day was a match between India and Pakistan. Some of the teenage and even middle age cricket fans requested the staff to provide a T.V. screen so that they can tune in to the latest. The concerned employee, conveyed this message to the Manager. The Manager did try to get a T.V. screen, but in vain. However, not one to give in, he arranged for the cricket fans to be accomodated and served food in the conference room that had an LCD facility. This was connected to his laptop which through some techincal assistance, turned into a mini movietheatre! ,>-,. The management used this occasion as an opportunity to make a really lasting impression on their clientele. Most customers are much more loyal if they've had a satisfactory experience. Casata knows how to keep its customers happy. They offer every person who enters one of their stores an opportunity to place membership. The membership is lifetime and only has a one-time charge of Rs. 500 during signup. When one becomes a member of Casata, the store sends you a 10% refund on all of your purchases at the end of the year. The refund can go towards any purchase at its stores or one can even exchange it for cash! Casata doesn't stop there. They give back to the community by supporting hundreds of local efforts to promote primary education especially for street children, cleanliness drives, traffic education etc. The Casata stores partner with local groups to improve local areas through participatory learning. By partnering 1 don't mean they make a contribution to the group, even though they do that too. I mean that store employees get together in groups and go out to do the work themselves. Their stores may not have reached an international status, yet, but they have taken off in India. So what makes them special? If ever you get the chance, do visit one of their stores. Just take a look at their website to get a flavour for what they do. They are systemised. They work to a system. The shops are always immaculately presented. Often in spectacular contrast to their neighbours. Their people are bright, energetic and full of smiles. Casata, regularly features in lists of the best companies to work for. Their sandwiches, cakes and ice creams are extraordinary. Just reading about how they make their products is enough to convince you. ' Visit a few of their stores and you start to see some of the systems in operation. Basic s for how the stores will look. What materials do we use to help keep them clean

*i

Case 7 Fun - Spot

and make them easy to maintain? How to layout the store to make it easy for people to select their food, pay for it and take it away? How should our sandwiches be displayed and what type of cups are we going to use? Speak to some of their people. Find out about what you'd have to do to get a job at Casata. Find out about the morning briefings that cause the team to come running into work, laughing and punching the air. Find out about the mystery shopper programmes and the incentive programmes. These things do not just happen by accident. They don't just happen occasionally. They happen consistently, time and again. The result is that the customers know exactly what to expect. Fast and friendly service, superb food, great ambience, and most of all their inherent desire to delight the customer. Questions What are the strategies employed by the Casata chain to ensure customer loyalty? How important is brand name for business? Has Casata achieved this objective? How important is training as a component in customer relations management? Can you suggest, how to improve customer relations at the Casata stores?

1. 2. 3. 4.

27

SUPER-SP MALL
Objectives
After going through this case, you will be able to :

justify the need of proper clarity on internal co-ordinations. recognise the importance of attitude from front end staff. identify the causes of lack in the cross-grid of communications.

Ronak and Aditi had planned to pay a visit to the newly opened Super-SP Mall just some one kilometre away from their home. Reading in the Newspapers and watching on the local channels had made them aware that this Super-SP Mall had started with a big bash and bang in the last month. Being the 5th of its kind in the State and the 17* Nationwide, the media exposure too had been exhaustive. A lot was said and heard about the range on display and sale and the most competitive prices offered. Virtually, every alternate day there used to be a promotional brochure with beautiful layout circulated freely with daily newspaper copy. Naturally, all this had aroused the curiosity of Ronak and Aditi and they decided to celebrate this week end by spending some time in the Super-SP Mall followed by a dinner and a movie for their seven year old daughter, Neha. Parking their car in the virtually full parking Ronak and Aditi walked up the stairs. Every corner was spick and span, and flooded with products on display. Tall Showcases in a neatly organised manner were lined up along the wall sides. One full of cosmetic and healthcare items, other with dress up accessories and so on. The three storeyed mall was all glittering and shining in lightings and reflections. Attendants in bright red coloured dresses wearing polished belts and bearing name plates on their overcoats placed on every ten feet distance were on their alert and ready to assist quickly. Overall, the complete atmosphere was young and pleasant. As a usual habit, Aditi insisted to go around all the three floors, have a look at all commodities and then decide to start adding to the basket. Both hailing from middle-class families, they

29

Cases in CRM

never felt like squandering on show-off items and had an inherent attitude of being choosy and selective. In fact, at the back of their mind ,they had always owed the credit of their success in IT and Bio-Medical careers to the studious middle-class environment in which they were born and brought up. In nine years of their married life, Aditi too had been groomed by the habits of Ronak of being particular in checking the details of the product manufacturer, date of manufacturing and weight, MRP etc. Slowly this also was becoming a way of purchase for their daughter Neha. Also they both had an unanimous opinion that they should not lose opportunity to buy any product of any reputed Company offering any freebie or with offer as 'buy one get one free' etc. The reason was simple - No Good Company offers schemes round the year. Schemes are only for a particular period, either to boost sales, or to compensate for less sales in previous month or quarter, to clear stocks for various reasons as change in packing, launch of the next version in same category or even just to promote the brand. Being ardent believer of this theory, this young couple literally hunted for such product in every showcase. Having completed the stroll on all three floors Aditi started picking one by one product and gradually their basket started getting heavier. Mused with the surroundings, Neha too started picking products and insisting her mama to buy for her. Seeing them busy on their own Ronak started watching for new items and his eyes fell on the board 'Buy One get Two Free' and just next to it 'Buy One get One Free'. Reaching near to it he saw that those were Aluminium foils from two different companies displayed under respective boards and bundled together in rolls of three and two with cello tapes. Thinking that Neha can have better fresh wrapped food in her school lunch breaks he called both Aditi as well as Neha and asked their opinion. Neha jumped happily, not because she was aware of the retention of nutritional values in the food in such packing but just because she recalled she had eaten some stuff from these kinds in her recent air journey and also her two friends carried tiffin in such packing. Aditi and Ronak decided to buy the 'Buy One Get Two Free' pack from 'SU-wrap' priced at Rs 48/- per roll. Curiously Ronak compared the two Companies and found that the length of the rolls in every pack was same- 9 meters and the other company "Keep-O-Fresh" offering ' Buy One get One Free' priced at Rs 46/- per roll, too was an equally reputed Company. Ronak being an analytical programmer by profession just compared within a flash of a second and was surprised to think how Aluminium foils of same length and weights can be sold at so varied rates. To satisfy this query, he called the Super-SPMall attendant nearby and asked to clarify. The Super-SP Mall attendant read the details and still confirmed that it was just a promotional offer and the 'Buy One Get Two Free' was their Store Offer. Ronak picked one set of the same and added to Aditi's basket. By then, they had packed for the day and left towards the billing section.

I1*
30

T
CaseS Super-SP Mall -.-vr.

The queue at the billing was long and tiresome. All four counters had same load and rest customers too seemed to be bored, waiting anxiously for their turn to come. Finally, the billing person started with Aditi's basket. One after the other item was held in front of the bar-coding machine and the item details and rates kept flashing with beep. As it came to the Aluminium foils wrapping, the person at the billing counter said to Ronak, "Sir, all these shall cost Rs. 487each and you shall have to pay for three of these to Rs. 144/-". An astonished Ronak told that this is as per their offer on the board and also packed as three together with the tape and so the price has to be Rs. 48/- for all together and not individually. The Billing person entered in different mode and said " No Sir, there is no such offer - there are two companies and the other has one over one free -1 think you have lifted wrongly". By this time Ronak was fuming with anger and he blasted saying " I strongly object the phrase 'lifted wrongly'. We have come for buying and willing to pay, you have displayed products for sale and have given offers to boost sales. Now if you want to go back on the offer and use such language, I shall refrain from any purchase. Also call your attendant Ganesh, who confirmed that this is the current offer". Questions Comment with your observations about the overall environment in the mall. What in your opinion wou Id have been the right way to handle the problem and how? List out some concrete changes in attitude that can help to avoid such situations.

1. 2. 3.

31

o. 9
.OSING OUT
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to:

evaluate, human component in customer relations. examine the importance of mannerism and trust for good customer relationship.

We are not sure that companies generally think of customer service as a measure of their corporate responsibility. Customers are key stakeholders and how one treats them speaks volumes about the kind of company. All this is to say that customer service is an important component of any company's corporate responsibility profile. Below is my experience in air travel. My father had been ill these past few months necessitating several trips back and forth to Mumbai (from Kolkata). I was generally airline agnostic on these trips, going with the airline that offered the best fare, given the short notice, though I tried to fly United because I am enrolled in the United Mileage Plus program. I generally like to fly Jet whenever I go to Mumbai, because it is usually pretty inexpensive and usually on time. But Jet does not offer a designated 'compassionate' fare, and so it has not always been an option these past few months. United does have a 'compassionate' fare that they offer in cases of family illness or death. So, on one trip, I used United and on another I used Jet - it was just cheaper to do it that way. The last thing you want to do when dealing with illness (or death) is try to fight your way through travel arrangements. So it's nice that United makes it less of an expense. As I recently found out, as long as your loved one does not get sick or die around a major holiday, it is relatively hassle-free. Sadly, my father passed away last Friday (June 22). My family is planning a memorial ceremony for him next Sunday (July 1) in Central Park, Kolkata. Over this past weekend,

33

34

Cases in CRM

my sister and I made our travel arrangements back to Kolkata - she from Delhi, I from Mumbai. A customer service representative answered my call at the United. (I did not get his name). I explained my situation and told him the dates I needed to travel (leave Mumbai on Friday, return on Monday, to complete some formalities of the hospital). Unfortunately, due to the upcoming holiday, there were no flights available at all that qualified for the compassionate fare on the dates I needed to travel. I tried to explain to the agent about the ceremony planned for Sunday and that my travel dates are simply not flexible. He assured me there was absolutely nothing he could do. I started to question United's 'compassion'. It seemed like they were only compassionate on slow travel days! That did not seem quite right so I did what any pushy individual would do and I asked to speak to a supervisor. The representative got his supervisor, Mr. Patel on the line. After explaining my situation again, Mr. Patel agreed to over-ride the system and put me on the flights I needed for the relatively inexpensive fare. I was thrilled. If I had booked the flight online it would have been about thrice as much. Next I asked Mr. Patel if he could help me book my sister's ticket, too, on the same dates. He looked up flights from Delhi into Kolkata and informed me that nothing was available on those dates for the compassionate fare. 'Can you over-ride the system.again?' I pleaded, 'I will only do it one time. I already helped you once,' was his response. I didn't understand. Is there a limit on how many times the customer service representatives can help the same passenger? I pressed him, explaining again that we could not help the timing of our father's passing and could he please do whatever he could to get my sister on a flight. He refused. So, I asked if I could speak to his supervisor - maybe there was someone else who could over-ride the system. This is where it got bad. Mr. Smith proceeded to inform me that he has no supervisor. He is the final authority in that call centre on customer service and he was done helping us. I pressed him on this assertion - it seemed unlikely to me that he was the last stop on the customer service train. So what did he do? He told me that not only was he not going to help me further, he was now going to void the flight he already made for me because I clearly did not appreciate the help he was willing to provide and - get this - he was insulted. Um...what? I managed to talk him out of this, although principally, I think I was not at fault. With no help forthcoming from United, my sister called Jet. She already had a ticket on Jet from Delhi to Kolkata for later in July. It was a rewards ticket (read: free) that she had

Case 9 Losing Out ,...;.... ^

booked for later in July because we expected my father to still be alive and we were planning to visit him then. Usually Jet Blue charges a Rs. 3000 change fee plus the difference in airfare when you change your flight. In this case, the difference in airfare was a lot because the other ticket was free and our travel dates fell on a 'holiday weekend.' As we had already learned on a previous trip to Kolkata, Jet does not offer a compassionate or bereavement fare. Not to mention when my sister reserved the other ticket, they told her that because it was a reward ticket, it could not be modified in any way. In spite of all this, she called. Just in case, she got straight to the part and asked for the manager, because she knew it was a special case and she didn't want to waste any time. A woman named Seema came on the line and asked how she could help. My sister told her the whole situation our dad's passing, her previously scheduled flight later in the month, her financial constraints. She also said that she understood Jet policies but hoped they could make an exception. Seema verified all my sister's information, called the hospital to verify my father's passing, and then changed my sister's flights. Just like that. For free. She didn't charge the Rs. 3000 change fee, or the difference in airfare. She didn't threaten my sister and she didn't lie to her. She just helped. She was compassionate. She did her best to help a customer in need. I wanted to call United, cancel my trip and book it on Jet, if only to give them my business. Unfortunately, I really couldn't afford to do that because the flight from Mumbai would have been about Rs. 5000 more than the United. But I can assure you that I will do my best to never fly on United again if I can avoid it. And for sure, when there is a choice between United and Jet, I will choose Jet every time. The stark contrast between the way United handled our situation and the way Jet handled it illustrates the impact corporate responsibility can have on customer loyalty and therefore its long-term business success. United - by way of Mr. Patel - made an indelible impression on me, one that is likely to fundamentally change my behavior when it comes to air travel. I intend to use up my miles on a trip this year and then get rid of my Mileage Plus credit card. And when I travel on payment, I will not fly United (as long as I have other reasonable choices). Jet has also created a customer for life in my sister. She signed up for the 'Blue miles of Jet' rewards program and has told the story to anyone and everyone who will listen. She wants to make sure Jet remains successful so that it can continue to offer a different kind of customer experience.

35 Cases in CRM

Questions 1) Do you support the author's view regarding the treatment meted out to him by the United employees? If yes, Why?

36

2. 3.

What would have been a suitable stand of Mr. Patel of the United in such a situation? Comment on the delegation of power (regarding Ms. Seema's quick response) in both instances. Does delegation and decentralisation of power and authority to employees ensure better customer satisfaction?

use No. 10
SPDP BANK
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to: ;..

justify the need of recording sequence of deal ings as customer. recognise the importance of empowering helpline to be effective. identify the causes of leaving customer dissatisfied in spite of proper systems.

Mr. Tarun Anand along with Mrs. Sheetal Anand were proudly looking at their well-furnished flat. Mrs. Sheetal Anand was more than delighted as they walked across the kitchen. The Interior Designer had not only followed their suggestions but had constructively contributed to make the kitchen more comfortable and user-friendly. All gadgets were of elite class and renowned brands. Mrs. Anand was just expecting one more addition in it, a microwave oven. It so happened that Sheetal had suggested a replacement of their old oven and as a wife usually puts forth a demand, had very sweetly opened this dialogue with Tarun in the late evening one Sunday. Incidentally, Tarun was browsing the net for some information at that time and he came across a pop-up advertisement from SPDP Bank. As Tarun himself had his savings bank account as well as Credit Card SPDP Bank, his eyes glued on the advertisement automatically. The advertisement said 'Banking with SPDP has been more rewarding now. SPDP announces premium schemes for Premium Card Holders which entitled the holders for redeeming their Reward Points accumulated on the Card with added advantage'. Out of sheer curiosity, Tarun opened the Banks' website to gather more details. The offer was truly interesting. Couple of new products were added to the list and now the customers had a wide range to make a good choice. The list contained, gift vouchers, apparels, kids items, books and music store offers, appliances and so on. Sheetal too joined him and to her surprise her most wanted item of the day - the microwave oven too was in the list. They opened the full description of the product and saw that it

39

40

Cases in CRM

really was a lovely item. Equipped with latest features and perfectly elegant looks, and coupled with very lucrative redemption offer, this product belonged to an International Brands Stable. It was on a redemption of 3799 reward points and handling charges extra at Rs 100/- each per item. Tarun quickly checked his last monthly statement of SPDP Bank Credit card where the accumulated points had crossed 4000 mark already. As it was a 'free-for-life' card he had no reason to retain any points for the annual subscription also and so when Sheetal suggested to opt for this item, Tarun lifted the phone immediately to place the request on the 24-hour Credit Card helpline. Complying all the verification formalities, Tarun placed the order for this redemption. Yashada, the girl at the helpline desk briefed Tarun that the normal time period is four weeks but could be reduced in case the items on demand are available exstock. SPDP B ank had a procedure of intimating the despatch to the customer in advance so as to facilitate the transaction. Tarun repeated all details twice to avoid any telephonic error and concluded the call with a warm bye-bye. ,, Since then five weeks had passed and the the oven did not reach them. The corner position in the Lshaped platform was vacant and Sheetal felt it was high time to remind SPDP -Card Division on this delivery. Tarun called the Bank Help Line and was told to call back on the third day as they wanted two working days to forward the query to their National Head Office at Chennai. Tarun noted the day and date and the helpline officer's name as a usual part of his habit. The third day he called and learnt that the oven was already despatched and they should get it any time. The Helpline officer also asked him to check for a letter referred as SPDP/RWP/PNA/0702 sent a week ago intimating the despatch. Unaware of receipt of such letter, Tarun checked with Sheetal and she too was unable to trace any such. On a subsequent telecall to the Help Line to ask the courier details, they again wanted a buffer of two days to get the information from Chennai. This was beyond Tarun to digest that everything was said by the Bank to be online and in reality every information took enduring period to conclude. Still keeping his cool, he called once again after two days and got the courier docket details. But the real shock was yet to come. The courier person said that the oven has been resent to Chennai, but the reason could be told only when the field delivery boy will be back in the evening. The whole investigation led to the fact that the Chennai office had not given the telephone number of the consignee i.e. Tarun Anand. The standard instruction from the Courier Head Office in case of handling such deliveries for this SPDP Bank was that either the consignee calls the courier office to claim the delivery or the courier office calls the consignee to inform the delivery and confirm the availability to execute this physically. In this case, as the letter was not received by Tarun they could not call. So, there was no

Case 10 SPDPBank :

contact from the consignee side. The Courier office worked in the framework and as there was no telephone number they did not call and as there was no call from Tarun they waited for fourteen days and returned the consignment to the Company. This was their cargo division and they disowned any association with the documents division that was supposed to deliver the letter to Tarun informing the delivery. The document division said that the letter meant for Mr. Tarun Anand was never received at their end and so they were at no fault at all. The Helpline division of the SPDP Bank said as usual that they will forward the complaint to the Chennai Head-Office and if Tarun gives in writing the consignment can be called back afresh. Waiver of the Handling Charges for the consignment returned to Chennai also could be decided on by the Chennai Head Office and this could take seven working days. They did not forget to say a 'have a nice day' in spite of the frustrating experience Tarun was undergoing with total two weeks of followup with different agencies.

Questions ,.-,.,, -.-..... ..,,.....,.

1.

Are the expectations of Mr. Tarun Anand, as a corporate customer, fulfilled and if not why? Who should be blamed for the whole confusion and why?

2.

3) What steps should the Bank take to regain the confidence of such customers and retain them for long ?

41

THE FORCE NAMED 'SALES FORCE'

Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to :

illustrates the situation that almost every company goes through during its 'growth' lifecycle stage. explain the concept of Sales Force Automation by depicting a non-automated sales situation. state inherent reasons for evolution of SFA.

As a National Manager at Trust Insurance Pvt. Ltd. (TIL), Anupam had tread his way up, with much difficulty, through every major obstacle at TIL. Today, while preparing for evening board meeting, Anupam figured out that in some of the areas, situation was slipping out of their hands. Competition in the Indian Insurance Industry, especially from newly entered private players, was making striking inroads into some of their stronghold segments. Given the muscle power and big plans of new players, Anupam had expected some customers to switch over to the newbies. However, all this was happening too fast and that too, worriedly, on a much bigger scale. "Anupam, at all costs we must arrest this massive outflow of customers to competition," insisted Sanjay Agnihotri, CEO, TIL. After a stupendous growth of nearly 400% in the last fiscal, along with stiff competition and margin pressures, TIL was even facing problems internally. Systems and processes, monitoring and control of Sales Force activities were off late turning into bigger issues. Anupam blinked and started at the computer screen again. The Progress reports from all parts of the country, region wise should have been sent to his e-mail id. These reports were for his perusal and further planning. By all measure, the bi-monthly reports should have been in his inbox at least an hour back. However, he was shocked to see no sign of reports from Northern and Southern regions. Also the Microsoft Excel report sheets receivedfaomNsfesVem and YLasVem tenons wete not as pet VVve 'format' sevvtb^ \vvm\ast

43

44

Cases in CRM

night. As this information was to be used for his evening presentation, Anupam wanted all regions to send their individual data in one single structured format. Calls to Western and Eastern Regional Managers, made him realise that the regional teams had sent their reports before opening Anupam's mail in the 'latest' format. The regional teams were now compiling last two months data as per the 'new' format and assured him that it will be sent across soon. The other two regions were the ones where Anupam faced bigger problems. In the last three quarters, North and South regions have been showing growth rates far lower than the rest of the country, primarily because of intense rivalry in these regions between TIL and its close competitors. These sales teams were thereby facing pressure on both ends; one being the marketend where new entrants were snatching customers and the other was internal i.e. the companyend where the seniors were additionally 'pressurising' by closely monitoring their activities and results. Samuel, Regional Manager, South was unhappy with the way the company was operating internally. Last week, he and Anupam had an argument over the 'non-constructive' activities his sales team was getting into. Samuel was of the opinion that collating and sending data, making reports and projections were 'non-sales' functions and should be done, not by sales executives, but by some 'back-office' staff. His request for manpower in office for such 'data' related work repeatedly fell on deaf ears. On the other hand, Anupam believed that every salesperson should manage his/her own business and thus conduct all possible analyses. Samuel obviously did not agree to his point. Regarding the pending report, Anupam called up Samuel. "Anupam, some of my sales guys are working on 'your' report. In an hour or so, it will be sent across", confirmed Samuel. Anupam couldn't tolerate Samuel's lackadaisical attitude, "Samuel, you do know the urgency of this report. Why didn't you assign this task to 'all' your salespeople? It would have got o ver by no w", questioned Anupam. It was time Samuel gave out his piece of mind. "Honestly, I find this entire situation strange Anupam. In last few months, almost 50% of my sales teams' time has been spent in office doing 'non-sales' work like data entering and data analysis. Reasonably, how can you, and even me, expect the 'stretched' targets to be met by them when they are made to sit in front of computers for such data work, especially when competition is out there in the market snapping our customers? Anupam was amused to hear such remarks "How can you belittle the importance of reports and analysis which have been our proven strengths so far?"

Case 11 The Force Named'Sales Force' ;. :,< : ,. .

Samuel replied, "Anupam I am not against reports. My sole point is, sales function employees are trained to be closer to customers so that they understand them well and meet their targets. 'Non-sales' activities like data entering, report making and forecasting should be done by other people with minimum inputs from the sales force. In fact, our sales force should be the 'user' of these reports than 'maker' of them. The day 'we' start sending these reports to our sales force on a regular basis, our guys will get required support from within to fight it out in the market. That's the least we can do in response to our competitors' 'Sales Force Automation' suites." Anupam could vaguely recall some concepts of SFA learned in a workshop held couple of months back. "How is this remotely related to a software called as SFA?", he thought. He ended the debate "Samuel, your outlook suggests as if 'we all' are working for your Sales force and not, as I believe, the other way round. By the way, I want your region's report sent to me within half an hour".
Questions

1. 2.

What according to you are the possible root causes of problems at TIL? Reading the comments of Anupam and Samuel, whom do you agree with? Why?

45

Case
FURNITURE MARKETING

Objectives
After going through this case, you will be able to:

evaluate the changes i n marketing strategy that accompanies transformation of roles of a customer as a'passive'consumer to that of an'active'actor. examine why CRM is gaining importance in the contemporary 'customer centric' market.

assess the role of a customer in shaping market demand, with respect to this case.

What was the product being offered by Bhosle and Company? Bhosle and Company is one of the firms in Kolhapur which is in the furniture industry. It employs 100 people. Shri. Bhosle started this firm in 1973.The firm sells high priced custom made furniture. The market is relatively small; its profitability is very high. In 2003, after the death of the proprietor, his son predicted the boom in the furniture industry and decided to expand. He purchased another furniture industry in 2004 and doubled its production capacity.

What was the functioning of the sales department of the company?

Sales have traditionally been carried on by a very limited number of high class furniture outlets and company salesmen. The company has complete control over both marketing and production processes. The company has small inventory and has printed some catalogues to furniture stores and to individual interior decorators. The company has also a small showroom at Kolhapur. They participate in exhibitions all over Maharashtra. The salesmen are paid very high salary, but the proprietor feels that high selling expenses are necessary to maintain top image of the firm's line of products.

47

48

Cases in CRM

What proposed strategy would Mr. Bhosle want to adopt to withstand the changing conditions of the market? Mr. Bhosle, the proprietor is considering the possibility of changing marketing structure. The channels of distribution can be two tiers or one tier distribution system. One tier distribution system can be direct, from the manufacturing company of Mr. Bhosle to the company showroom directly from where the consumers can purchase the furniture. Other distribution system can be company manufacturing unit to the dealer from where the customer can purchase the furniture. , Three tier distribution system can be company's manufacturing units to the different showrooms and furniture shops where these showroom owners and furniture shop owners can sell their brand to the customers. Many agents have been offering agency in different parts of Maharashtra, but he has rejected offers as he feels he will lose control on marketing. A customer relations department at the head office to monitor the transactions with their customers; their basic functions are as follows:

Maintain a database of present customers and their purchases Maintain a complaint register To understand the needs of the customer for customisation a customer relationship manager should be appointed

What is the fear of Mr. Bhosle distribution plan? However, two large showrooms in Mumbai have recently contacted him in reference to handling his product. Both showrooms offered to sell the products of the company in Mumbai and sub-urban areas and have agreed to show substantial sales in all furniture items manufactured by Mr. Bhosle and Co. Mr. Bhosle has spoken with his Factory Manager and Sales Manager and has asked them to come to his office to discuss all possibilities. Various showrooms and furniture stores want to purchase furniture from Bhosle and sell with their label on it, but Mr. Bhosle is reluctant, as he feels that once he sells the furniture to these people he would not be in a position to market the furniture as he wants and according to the customers' needs. - s Still some showrooms from Mumbai like Akbarali have approached Mr. Bhosle and offered him to sell almost all the furniture. His main fear is that agents will not pay any attention to

Case 12 Furniture Marketing

the customisation aspect. Mr.Bhosle has thought of Sales Managers in the marketing department of his organisation which is a new development within his company. He could consult Sales Mangers and Factory Managers in regards to the sale of furniture to showrooms like Akbaralis from Mumbai and other areas of Mumbai. Questions
1. 2.

What do you think could be the customer relations solution for this situation? How would you help Mr. Bhosle succeed with his customer orientation aim?

49

A GOVERNMENT RUN HOSPITAL

Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to:

identify and examine the various customer perceptions (stereotypes). assess the processes that can dispel such embedded stereotype perceptions. analyse the reasons for motivation of the service provider.

I am a government servant employed by the Maharashtra State services. My foot had been sore for a couple of weeks and it wasn't getting better. I usually would ignore that, but I was about to leave on a two-week vacation (annual vacation) with my wife Neeta to Konkan to celebrate our 10th anniversary. I was strongly urged by my doctor to see a specialist at the Sassoon hospital (Government hospital) .. I narrate my experience as a customer at a government run hospital. I am politically sympathetic to the idea of a government-supported system but it was another thing to actually go to the emergency room of a state run hospital. After all, I had heard the horror stories-long waits in incompetent, dirty, and substandard medical facilities; bad doctors and faulty diagnoses; and, of course, incredible bureaucracies. So I prepared myself. I brought a big Marathi novel to read, along with my eyeglasses, a bottle of water (no telling what they would not have in such hospitals), and emotionally steeled myself for the ordeal. The waiting room was actually quite peaceful and not crowded, I noticed, as I walked up to reception. The woman at the reception desk smiled. I didn't expect that. 'Can I help you?' 'Yes,' I replied, "You see, I am a government employee (Section officer at the District Collector office) and I have a sore foot, which I normally wouldn't worry about but we are going for two weeks on vacation, and I was advised to come here.

51

Cases in CRM

"What do you need from me?" I asked hesitantly. "Just your name and address," she replied with another smile. She told me it would take about 10 minutes to see the nurse. I settled into the waiting room chair, looked around at all the people who didn't seem to be in any distress, and opened my book for a good long read. It was five minutes before the nurse called me into a little office adjacent to the waiting area, which seemed to be an intake room. She was pleasant and professional as she asked me what was wrong, and how long I had felt the soreness. She gently examined my foot and then told me I would be called in to see a doctor in about 10 minutes. "Sure thing," I thought. So I went back to the waiting room and settled in again to read my novel. ; It was five minutes before a young woman appeared and called my name, "Mr. Kadam ? " She was a young doctor (maybe a newly passed out M.B.B.S student, on probation from the adjacent medical college- BJ Medical College). She was also very pleasant and professional, taking time to ask me lots of questions about how I might have hurt my foot, etc. She examined the injured foot carefully, told me that it didn't necessarily look broken, but that we should get an X-ray to make sure. I waited in her examining room for a couple of minutes while she called down to the X-ray department to say that I was on the way. Then she came back and escorted me herself. When I got to X-Ray, I checked in by just saying my name and took a seat in the waiting area. Finally, I was going to get to read my book! But five minutes later, the technician came out to bring me in. She took her time with me, taking several different angles of my foot. When I was done, she sent me back to my young doctor, with another smile. This time the wait was a full ten minutes because, I later learned, the doctor was reading the results of my X-ray, which had already been sent to her computer. She showed me what looked to her like a fracture of my fourth metatarsal bone, but said she wanted to consult with the orthopedic specialist. I waited about ten minutes more while she did that and so got a few more pages read. She then came back with the definitive diagnosis-my fourth metatarsal bone was indeed fractured. She went over their preferred treatments. Normally, if this injury had just happened, they would put me in a cast to hold the broken bone in place and give me crutches. They were still happy to do that now. But since I had been already walking on it for over a week and the bone was still in the right place, I could also have the option to just use a therapeutic soft boot to keep the weight on my heel and off my fourth and fifth metatarsals. While the fracture was at the base of the fourth metatarsal, as she carefully explained and showed me on the X-ray, the pain was being felt lower down-across both my fourth and fifth metatarsals area. If I chose the boot, I could still swim and get around

s n

c
r
2)

3) 4)

52

Case 13 A Government Run Hospital

a little easier, but I would have to really try to keep my weight off the injured area. I chose the boot and she told me she would be back in a minute. It was actually about two minutes before she got back, and I was getting nowhere with this novel. She handed me a very stylish black boot (so much better than other colours for fashion coordination), and gave me my final instructionsbe very cautious about the foot, try to stay off it as much as possible but keep it mobile and flex it so the blood circulates, and also to consult with my home physician. Then she wrote me a nice long letter for my home doctor, describing their diagnosis and treatment. She then wished me the best of luck, hoped I would have a great vacation despite my foot, smiled, and sent me back to the front desk. "How can I call a Rickshaw?" Tasked. "Oh, I'11 do that for you," she said. "Just take a seat over there and the Rickshaw will be here in about 10 minutes." As I sat there, I realised something. Nobody had ever asked me to pay. Everything was free, including my nice new boot. How about that? Why do we think health care is a right for well to do citizens alone? Amazing. The cab came in 5 minutes. I was back home in just over an hour from when I left-with my letter, my boot, and my tale of smiling, pleasant, and efficient health care workers. In about six weeks, I too will spring back to work, thanks to a government run hospital! In the meantime, I will keep my foot up ... and maybe get that novel read.
Questions
1. 2.

What are the processes that lead to stereotype customer perceptions? Why are government run organisations always seen in bad light as regards customer service and consumer rights? What does this case tell us about 'breaking' stereotypes? Suggest ways and methods to promote a customer friendly ambience in public organisations.

3. 4.

53

Case No.
THE ECONOMIC WITHIN THE SOCIAL
Objectives
After going through this case, you will be able to:
provide a solution to Saif as regards the pricing strategy for poultry farmers keeping

in view the customers. __ __

What is the social responsibility of Saif?

Saif runs a medium sized poultry in a Taluka place. He had attended a certificate course in poultry and hatchery. Saif, a promising youth, acquired his education in poultry and hatchery. He employs all the efficient and modern techniques of poultry keeping in his business.Being social conscious, he has trained almost all the poultry operators in the taluka.

What is the outcome of the training provided by Saif?

As a result of the training, all of them work under hygienic conditions and employ economic methods of poultry management like subsidies on poultry feed and medicines which have resulted in the reduction of costs. Formation of Co-operative society was also possible.

How do the members sell their produce?

All the members have to sell their produce to the co-operative society. They in turn have to sell the products to the consumer through this retail outlet. The co-operative is governed by people who are focused on profit maximization whereas Saif knows that reduction in costs should result in reduction in price.

What was the suggestion made by Saif to the Co-operative society?

Saif knows that by means of competitive pricing, the market can be expanded. But the cooperative society will not agree.

55

56

Cases in CRM

What traditional view were the members of the co-operative society stuck up with?
These people being inspired by the profit maximization as their motto do not like the views adopted by Saif. So Saif being disappointed by the attitude of the members of co-operative society thinks of getting the help of of "local Grahak Manch" in order to pressurise the members and try to maintain the interest of the poultry operators by preventing their exploitation. They fear that they will not have customers for their products.

What is Saif's fear?

Secretly, Saif is curious to know what the local Grahak Manch(consumer forum) will be doing about this. He wonders if they will pressurise the co-operative in accepting lower profits. Saif believes that if such a thing happens it will be good for poultry keepers.

Questions ~~
1.

Who among the value chain needs to be convinced about the proposal made by Saif? What according to you should be the customer relationship approach for success?

2.

Case 14 The Economic within the Social

NOTES

57

Case No. 1
SSM TEXTILE MILL
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to:

explain the present status of Textile Industry. overview the major issues faced by the company. What are the salient features of the Textile Industry?

Textile industry is one of the oldest industries in India. Several business houses have their origin in this industry. In the mid 80s, the power loom sector suffered a major set back due to the vested interests of the textile mills of the organised sector. While the power looms sold cloth as a commodity, the mills tried to establish their products as brands. The post liberal isation period has seen emergence of large number of foreign brands in the country. It is in this scenario that Safire spinning mills (SSM) had to carve out a place for itself. What is the present status of SSM? SSM is the flagship company of the MNJ Bikaner Group. It has been the largest producer and trader of yarn in the country and caters to the large demands for blended yarns and grey cloth fabric used for children's school uniforms. In 1994, the yarn business faced severe crunch owing to over capacity. From 1995 onwards, SSM became a late follower of the industry trends as other competitors already moved up the value chain. What were the biggest challenges of textile manufacturers? Textile manufacturing is basically constituted of the processes of spinning, weaving, processing and marketing. More than 50% of the value is concentrated in weaving and processing. Moving up the value chain from spinning involves large investments in machinery and labour. Graduating to market requires customer proximity and this is the biggest

59

60

Cases in CRM

challenge traditional spinning mills like SSM had to face if it was to sustain itself in a highly competitive globalised market. What were the major issues at SSM? At another level for SSM, it was a matter of cultural transformation of the organisation long used to a conservative mentality. The Vice Chairman and MD are orthodox and are trying to grapple with the new order. From the market side, it has long been troubled with its commitment to the loyal middle class customers as it had to simultaneously pay attention to the upwardly mobile upper middle class customers. SSM wanted to have its share in export market as well as rural markets. It excelled in basic textile processing but was trying hard to attain sophistication in house production of readymade garments. It has been a late mover and losing out to competitors Welmonds F Kumar. Another challenge which SSM has to face is when the global textile industry enters the era of no quotas. ,, Question 1) Suggest how SSM should manage its value chain effectively. Should it try to imitate its market leaders?

Case No. 16
M-FUNFIN MUTUAL FUND
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to:

justify the need to consolidate service patterns of approach to customers. recognise the importance of aligning working directives. identify the causes that lead to mis-interpretation of policy matters.

Sudesh Kumar was waiting in the lounge impatiently. Today, was his third consecutive day of being here and still he was not sure of the result. He had couple of experiences in the past that had made him more wise. In last two years he had gained the maturity to understand that any deal can be said as concluded favourably only if the cheque is received physically. On many occasions assurances had not come through as he was in a tough competitive field where many things contributed to the end result. However, today he had made up his mind to try his complete patience and hold on till he could make it through. He had no choice either. It was the last day of their 'New Fund Offer' (NFO) and if he was going to get the investment he had to get it before the last cutout time in the afternoon. Also this was the first NFO brought up by M-FunFin Mutual Fund after the takeover by the domestic player and the expectation levels were obviously high. No shortfalls in set targets were permissible, it was just a do or die situation. Sudesh Kumar was representing M-FunFin Mutual Fund as Sr. Sales Executive in their New Delhi Regional Office. M-FunFin Mutual Fund was a part of an MNC in the Financial Products Field and spread over seventeen countries and with an asset management of multi billions dollars. In India, MFunFin Mutual Fund had started its first Office in Mumbai three years back and slowly expanded operations in all Metros and Mini-Metros in next one year. Very recently, there still was a change with one of the Top Twenty Business Houses pumping in money and acquiring a major control in the Management of M-FunFin Mutual Fund. There is always a difference in the way MNCs operate and the way in

63

Cases in CRM

which Indian Management controls any business. The Management had in the first step had instilled more competition by defining the categories of customers and separating the line handling each distinctly. The Sales team handling funds coming from the Industry, the Companies, termed as Institutional or Corporate Sale and from the retail market coming from individuals was bifurcated. The Sales team for the Institutional or Corporate Sales was led by a Territory Manager at the Metro City levels and the Retail Sales were headed by an Area Manager. Both were supported with adequate Sales Executives and the existing sales team was strengthened in the last three months to bring in a proper manpower to handle the business under respective categories with a basis of the 'Asset under Management'. All were given proper orientation and there was a clear bifurcation of the areas of working and at the end of the day they were made responsible for specific targets. The Back Office Operations girls were trained to give all these reports in uniform manner twice a day on daily basis. A cumulative report of all these was presented on the desk of the CEO in the India Head Quarters at Mumbai sharp at 9.30 a.m. every morning. At last Sudesh Kumar who was still strolling in the lush green lounge of the multi locational FT Company got a call on his cell. It was Mr. Kohli on line, the DGM finance and he asked Sudesh Kumar to be in the discussion room. Just in next few minutes, Mr. Kohli walked in and handed over the cheque of Rs fifty lacs with the application form of their organisation for this NFO ending today. It was for this investment that Sudesh Kumar was there today and for which he had listed various reasons as non-availability of authorised signatory, held back for want of clear funds and what not. Any way, Sudesh Kumar felt what ends good was all good. He thanked Mr. Kohli gracefully and was ready to leave when Mr. Kohli called in for his two other colleagues. All three of these wished to invest in this NFO in individual capacity and handed him their application forms. Sudesh Kumar was quite happy but he remembered that as per their Organisational norms this was a retail sale and needed to be handled by his counterpart Asif Khan. He politely explained Mr. Kohli that Asif shall drop in at their Office in the afternoon and process the transactions. Mr. Kohli however was not convinced with this. He said from their point of view at that moment Sudesh Kumar was M-FunFin and they declined to meet more people from the same organisation just only to follow the policy that corporate sales and retail sales are handled : by different persons. Instead he said that ideally there has to be a one point contact for one customer organisation for any and all types of sales on either individual basis or be it clubbed. Sudesh Kumar had no voice to counter and he knew it would be of no use either. He had to get more corporate investments from Mr. Kohli in future too and there was no point in contradicting his reasoning. Sudesh Kumar collected the applications and leftfor his office. Nevertheless he did not forget to thank them and assure all of them of delivering the Investment statements on the third day personally.

2) 3)

64

Case 16 M-FunFin Mutual Fund

i
In Office however things were not viewed with the same perspective. Retail Sales Executives had always a grudge against the Corporate Sales people as the retails sales executives had to gather in tit-bits to complete the target and efforts required were more. This was because there always was a limitation to the capabilities of individuals to invest in individual capacities whereas the Corporates had strong financial supports and the investments were in lacs,millions and crores at times. Today also Asif strongly objected Sudesh Kumar on his taking the credit for the Corporate as well as the Retail Investments both simultaneously. He argued that Sudesh Kumar should have advised Mr. Kohli that Asif shall visit and collect the applications and service the whole transactions. This would have, he felt, been the right thing to do as per M-FunFin pattern of handling customers in segmented manner. Sudesh Kumar differed on opinion totally. His stand was :

Asif did not know the customers. Asif had not taken any pains or efforts to get these three applications. From customer point of view only Sudesh Kumar was a single point contact representing M-FunFin to them. Two persons of same level and from same office meeting the same customer officials for just following own organisational rules does not seem justified from customer point of view as customer officials too have limited time and they cannot spend for the same activity twice

Both approached the Regional Manager to seek his advice to resolve and discussions restarted. Questions

1.

If you were in Mr. Kohli's place, how would you react to the working style of MFunFin, justify your points elaborately. How do you think Sudesh Kumar and Asif were right in defending their stands? Is the policy of bifurcating the sales organisational structure of M-FunFin correct and if yes or no please comment with reasoning?

2. 3.

65

Case No. 1
NEW FOOI> PRODUCTS MARKETING
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to : :
explain

possible remedies for customer relationship in case of new products.

Highlight the background of Vaishali Dryfruits company? Vaishali Dry fruits house limited a welknown manufacturer dealing in chocolate and dry fruit beverages launched a new brand of Dry fruit milk shake. The product was given the name go cool. It was positioned as a fun and an enjoyable drink targeted at youth. This company has been into business since last 40 years in the rural parts of Maharashtra. It has been doing extremely well in terms of its profitability and sales. The price of the product was Rs.20 per 300 ml. What were the plans of the company? This company wants to diversify into food product on similar lines like lays, kurkure of Pepsi foods and want to tap the urban market. It has identified potato, corn and cheese snack foods for urban markets. Generally potato, corn and cheese are in demand in the urban markets. Its promise is to sell products using the state of art technology and of consistent quality. The competition to this company is from the small unorganised firms. Its desire to apply the strategy suitable to these new products. The company is aggressive in marketing dry fruits and also well known in its business. What was the status of the product launch in urban areas? Despite its aggressive marketing efforts and commission structure to the dealers, it could increase its market share. Hence, the company conducted a survey of consumers to find out the reason behind the same. From this survey, it was revealed that youths were not ready to consider it as a funsnack.

67

68

Cases in CRM

The taste was not relished by the youth and the freshness and crispness of the product were not maintained. Taking note Of these aspects, the company decided to improve upon its products' performance and wanted to relaunch the products. By establishing product differentiation it would sell its products. What were the suggestions made by the retailer to the company for relaunching the product? In urban markets, because of the clutter of brand, these concepts are not acceptable by the consumers. Brand is the main consideration. The urban customer is quality conscious. For effective retailing the company should:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Great product awareness Supply should be regular Demonstrate and do sales promotion Take efforts in handling storing and assembling Aggressive Advertising

It was mentioned that once the idea is acceptable among the urban customers, it sells like ; hot cakes. Questions
1.

Should there be emphasis on customer relationship management for launching of new i product? What customer relationship strategies should be practiced by the company to achieve success in the market?

2.

("ase No. 18
TRUST AND RISK
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to :

examine various strategies to build up a customer base. assess the importance of risk taking in expanding customer base. state how important are social networks in maintaining and expanding customer base.

Sharmila, a middle-aged maidservant in a Mumbai suburb had bought a stove, refrigerator, Video Cassette Recorder (VCR), stereo system, bed and a closet in just two years. All the appliances were purchased from the local Mazda stores on loan. The interest on the loans did not cause Sharmila any worry since all the loan instalments fitted into her monthly budget. With a monthly salary of Rs. 3500, she had never thought she could afford all these products as well as provide the basic necessities to her four children. Mazda stores considered her creditworthy and worked out a personalised financial assistance plan for her so that all loan instalments were less than 50 per cent of her monthly salary. S imi larly, Chameli, a cleaning woman, always dreamt of a kitchen kit but she knew that it was beyond her means due to her modest salary. Somebody advised her to visit the Mazda stores. She went to the nearest store. There, she was asked to fill up a simple loan application form and was told that she could buy the kitchen set. At last, she became a proud owner of a kitchen set, a luxury among the lower income groups of India. Similar it was with a truck driver from Sholapur who gave a surprise gift of a kitchen sink with a cabinet and a washing machine to his wife. Mazda stores not only gave him credit but also delivered the purchases at his doorstep so that he could see the surprise and happiness on his wife's face when she received the purchases. He said it was the biggest gift he ever gave to his wife and Mazda stores made him a proud husband.

tl
7 1

72

Cases in CRM

Most of the Mumbai's low-income population had similar stories to narrate. When they entered Mazda stores, they did not just buy a stove or a television set or a piece of furniture but a dream that they had never thought they could realise with their meagre salaries. Mazda's innovative instalment sales schemes unlocked the purchasing power of Mumbai's and India's enormous working class and catered to the needs of low-income groups while earning good returns for the company. Mazda stores are making it clear what they want as shopping experience. Often more than technology centred approaches they are preferring low prices, friendly, knowledgeable, fast and personalised service, products that are easy to find, and that caters to needs of all classes of society i.e. the 'customer-centric' store. As Mr. Mehta, the CEO of the Mazda stores comments "We have developed an integrated view of the customer by uniting all pieces of data gathered across all sections of society. We insist on tailoring the shopping experience to different customer needs and shopping occasions, including across different segments, local markets and product categories. We are also incorporating technological innovations but not at the cost of human inputs. We are evaluating emerging technologies as they fashion the store of the future. These technologies include self-checkout, intelligent shopping carts, guided selling and interactive product displays that meet consumer." Mazda has catered to the needs of all classes and communities of society in Mumbai and India. What began, as a small enterprise is today a huge chain of retailing. Mazda, outlets span all over the country. Today, their customer base ranges from very rich to extremely poor classes. Mr. Mehta adds, "We do not need to spend much on advertisement now, as our store itself has become a household name. Word of mouth is loud enough an advertisement for our organisation. Moreover since our employees belong to various strata of society, spreading any information becomes easier. We, believe in treating our customer as our God and for this even if we have to go out of the way to expand our customer base in the face of risk we go ahead. Initially, we did have problems relating to providing instalment payments for goods purchased, especially from the weaker sections of society, but overtime we have developed good trust networks with the aid of our employees, who function dually as employees and public relation persons." Another interesting feature of the Mazda stores is the training that they provide to the employees. Most of them belong to low-income groups. They are trained in human relation skills such as communication, knowledge of various products and instalment schemes,

Case 18 Trust and Risk ;.,

inter and intra group dynamics and so on and so forth. Building a good team is the first step towards attracting and retaining customers, is what Mr. Mehta believes in. Questions
1. 2.

What is the strategy through which Mazda ensures a huge customer base? Comment on the viability of the strategy of using employee networks to spread a good word about the organisation. How important is training of employees in the arena of customer relations?

3.

73

Case No. 19
THE PARATHA TALE
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to :

examine the importance of communication in customer relationship. identify weaknesses in customer care. ; assess the role of the Manager in the context of this case.

Talisma' is a part of the 'Sands and Dune' resorts chain of restaurants and supposed to be a highend restaurant. Unfortunately, my recent dinning experience seemed to show otherwise. I am narrating the following experience at Talisma (C.P of Delhi) to give one a sense of what happened. I was looking forward to a night out with my friends. Trying a restaurant that I hadn't been to but had heard good things about. I was sorely disappointed... The reservation had been made for 6-8 people so we were seated at a table for eight. Four of us got there a little early and we were provided with water and asked if we would like anything to drink. We all said water was fine for now (we were still waiting for others). Two more people showed up and we figured that the other two that were maybes had confirmed as no with two of us that were there. We immediately informed our server that there would only be 6 of us. We ordered our meals with Radika going last because she wasn 't sure what to get (she is vegetarian and all the entrees were meat). When the waiter got to Susan, she asked "Are there any vegetarian options other than parathas?" and he answered "Yes, the top two" (he had heard "are there any vegetarian options of the paratha?"). When she looked confused, he said "have you read the menu?", made a huffing noise and came around to her side of the table to point out the two vegetarian paratha options.

75

Cases in CRM

Li

We were brought papad and salad and then the two appetizers we had ordered. Seema wanted salt for her soup and we wanted more butter but our server was no where to be found.. .eventually with a few spoonfuls of soup left, he came by and we were able to request the salt. When he brought the main course, he almost knocked over all our glasses in his rush to slam them down.By this point we were quite disappointed in his service and attitude and decided that we would eat dessert somewhere else and he would be getting a smaller tip than we usually leave. He came by to take our plates and asked if we would like to see the dessert menu. We said no, we were good. He brought us our bill. He had added in pen a 15% gratuity. Since we were not a group of eight and were not happy with his service, we wanted to ask why this had been added. Again, he was no where to be found. Seema went up to the bar and asked why this had been added. She was told that it is their policy to add a gratuity to groups of eight or more. Since we had booked and used a table for eight - they had added the gratuity. Seema explained that we were not happy with the service we'd received so the bartender offered to send the manager over to our table. Our server arrives. "Actually, I am the manager. I understand you were not happy with the service?" "No, we weren't. We found that you were rather rude to us." "I think in fairness, the rudeness is on both sides. You had a reservation for eight and only six people showed up. You are all drinking water and taking up a table for eight. That costs the business a lot of money." .,,.....;,-.. ; ; ,r Is this the way for a manager of a so called high-end restaurant to talk to customers? To me, at that moment in time, the manager should have tried to find out what went wrong and apologise. Starting to insult the customers is not a good idea! Was it right for the manager to lecture the customers about 'drinking water' and costing 'the business a lot of money"? I hate to mention this, but I doubt this kind of attitude is acceptable to even the less classy restaurants. "That should have been made clear to us when we booked the reservation, I said." "It's on the menu. You could read the menu"
76

10 Case 19 The Paratha Tale

"On the menu, it says for groups of eight, we are not a group of eight." "Well, your reservation was for eight... .look forget it.. .take the gratuity off.. .if you want to pay just the Rs. eighteen hundred and sixty five.. .that's fine... .forget about it." So we did exactly that.. .we left eighteen hundred and sixty five rupees and walked away rather disappointed. Questions -' ~ - -----.- ,..,>,, .,,,. ...

1. 2. 3.

Do you think that the behaviour of the Manager was warranted? On whom does the onus lie in this case? The customers or the Management. Explain. Identify and explain why you think the customer is so important with reference to this case. Is it always the fault of the service provider?

I 4) Suggest ways to ensure better customer care, with reference to this case.

77

Case'NdmO
A STUDENT AS, A .CUSTOMER
I Js- " i " ^ ' ""-^ ^ " L\ ?i ^ . ' ... "* l> * - - "^ s

Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to:

evaluate the notion of student as a customer. ' * assess how students as customers can play an important role in ensuring bothqualitative and quantitative development of the institution. examine how this paradigm shift from an institutional (management) centered to a student centered, can affect the fortunes of an educational institution.

In today's competitive marketplace, schools are sellers offering courses, a degree, and a rich alumni life. Students are buyers who register for courses, apply for graduation, and make donations as alumni. The longer these ongoing transactions are satisfactory to both parties, the longer the relationship will endure, to the benefit of everyone. Vision is a specialist technology college. As a progressive teaching establishment, the institute has fully embraced state-of-the-art technology to improve communications and enhance its services to students and the wider community. The institute houses some 350 staff and 2000 students. Given the reputation of the institution for system technology innovation and excellence, it was vital that the institute explored ways in which new technologies could be deployed to create a flexible and reliable platform for student welfare. As the Dean Dr. Gujral explains "Work originally began on a student centre about six years ago. At that time, our ideas regarding this concept were very progressive. Our plan was to create this centre which would act as conduit to redress problems related to student life. Since, our institute is a premier institute in the country, we attract students from all over the country with diverse backgrounds. As the schedule at the institute is hectic, not much time remains, to indulge in such an activity." In one of the staff- student meetings, this idea was raised. However, it was still unclear

79

80
Cases

who would take the first step and how it would work out. Some of the urging problems that needed to be resolved through this centre were the following:

Support the data network to ensure a better co-ordination between the student and the respective faculty member. Manage the institute's register by monitoring student absenteeism more effectively. Facilitate improved communications between staff, students and parents. To create an ambience, such that student to student interaction, not only within the institution but also with students of related streams across the country through the Internet can be achieved. , ? 5; ; , Developing better communication systems and practices. ; Developing not only the intellectual faculties of the student but also moral and physical attributes. Placements and creation of an awareness of future academic prospects.

It was in this situation that Prof. Vora, the H.O.D of Sociology (a department within the social sciences wing) was given the responsibility of instituting this cell. The project however ran into a number of difficulties relating to the HRD area- i.e. student-faculty synchronisation, student and staff volunteerism, selection of an appropriate physical location within the campus, and limited understanding of the technology which could be used within a student centre environment. As a preliminary step, focus groups were designed to capture the 'pulse of the student'. This also involved interviewing a number of faculties to get their perspective. The early feedback suggested that there was no shortage of professionalism or commitment to providing an excellent service to the students; the issue appeared to be supporting faculties and staff with adequate training, technology and means to approach this collectively. It was in this circumstance, that a software programme called AMT developed by one of the students (Amit) a couple of years back was revisited. This programme facilitated, easy learning of the computers and introducing the learner to latest technology in a rather simplistic manner. , In the past, the institutions' reception struggled with the sheer volume of calls between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. from students and parents. Not only was this extremely labour intensive, but there was the difficulty of keeping track of everybody and getting the message to the appropriate members of staff affected by the absence.

Case 20 A Student as a Customer : x s. -

With the whole issue of student absenteeism and non-attendance levels, it was of paramount importance to have in place a watertight system for monitoring and reporting absences and communicating easily with all stakeholders. This is where the AMT system proved to be a big help, as the Dean affirms, "The AMT has enabled us to streamline the way we communicate with students, parents and staff. Parents can now just phone in and leave a message to report their child sick and all members of staff teaching the child that day are notified via the e-register, saving precious time and resources." Faculties through the AMT system also have personal voicemails for the first time that can be configured through their PCs to notify students, parents and colleagues of their whereabouts. The entire solution gives us a robust, scalable and reliable communications network for monitoring student absenteeism levels as well as keeping all concerned parties fully informed at all times. With the student welfare cell in full swing now, the institute has been able to record all its alumni and also open up gateways of information with other similar institutions. All the students and staff are involved in this exercise, thus providing them with an opportunity to increase work compatibility and also provide some form of experiential learning. Moreover, the students themselves run even the placement cell. One of the students of the institute feels "By involving us in managing our own needs and by ensuring a very open system, wherein any student can provide feedback of the quality of education and learning experience, has made us (students) feel special. We have now created a data base of all passed out students. We are inviting them to a annual get-together. Moreover, we have developed the AMT system in such a manner, that we are able to keep tab on the latest news in our respective interest area. We have also developed stronger and denser networks with students belonging to other similar institutions". Questions

1. 2. 3.

Do you think that setting up of a student cell is necessary? Why? How is a student centric model useful to understand customer relationship management? How can students, faculty and management mutually benefit through this CRM approach?

81

Case
CALL CENTRE (CC) FOR CUSTOMER CARE (CC)
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to:

states the problems companies face at their on Call Centres or Customer Interaction centres. assess the impact of systems, policies and automation on customer care.

Let's assume that you are the Head of Call Centre Operations, India for an MNC named "Sell Computers Inc". Your company is currently facing a set of problems and is looking forward to you to solve them. Company Background 'Sell Computers Inc.' (SC) is a leading US-based company in the Personal Computer Industry with products spanning in all segments of the industry. The company is in leadership positions in desktop computers, laptops, servers and networking products. With its footprint in every major growth market, SC has managed to have a worldwide PC market share of 10%. Since its inception, SC's superior product performance and outstanding service quality has resulted into a very strong reputation for its brands. However, during the early 2000's, intense cost pressures led SC to critically look at its expenditure on call centres. The company realised that when compared to its existing US call centre, the cost of labour, infrastructure and operating cost will be substantially lower if it is 'outsourced' to a developing country like India or China. However, SC was apprehensive of its impact on customer service, as superior after-sales service was one of its key-differentiating factors. After lot of deliberation over customer service and cost-saving aspects of outsourcing, the company decided to go ahead with outsourcing of its call centres to India.

83

84

Cases in CRM

Call Centre Operations

The company went about establishing call centres across the world in three distinct stages: 1st stage Concept Testing: In the early stages, SC looked at feasibility of shifting the call centre from US to a developing country like India. All tactical and strategic considerations (financial, customer satisfaction, operational) were carefully looked into at this stage. Local market situation was evaluated on the basis of talent pool availability (quantity and quality), attitude towards work. Skill set availability, pay scale levels etc. Having got a solid 'proof of concept' for outsourcing and looking at the favourable environmental factors, SC zeroed in on establishing a call centre in Pune, India. In Pune, with all the necessary formalities done with local, state and central Govt, the company setup a huge facility on 3 acres of land with state-of-the-art facilities like cafeteria, swimming pool, library, gymnasium, health and recreation facilities. For manpower requirement, the company scouted for graduates and post-graduates particularly with technical education/corporate background. * w.r.t attitude towards work, it turned out later that Indian graduates were more committed to their call centre jobs than their American counterparts (usually high school graduates). Initially, back-office operations like accounting, data entry, pay-roll preparation etc. were shifted. Soon 'up-spectrum' activities like customer care and technical support to sales were added to the list.

2nd stage
Building Credibility: SC recruited and retained the best talent from adjoining cities/ towns. To get the right people for right job, interviews were followed by a telephonic round to listen how candidates sound over the phone. Selected candidates went through a 4-week customised training program depending on their aptitude and skill-set. On-the-job training module came next wherein 'trainees' were supported with facilitators like trainers, coaches etc. At each and every stage, individual and interactive feedback sessions were arranged to ensure that every employee was adept at handling all kinds of customer service calls. To further smoothen the training and learning process, standardisation was brought in with 'most likely' answers to the 'Frequently Asked Questions' (FAQs). This, later, did result

Case 21 Call Centre (CC) for Customer Care (CC) i: :_ ,

into a few US customers voicing their concern of getting 'scripted responses' rather than practical solutions to their problems.

3rd stage
I for India, I for Innovation : Having started with cost considerations in mind, SC's management soon realised that India could be at the forefront of innovation. With local development happening on the software front as well as on the telecom front, SC's Pune call centre tried out several innovative ways of delivering superior customer service. For the SC Indian Call centre, technology was not merely an enabler of customer satisfaction; it became a differentiating tool for customer delight. Small-yet-big-on-impact steps like Automated Number Identification (ANI), 'Telling estimated wait time', 'Transferring info with call to another agent' had positive results on customer satisfaction. By 2006, SC was operating from three call centres in India (Pune, Bangalore, Chennai), and one each in Brazil, China and the US. Interestingly, the Pune centre was the only one that handled all types of inbound as well as outbound calls. It was soon to transform into a central training and development (T&D) facility centre along with its already established R and D centre. Problems Faced With rapid growth of Sell Computers world over, operations of contact centres also started growing. From employee strength of 300 in the year 2003, the Pune centre had grown to a scale of 7,000 employee base in early 2007. Expansion in the last few quarters was in an unstructured way. The time required for an ideal ramp up was not available to the Indian centres, as incoming cal Is were increasing by the day. On the other hand, talent crunch had developed into a critical issue. With poaching of 'experienced' staff by other BPO (business process outsourcing) units, retention of their agents was of prime importance to SC. Amidst all these pressures, SC Pune found itself in the centre of another challenge. A reputed customer survey agency had ranked SC among the last 3 players of the US PC industry. The ranking was a result of a market survey conducted to identify customers' (dis)satisfaction levels. This was for the first time that SC had slipped from the top 3 slot to an overall rank of 7th. The management at SC was in a fix. For the last couple of months, customer complaints had been on the rise. Moresover, an average customer was calling up more than two times to resolve his/her query. Average wait time for a customer was 2 mins with peak loads taking the figure to even 10 mins. Although customers were happy with the product

85

Cases in CRM

performance, the service quality was notupto their expectations. Moreover, the call centre was not able to provide adequate cross-training which ultimately resulted into high agent-to-agent call-transfer rate (about 30%). One problem that SC Pune encountered for the very first time was of the 'accent'. The call centre executives raised a concern that since calls were routed from the US, Asia (India too) and even Europe, understanding customer's accent and more importantly speaking in an accent which the customer can comprehend was a bigger challenge than solving customer's query. There have been several instances when the agent had to speak the same sentence more than thrice in order to make the customer understand it. As a result, there was growing discontent among customers and agents leading to further escalations. This was happening particularly for the Europe and Middle East customers who were not very comfortable with the American/Asian way of speaking. Measures to be Taken SC's management decided to arrest this growing dissatisfaction. After few feasibility considerations, the management zeroed in on the following options:
1. 2. 3.

Increasing the agent base of Pune call centre or Retracting a few 'premium' product lines to the US Segmenting call centres w.r.t regions i.e. Pune CC for the US and the European markets, Bangalore for the Middle-East region, Chennai for the Asian markets Segmenting call centres w.r.t product lines (Pune for Laptops/Desktops, Bangalore CC for Servers, Chennai CC for Workstations and networking solutions) Making necessary changes in hiring and training policies Outsourcing some of its Pune CC processes to third party BPO's* during peak seasons, so as to manage the abrupt increase in incoming calls

4.

5. 6.

The management is expecting you to present your detailed analysis on each of the above-mentioned alternatives. Kindly, explain the pros and cons of every step taken in light of the problems faced by SC. *3rd Party BPO's work for more than one company on a contractual project basis

86

1
Case No.
V.K. S VRAF AND R.B. PAI ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to:

explain CRM solution for an industrial product among the value chain for success in the industry.

What was the innovation made by the two entrepreneur engineers? V.K Saraf and R.B Pai are brilliant electrical engineers. After their graduation from College of Engineering, Pune they decided to set up their own business. Right from their college days, they had developed different types of electrical coils used in electrical pumps. But they finally settled for an idea of innovating electric pumps. They decided to manufacture "Electric pump sets'. Both Saraf and Pai came from middle class families. As such, raising finance was always a problem with them. What was the final product offered by the manufacturer? The product manufactured by them was electric pumps. It was offered for various industrial purposes as well as for household purpose. The technology used was far better than the conventional pumps. The features and utility of the product outperformed the local manufacturers and some reputed manufacturers. To understand the market conditions, an information collecting exercise was carried out. What was the outcome of the market research findings as regards competitors? The following were the findings of the market research survey: : >
The market

for medium range electric pump sets is dominated by small scale manufacturers.

89

1
Cases in CRM

The local manufacturers were customising as per the needs of the customer and offering them the product. Their services included right from creating awareness to the customer till the delivery and installation of the pump. Also warranty and guarantee and credit schemes were a part of the services being offered by the local manufacturers. The local would depute his representative for training the customer on how to use the electric pump. The local manufacturer sees that the customer complaints are attended to in time. The manufacturers have their own distribution channels, but these distribution channels are personally monitored by the sales department of the company. They offered their electric pumps to a friend of theirs who own a large electrical goods service station.

What were the Organisational competencies of the firm? ; i An expert industrial marketing consultant was appointed to analyse the competencies of the firm. Electric pump was compared with the other competitors in the market. He found the pumps sets very satisfactory. He asked the engineers to make more pump sets but the engineers found that they were making around 15-20 electric pump set per month. The only outlet available to them for marketing their electrical pump sets was one dealer whose name was Electrical Service Station. They found that their product quality was superior and prices were almost 20 % lower than their competitors. They were thus very confident about their products but their problem is how to distribute their product on all India bases. What were the difficulties encountered by both the manufacturers? Both Saraf and Pai faced the following difficulties or problems regarding their business.

Since both of them are firm middle class family, raising of funds is always a problem.

They do not have adequate linkage, thus their market is very limited. They do not know which channel of di stribution will be suitable for their product as 90

Case 22 V.K. Saraf and R.B. Pai Electrical Engineers

what they want to distribute will be suitable for their product as they want to distribute the product on all India basis.
The prevailing market is dominated by small scale manufacturers. Majority are from Delhi and Punjab

who are having sound financial position so they have to compete with other manufacturers. What are their future plans?

They want to enter into this business

They want to reach the all India market through proper distribution channel.

Questions

1. 2. 3.

Suggest a marketing plan for the manufacturers. Suggest a suitable distribution channel to the manufacturers. What is the CRM solution for reaching the customer as regards the industrial product?

91

Case
TELEBANKING IN PRAGATI BANK LTD.
Objectives
After going through this case, you will be able to:
Pragati Bank is a co-operative progressive bank. Their focus is on building a strong customer base by

using all the latest technology to woo the customer.

What is the present customer relationship strategy used in Pragati Bank Ltd.?
Mr. Amit Mehra,Chairman and Managing Director Pragati Bank Ltd. was quite pleased with the projections his CFO Subrib Khanna showed him for the last quarter (Q4).He had every reason to be pleased. Having taken over as a CEO of a new fast growing Pragati Bank Ltd., he had worked out his long term strategy for customer relationship management with the objectives of:
1. 2. 3.

Reducing customer footfalls at the branches through phone banking Increasing foot-falls at the ATMs of the bank Diverting customer communications to call centers for phone banking

Mr. Amit Mehra, Chairman was under great pressure to modernise the banking system and introduce IT related solutions.
-; fffr

He said "The writing is very clear on the wall, MODERNISE or PERISH" to his associates and proceeded further to refer to an article which he had cut from a business magazine. The article reads as follows:

What are the emerging practices among Banks in India?

The Narasimhan Committee on banking sector reforms suggested major sweeping changes for the banking sector. One important aspect being automating banking functions and the

93

94

Cases in CRM

implementation of IT. The private sector banks in order to compete with large and well established public sector banks are foraying into IT to face cut-throat competition. While the private sector banks are on the threshold of improvement, the public sector banks (PSBs) are slowly contemplating automation to accelerate and cover the lost ground. To contend with new challenges posed by Private Sector Banks, PSBs are slowly venturing into new areas, a few old big sized banks are still encountering problems of unionised staff though in the milder way and the employees are still finding their feet in new technologies. It looks like public sector banks need to shift the gears and accelerate their movements in right direction by automating their branches. Some major areas where they lag behind are ATMs, Internet banking and of course the most important of all automation, the CRM system known popularly as tele banking. What were the obstacles of Pragati Bank Ltd.? Pragati Bank Ltd. was on the right track. It already had a telebanking system in place but there were some obstacles that were worrying the Chairman. The Bank had realised that the main obstacle was the initial reluctance that certain customers had towards using the new system so they preferred to continue dealing with a human operator. This category of clients were to be specifically addressed, in order to show them in a personalised way the benefits of using the system. Mr. Mehrahad called a meeting of Senior Vice Presidents including VP(CRM) Mr.Sudip Parmar with a view to monitor the progress in implementation of CRM components

Customer Retention Planning Appointment of relationship managers A customer based information system Delivering personalised and or differentiated communication strategy What were the contents of the letter written by the agonised customer?

During the meeting, Mr Verma Sr. VP(CRM) showed him a letter of a telebanking customer that made him worried, the contents of which read as follows: Quote: In good old days telebanking was straight forward. You rang up the bank told the teleoperator your name, your account number and your requirement. The teleoperator

Case 23 Telebanking in Pragati Bank Ltd.

would ask for your address as a counter check and then give you the required information. The whole procedure hardly took a couple of minutes. But my recent experience with your bank was different. Needing an interest-credit certificate for income tax purposes, I decided to try out your new system. I dialed the bank's number and a recorded female voice (RFV) answered "Welcome to Pragati Bank's telebanking service. To continue please press hash." I pressed Hash. "To continue in English please press eight, for Hindi press nine," the RFV went on. I pressed eight." "If you are an existing customer, press one, if not two," said the RFV, I dutifully pressed one, "For account related information, press one, for interest rates press two, for information on loans....", I hurriedly pressed one. "Kindly enter your eleven digit account number, followed by hash." commanded the RFV. I did as ordered. "Now enter your four digit telebanking code if you have received it, otherwise press Star," the RFV went on relentlessly, since I had received my code, I faithfully entered it. "The balance in your account is Rs. 15, 450," the RFV toned. Thank you for using PRAGATI bank's telebanking services." I don't want my balance, I shouted. I want my certificate of interest". But it was too late. The phone had been cut off. Grimly, I dialed the bank number again and went through the whole rigmarole, only to be told what my bank balance was, for the second time. A third try produced the same result. My blood pressure had gone up by 20 points but I had made no progress, I told myself through gritted teeth. But before beginning to dial again, however I tried to analyse the system and decide that the best place to break this vicious cycle was at the point where I was supposed to enter my telebanking code. So instead of entering the four-digit code, I pressed star. "Kindly wait, you are being transferred to a telebanking executive". Half a minute later, a real live non recorded voice came online, "How can I help you"? I was about to scream, Oh! you beautiful wonderful human being, but decided against it ,1 need a certificate, I began slowly, my senses yet to come to grips with my good fortune. I wonder whether this is what you mean "Good customer relationship". Unquote. ... ,, What was the reaction of Mr.Mehra ? For Mr. Mehra it was a tale of agony. He wondered how many other customers' (last annual data 55000 users) patronising telebanking felt so. While his balance sheet will show a healthy bottom line, perhaps indicating telebanking is working; the problematic areas of relationship management will be hidden.

95

96

Cases in CRM

Mr. Mehra ordered whether the problem is about efficiency or about human touch. One cannot automate relationships and only humans can create experience. In the rush to reduce cost and become more efficient, companies mistook improved technologies as the end goal and forgot the human aspects of their businesses, he wondered. What made Mr.Mehra rethink on his iniatives of CRM ? Mr.Mehra had taken personal initiative in outsourcing call centres with an investment of 10 crores to bring down the footfall at the bank for bank related services, while the banks branched networks/customer base, grew at an exponential rate. He was keen on developing customer service on the following parameters which are key in retail banking namely

Reliability Performance Convenience Responisvenss Adaptability

But the letter just shown by his VP (CRM) forced him to relook at the human element while not losing the role of technology in the area of communication, information and business processes for which investments had already been made. MrMehra felt the need for setting up measurable objectives by which the bank's progress could be assessed in building lasting customer relationships. Questions As a CRM consultant, how can you help Mr.Mehra? What according to you would be the best CRM solution to the agonised customer?

1. 2.

> rCa&No 24

\ \ V s L4-)JO- A V l_y 46*1 i

PRIMEX-O COMPONENTS
II
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to:

justify the need of proper interface in market. recognise the importance of retaining front end officials. r identify the causes that lead to frequent changeovers. =

The Think-Tank members of Primex-OGV Components Ltd. were truly engrossed in deep thinking and dedicated discussions. They had a valid reason to do so. Their CEO(Chief Executive Officer) Mr.Keswani had called a breakfast meeting today morning and had thrown open this topic for them. It all started in the recent visit of Mr. Keswani to their proposed new plant at Uttaranchal. Mr. Keswani had hosted a smal I get together followed by cocktails and dinner. The invitees were COOs (Chief Operating Officers) and Directors of few automobile components and ancillary manufacturing units in the recently flourishing Uttaranchal. One step less were only the Plant Heads of two companies who were the SBU Heads (Strategic Business Unit Heads). Mr. Keswani was heading the Parent Plant of Primex-OGV Components Ltd. in Pune. Suppliers of Press Parts and small machined precision components Primex-OGV Components Ltd. was existing for the last six years but still was not able to make a major breakthrough. Supported with some high ended connections in the top brass of Automobile Manufacturers in Pune Primex-OGV could gain entry and slowly tried to get detached from the family concern tag to being a professional organisation. The whole process took a long time and saw five CEOs change positions in first four years of operations. By this time the Industry in and around had labeled the organisation as an instable one for this reason. In his introductory visits to the Industry Majors at senior levels, Mr. Keswani had got an idea of such feelings. There are no direct comments at the helm of any organisation

9 9

100

Cases in CRM

but when well wishes for his entry were supplemented with comments as ' Atlast we feel there shall be a longer leadership' or 'Good that now you are in, we are sure you shall make the Organisation more stable' gave him a hint on the prevalent sentiments in the market. Since then Mr. Keswani was pondering on this point and had tried to study the overall work environment and any effects of same resulting into this higher level of turnover. Things were rapidly changing and within six months of Mr.Keswani's joining the Management of PrimexOGV had taken a policy decision to follow the general industry trend so far as the plant in Uttaranchal was concerned. A deep study of the prospects vs the risk was done and the process to expand was initiated. It was a major decision involving high costs, creation of infrastructure, organising set of talented personnel and getting an assurance of long term business association from the Industry Majors. PrimexOGV was successful in getting through with a properly documented Memorandum of Understanding (MolJ) that was carefully worded. This made Primex-OGV one of the 'Long Term Partners in Progress' for a Two-Wheeler Manufacturer on a long term basis. Primex-OGV had however ensured that such MolJ does not bind them to being associated with this Auto Manufacturer ONLY, but also allows them to be suppliers to other Industry too, of course with some ethical restrictions and within the frame of following the best practices in the Industry. Subsequent to this it was a matter of proper program implementation and barring a few jumpovers, things were efficiently lined up by Mr. Keswani and his team. The Project was in the last stage and the Management of Primex-OGV had decided to inaugurate the plant in the next month. Mr. Keswani had been to the plant to finalise few contractual services and in this visit he had planned the small get together. The prime intention to have such small get together was to make the presence of Primex-OGV felt in the market, start building harmonious relationship with the local heads of the different potential customers, carve a place for Primex-OGV in the newer location and also to have some market intelligence activities done simultaneously. Mr. Keswani was sure that as it happens in such parties that normally every participant tries to discuss more on non-official matters as weather and sports and politics and slowly comes down to the present Industrial scenario and same followed here too. Slowly it came to the level when Mr. Keswani could really seek some 360 degree feedback that he wanted about Primex-OGV. The general opinion about the capabilities of Primex-OGV was fairly good and that was supported with few endorsements and positive assurances and follow-up official meetings for further discussions finalised there itself. Only one point was raised by Mr. Sen, a factory head of one of the customer organisations who also was shifted recently from Pune to Uttaranchal to head a SubAssembly division there. He expressed his serious concern on the frequent changeover of the PrimexOGV

Case 24 Primex-O Components Ltd.

team members. This included the Marketing Heads, the middle order and the front end CRM Officers, the Quality Assurance Team members, and so on. His observations were worth listening for Mr. Keswani. Mr. Sen had noticed that due to these frequent changeovers in the front end team there was a regular and periodical break in the chain of communication and interactions. This had deep results and severe impact on the day to day running. In a big way normally the interface between the Supplier and the Purchaser is the CRM Officer of the Supplier. It is as good as that the CRM Officer nominated for a Customer Account has to be treated as an internal customer by the Supplier Organisation. The prime aim of the Organisation has to be to satisfy and service this internal customer so that the actual end customer is delivered the goods and services up to his level of satisfaction. Now as there was a frequent changeover in these officers at Primex-OGV end, all informations and observations shared by the customer with them were normally lost and vanished with their disappearance. This broke a link established over a period of time and the customer officials felt reluctant to re-give all the informations they had given to the previous CRM guys. All this resulted in a confusion at times though the Organisation was capable of delivering good, it was labeled as not so reliable so far as the availability of past records and data were concerned. Mr. Sen just had a small question to Mr. Keswani 'will the same repeat in the new plant or is Mr. Keswani planning to look-over with some proper change in the organisations' way to ensure that the CRM link is not broken?' It was this point that had triggered numerous questions in the mind of Mr. Keswani who felt that more stress was needed to keep the CRM link uninterrupted. So, Mr. Keswani had called for the morning breakfast meeting to discuss these points. Questions
1.

List out ten points that can hamper proper customer service in absence of correct CRM link. If you were the member of advisory board to Primex-OGV, what suggestions would you give to Mr. Keswani to streamline the CRM activities ? Do you think that the point by Mr. Sen is so important that Mr. Keswani at CEO level needs to pay attention to it, and if yes why ?

2.

3.

101

Case No.
S FOR STRUCTURE; S FOR SATISFACTION
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to:

overview the practical approach at situations faced by customers, channel partners and company management. discuss the impact of (lock of) apt organisation structure, systems and coordination between different functions.

"Sir, I would have solved your problem, if you had placed your order of microwave oven at this showroom. Since you ordered it over the Internet, you will have to enquire about your electronic order at our Call Centre", stated the Customer Support Executive at 'Best Electronics', Pune Showroom. "But the Call Centre directed me to this showroom, saying that any of the 'Company owned' showrooms should be able to look into this matter. Moreover, I was informed that with this transaction number from my Internet order I would be able to take home a microwave from this showroom", expressed the puzzled customer Rajesh Das, as he passed over his transaction number to Sandeep. Best Electronics (BE) has been operating in the Electronics Industry in India for the last 10 years through different distribution channels. Apart from selling through the conventional 2-level (Wholesaler, Retailer) distribution setup, it also had its wholly owned showrooms infewcities. "Sir, that's not feasible. At this BE showroom, we take orders only from our walk-in customers for all electronics' items. In fact, our Mumbai Head Office handles all such Internet transactions. We at the local or branch office are, thereby, not in a position to help you out," said Sandeep, the CS executive.

103

104

Cases in CRM

"Sandeep, this is too much for me to handle now. It's been 15 days that I paid over Internet using my credit card for this Microwave oven. As mentioned on the website, I was supposed to get home delivery of my product in just 7 days. For the last few days, I have been running from pillar to post, but to no avail," blasted Rajesh. Discomfited by the response at the Showroom, Rajesh called up the head office the same evening. After a few call transfers, Rajesh was speaking to Sunil Jain, Head of 'Web Operations'. Sunil gave a patient listening to Rajesh's situation and felt apologetic for his plight. He was, in fact, bewildered by the fact that the company owned showrooms were not informed of the systemic changes that have taken place at BE. Prior to the organisation overhaul, any Internet order was processed and delivered from the Mumbai HO. This one-on-one dispatching of products to customers' addresses was leading to heavy transportation costs, ultimately borne by the company. This was making the entire 'e-channel' business unviable for BE. A month ago, in order to leverage the benefits of its existing physical infrastructure and its clout in the market, BE decided to amalgamate its 'traditional' channel of distributors, dealers and retailers with the new and upcoming 'web channel'. Under this new system, an order received over the Internet was processed centrally at Mumbai HO and was then directed to the nearest showroom/retailer. While directing orders to different channel partners, 'Company-owned showrooms' were given priority over the third party dealers/retailers. With receipt of necessary details, this retail outlet would then source the electronic item from its local/regional warehouse and complete the transaction by delivering the item to customer's address. Sales and Post-Sales activities like Installation, Documentation, and Servicing were further the responsibilities of the local office. This also ensured that BE was reaching even to its remotest customer. Having heard the entire 'tale' of Rajesh, Sunil was able to realise where things were going wrong. He apologised for the delay and assured Rajesh that within two days his microwave would be at his doorstep. With just two phone calls, one to National Manager, Web-Ordering and the other to Store Manager, Pune Showroom, Rajesh's Microwave oven was on its way to his residence. Sunil looked at his computer screen and realised that this is just the tip of the iceberg. This was his 9* customer complaint of the week that was originating because of the same issue. The transition from centralised delivery to decentralised process was not turning out to be as smooth as desired. The Sales and Marketing departments of all products were not fully 'integrated' with the web channel. In order to have proper control and effective division of

Case 25 S for Structure; S for Satisfaction

responsibilities, BE was divided into so many departments and product lines that on ground each of them acted as a different company. Lack of seamless communication between these 'individual companies' was resulting into customer dissatisfaction. With the explosive growth of Web Channel, Sunil already started feeling the heat of excessive differentiation in their organisation structure. Along with merging of distribution channels, he had proposed fusing of few internal departments at BE. Although the latter was not approved, only the channels got merged. Given the tough-minded leadership at BE, Sunil pondered over the issue of existing 'differentiated' organisation structure and a possible 'integrated' structure with its considerable impact on customer satisfaction. After gazing at the ceiling for a while, Sunil turned to his computer and was now determined to raise the organisation structure issue at tomoiTow's board meeting. Questions --- -- - - ---. -.-.-.----.-- =t~~,^ - ..,-.....-....-,.- 1.

Assuming Sunil to be your colleague, support him in his presentation to the board with your views on organisation structure and its impact on Customer Satisfaction? Also mention the pros and cons of 'differentiation' and 'integration' organisation structure. How do you foresee the short-term and long-term future of BE with its different departments acting as single entities rather than working in unison?

2.

105

Case No. 26
A DILEMMA FOR MARKETERS
..;=,,.., *

Objectives ,.*..,..,... After going through this case, you will be able to:

overview too many markets, too many brands, so much variety of products. explain the dilemma of the manufacturers because of the brand-clutter in the market. discuss the dilemma for the marketer. What is the present position of the retailer?

As brand clutter increases and consumers leave the choice to the retailer, marketers resort to retail push. But can this be sustained? Is there a way out of this impasse? What is the present status of the retail outlets? In today's market, the retailer has become the king. He says "In my small shop, I have to keep 2500 stock keeping unit ,they may get old, lost, invisible, stolen and obsolete, eaten by rats, you are adding to my complexities adding brand after brand. Shouldn't you give me a good reason to keep them all?" With a lot of negotiation, the marketer might be successful in placing his product in the outlet but he may not be able to place all the variants of the product. It was clear that with the influx of so many brands and variants in the market, the retailer's push strategy would matter the most. Why retailer is an important entity for the marketer? A phenomenon where the retailer is becoming a very important part of the marketing mix is clearly visible. Many marketers today are aware that a retailer can choose not sell their brand. No matter how much you shout in the advertisements, if it is not available on the retailer's shelf, it will not be bought. If the customer asks the retailer why he does not have a given brand, he says that the distribution channel is insufficient or that the brand has

107

108

Cases in CRM

complaints. It is clearly understood that somebody somewhere is making it more visible for the retailer to stock one brand over another Also if he is not stocking all brands it is because he knows that the consumer is also becoming indifferent across brands which is why the retailer tries to get the maximum margins out of companies. The sale of a product depends upon the high push energy of the company with the retailer. He can easily change the buying decision of the customer. He can make the customer rethink about his brand ideas. What does the biscuit industry have to say in terms of the retailers' importance in the market? The companies today which do not have a proper differentiator to survive in the market will sell to the retailer at one rupee lower than the leader. In the biscuit industry, Scenario every marketer is suffering losses. Every biscuit is at a 50% discount to the retailer or has a consumer offer on it as there is very little to choose from with no repeatable, reproducible differentiators. Consumer durables like television sets have various offers which enable the customers to exchange their old sets for new ones as well as get discounts on a new purchase without the exchange offer. The retailer receives a larger commission for stocking the old television sets. It is thus necessary for a manufacturer to give incentives to the retailer for the survival of that offer in the market. Marketers have to get to the retailers and give them commission so that they would prefer him over other brands. Usually the marketers keep their retailers on a 5-7% margin on all branded goods. But if given a good deal then they will influence the buyer to switch brands.30% of the times the retailer will be successful. The marketer is in a dilemma that irrespective of the amount spent on Television advertisements, he still has to be sure about the retailer pushing his product as that is where his volumes come from. Questions
1. 2.

What CRM packages can the marketer adopt? Give an illustration about how the marketer can sustain the retailer and provide more benefits for the consumer. At what level of supply chain should the marketer implement effective CRM?

3.

Case\No. 2
PINNACLK;OF CUSTOM ER' SATISFACTIO N
Objectives

I\

IAfter going through this case, you will be able to: . ;

overview customer satisfaction from an industry-specific sales perspective. find the long-term and short-term implications on product sales.

Suresh gave one more worried look at the graph in front of him. Despite having a year-on-year 50% jump in Quarter 1, the second quarter car sales results were a major letdown. Pinnacle Motors had a drop in the number of cars sold as compared to its last year's figures for the same quarter. In addition to this, Pinnacle's co-dealer Unique Cars had outsold it for the first time in the history of both the dealerships. Suresh's senior Indumati (General Manager) had called for a meeting in the evening. Suresh didn't take much time to figure out what the meeting was called for. Since its inception, way back in 1998, Pinnacle Motors has been the authorised dealership in Pune of one of the premier automobile companies of India. The authorised service centre was opened, a year later, in response to the growing local car service requirements. The final setup that emerged was a 3-S facility i.e. Showroom (Sales), Service and Spares. Since the day he joined Pinnacle Motors as Showroom In-charge, three years back, Suresh had been at the forefront of delivering superior results. A fledgling dealership then, today Pinnacle has consolidated its position in the Pune district, thanks to the unrelenting efforts of Suresh and his team. Despite facing several hurdles from time to time, his team kept on moving ahead and in just a span of 24 months, it moved from fourth position, in terms of monthly cars sold, to number one. The dealership sold an average of 200 cars per month in and around Pune city. ? ;. Having enjoyed the leadership position in this burgeoning city and its satellite areas for almost three quarters, Pinnacle Motors was now facing a new set of problems that were never thought of. I l l

112

Cases in CRM

With its car sale being stagnant, the customer satisfaction was at an all-time low level. The customer sales satisfaction was measured using a 1-page feedback questionnaire filled by the customer at the time of vehicle delivery. The questionnaire focused on three core aspects of the Sales process, which the customer had undergone while purchasing the vehicle from Pinnacle viz. Sales Experience, Price Evaluation and Car delivery Quality. On every (sub) parameter, the customer rated his/her experience on a likert scale of 1 -5 with 1 being the worst and 5 being the best. For last 6 months, the average rating for each of these (sub) parameters is as follows:

Month / Parameter 1 . SALES EXPERIENCE Sales person Knowledge Showroom Upkeep

'

Jan 07

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

June

July

3.8

3.9

3.7

3.6

3.4

3.2

2.9

4.3

4.1

4.2

4.0

4.3

4.0

4.1

.-.-..; & Display

2. PRICE EVALUATION Deal received from the dealer Document handlingby the dealer 3. VEHICLE DELI VERY Promised vs Actual delivery time Vehicle Decoration / 3.3 Celebration Explanation ofdocuments 3.2 2.9 2.4 2.6 2.4 2.5 2.6 3.0 2.8 2.9 3.1 2.8 2.9 3.5 3.1 2.4 2.1 1.9 2.1 2.0 4.5 4.3 4.2 4.4 4.1 4.4 4.3 4.6 4.7 4.5 4.8 4.6 4.8 4.8

Suresh stared at the table and its accompanying graph. He was able to pinpoint and get to the root of the problem. Looking into the thin air, he visualised where and how Unique cars had taken the lead. Suresh could now comprehend why customers were switching to Unique after having first visited Pinnacle. While Pinnacle concentrated on passing on more discounts to its customers, its co-dealer Unique cars was focusing on the 'affective' and emotional aspects of car selling, especially at the time of vehicle delivery. Unique Cars was well known for its 'Surprise Gift' at the time of delivery which was personally handed over

Case 27 Pinnacle of Customer Satisfaction

to each customer by the owner of the dealership. The surprise gift was customised with respect to every customer after looking at his/her interests and hobbies. Internally, under a monthly contest, a salesperson was rewarded for the 'best tailor-made' gift. Apart from this, the atmosphere during delivery of cars was of celebration and jubilation making customers leave the showroom premises with a smile. That evening, in meeting room, Indumati shared the JD Power survey results with the entire sales team. The JD Power MR agency was a recognised name in the field of independent automobile surveys. With respect to customer satisfaction, this time, the JDP survey had rated Pinnacle Motors at 10th position amongst 15 car dealers of Pune (Unique cars was at number one position). The survey also highlighted the weightages (importance) given by customers to different parameters while purchasing a car, as follows:

Parameter Delivery Process Delivery Timing Salesperson Dealer Facility Paperwork Deal Received 35% 16% 15% 14% - 11% 10%

Factor Weight in 2007

Another cause of concern was the cost pressures that had recently hit Pinnacle. Margins were getting squeezed due to heavy discounting by competing car dealerships. Once again, to bail her out of this crisis, Indumati was looking forward to Suresh's analysis. Questions 1) As a colleague to Suresh, support him in his presentation to Indumati. As per your understanding of the situation at Pinnacle, what appears to be the root cause of the problem?

113

ase No. 28
VAITING LINE
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to:

explain customer satisfaction in a Retail Chain from two different perspectives. explores the cost-analysis that every firm has to go in for ensuring superior customer service.

"That's all", retorted Amit in response to Shama's query. Apparently, Shama wasn't convinced. There was something in Amit's solution that troubled her. She questioned further, "But how is it going to benefit my loyal customers?". Amit chuckled, as he couldn't get to what Shama was thinking of. He replied, "My solution will benefit all customers, not just our loyal customers". "That's precisely the issue", Shama reverted with a puzzled look. Having successfully completed her Distance Learning MBA program from a premier institute in Pune, Shama joined six months back, as Store Manager at 'Bigger Bazaar'. 'Bigger Bazaar' was a Hypermarket with sales ranging from Consumer Durables, Furniture, Groceries and Food items, FMCG, Electronics, Apparel to Jewellry. The 'Stock Deep, Sell Cheap' business model was followed religiously, since inception. ; Since her first day, 1st May 2007, at Pune's biggest retail store, she has been witnessing the Retail Revolution. Her store being at the heart of Pune city as well as a business district, hordes of customers visited on a daily basis. During evenings, customers amassed to an unmanageable extent. At Bigger Bazaar, throughout the day, like any other retail store, customer walk-in rate was skewed. Between 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the evening, 80% of the days shopping happened and it was during these peak hours that serpentine queues were a common sight. The

115

Cases in CRM

average waiting time in these queues also peaked, at times going as high as 45 mins. Plainly, this led to high customer churn. Customers simply moved to the newly opened shopping centre Neo Mega Mart. Those in hurry, the time-poor customers, preferred their local kirana shops or neighbourhood supermarkets like 'Sub-Shiksha', 'Tall-Mart', 'Much More' etc. Last week, at the weekly Management meeting of B igger B azaar, Shama was facing, once again, the music as a new customer satisfaction survey had placed Neo Mega Mart at Rank 1 and Bigger Bazaar was reeling at the bottom of the list (Rank 11). She did reply stating that the sales have gone up substantially after her joining; completely oblivious to the fact that margins have been steadily dropping. (Refer Exhibit 1) One of the reasons why costs were spiraling up, was also due to the fact that last month in order to manage the evening crowd, Shama had increased the number of billing counters from 10 to 15. This had cost as well as display space implications. But customer dissatisfaction was still a concern. The bigger problem was of regular customers being lured and targeted by new entrants. This led to further escalation of issue within the management at Bigger Bazaar.

Exhibitl

Month Jan- Feb '07 Mar - Apr '07 May - June '07 June - July '07 Aug - Sept '07 Oct - Nov '07 p
p_

Sales Revenue 0.98 Cr 1.1 Cr 1.3 Cr 2.1 Cr 3.9 Cr 4.8 Cr

Operating Costs 0.8 Cr 0.92 Cr 1.05 Cr 1.8 Cr 3.4 Cr 4.2 Cr

= Projected figure The loyalty scheme, a brainchild of Shama, introduced three months back was resulting into precise information on regular customers, their shopping habits, frequency of purchase and preferences. However, their efforts towards improving 'customer service' were not

yielding substantial results. Managing costs on one hand and ensuring customer satisfaction

116

Case 28 Waiting Line

on the other hand was more of a tight ropewalk for Shama. Yesterday, Amit, the Assistant Store Manager, had suggested for adding extra billing counters to smoothen the billing process and tackle the waiting line menace. Apart from incremental costs to be incurred for new billing counters, Shama was also concerned for the regular and loyal customers. She was completely aware of the fact that approximately 80% of purchases were made by around 20% of the loyal customers. On profit front, these 20% customers contributed substantially to the bottom line. So focusing on these few customers was the key. Shama was contemplating on having a dedicated billing counter for 'Gold' Card customers. The gold card customers were the ones with either high frequency purchase or high-ticket purchase customers. Special add-on facilities to these customers like valet parking, new promotional schemes, free home delivery, 'Call for Mall' (a mailer customised to individual customers' likes and dislikes) was what she was thinking on. These services would give 'Bigger Bazaar' the much-needed differentiation in the highly competitive market.

Questions
1.

Amit and Shama appear to look at the situation from two different perspectives. Discuss each of the perspectives in detail.
Given the present scenario of cost pressures and customer dissatisfaction, what would you recommend to Shama in order to overcome the challenges faced?

2.

117

Case No.
HEALTH TOURISM AND TECHNOLOGY

I I
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to:

examine the importance of technology in customer relation management.

identify reasons for the need to innovate in customer care. explain how 'information revolution' is affecting the perceptions of consumers. assess the importance of investing in 'trust building exercises' especially in the field of health care.

Revati, a 33-year-old mother of two (and a former model) is unable to lift her arms over her head and has suffered irrepairable muscle damage to her chest after a botched breast enlargement during what she thought would be a luxury holiday at Kochi. Revati said she had been considering breast implants for several years when a friend suggested she try a so-called medical holiday in Kochi where patients are promised an all-in-one luxury holiday and cosmetic surgery for a cheaper price than the cost of surgery anywhere in the country. "I woke up after the surgery and felt like I'd been hit by a bus. I was so sick. I couldn't stop throwing up and no one in the hospital could understand Hindi, I didn't know what to do." Revati said she was in agony when she returned from the six-day trip in February and went to the emergency department with heart palpitations and high blood pressure. She eventually booked an urgent appointment with a local surgeon when the pain did not subside. These kinds of malpractices can occur anywhere when seeking for a cheap procedure. Indeed, the marketing ploy used by countless agencies is cost first. But there is a vast array of other components that brings qualitative difference: luxury hotels, top quality hospital. 1 1 9

120

Cases in CRM

Medical tourism service seekers are growing by the day. Some of the services provided in this field are, BOTOX surgery- a positive esthetical improvement on one's body, Rhino Plasty, Skin beautification, Stress management, Nature-therapy, Liposuction among many others. As profit margins have become slimmer for health care providers, some hospitals that specialise in certain treatments are beginning to see themselves in a customer service role. Manipal, a well-known hospital in Mangalore, has been known for innovative medical treatments but now is recognising the need to develop stronger customer relationships with their patients in order to improve satisfaction and strengthen bottomline profits. In short, patients are customers, and they are driving profits and simultaneously, this rise in 'consumerism' (as patients have more choice in personally directing their health care) has also led to the transformation of hospitals from mere disease treating institutions to providing five star hotel treatment to patients. Manipal is also offering 'boutique' health services such as imaging clinics, home health services and physician clinics. The cosmetic surgery department of the hospital provides customised services and resembles more of a beauty parlour, than a surgical theatre! Compared to other service industries, hospitals have traditionally ranked as notoriously poor in customer satisfaction. Manipal has seized this opportunity to utilise successes outside the health care industry by bringing customer experience "best practices" to health care. Just like in any other business, customer loyalty in health care through a follow-up on the patient rather than a one-time service is one of the customer retention techniques employed by Manipal. A separate department is created at this hospital to enhance relationships with patients. This department ensures that patients perceive a caring attitude from the hospital thus moving from episodic care to the development of a continuous relationship. As Dr. Sethi (head of the post treatment department) explains "A meaningful, sustainable growth in health care depends on adopting a proactive approach; setting customer expectations about their patient experience and then delivering those experiences in the manner that the customers themselves have indicated as critical. For example, a recent study conducted by our department provided customer expectations information to hospital executives that led to improved communications with patients, such as a comprehensive patient guide that detailed everything from 'what to bring for your stay' to 'how to read your bill.' This was backed with enhanced customer service training." Maintaining updated database on all customers requires state of the art technology. Manipal hospital spends almost 15% of its total profit turn over in updating its communication

Case 29 Health Tourism and Technology

needs. Last year, they purchased computer software programme that is proving itself more than its worth. As Dr. Sethi points out "We are happy with our mainframe, so we wanted to use what we already had - but needed a 'pretty' interface," for which we chose a programme called Soulmate, primarily because of the flexibility of the solution. The hospital wanted to minimize training and disruption for its staff. We wanted something more user-friendly and easier-to-access. But some of the solutions we saw were almost too 'paperless' and I felt that would be an overwhelming change for our staff. After seeing a demonstration of Soulmate, the Web-based access, we gave the green signal.The doctors love it- the point-and-click access and simplified presentation is more in tune with what they want. There is no training required and no searching for keyboard commands. For doctors off-site, it's one-step logon, which greatly simplifies and enhances their access. The authentication table has passwords with auto-change, for unique sign-on and passwords. Before the incorporation of the Soulmate, we had to dial-in, validate the doctor's office, pull the chart, print the information and fax a copy. It was very time-consuming filling out doctor requests. The Soulmate is better, especially if a patient is in the office. The staff can quickly pull up their records and have them ready." With faster access to information, it is much easier for providers to get what they need, when they need it. "By having the information readily at hand, it makes our patient care smoother, and helps reduce calls to our facility," explained Dr.Sethi. He believes that the patient will be the hub of care. He argues "The health care system will be shifting to revolve around the patients wants and needs, and not necessarily the physician's requirements and preferences. More insurance plans will provide health care advisors, usually specialised nurses, who will not only help enrollees gather health care decision-making information, but offer advice to guide and direct care plans. Funded by the insurer, health coaches will work with the chronically ill, prompting these patients to demand certain tests and procedures, and proof that physicians are following best practices. Linking performance information with choice is key to helping enrollees maximize their financial and health goals. Consumers will use published data on patient satisfaction ratings- including ease of access, helpfulness and friendliness of nurses and office staff, and overall satisfaction with care and serviceto be more discriminating buyers of medical services. Consumers will have great expectations. Spending out of their own accounts, and empowered with information, consumers will likely have higher expectations that the service their provider recommends or performs is the best and appropriate care.They will hold providers to a higher standard than in the past, and will challenge physicians to prove that what they' re recommending is indeed 'best practice'. Patients will want to discuss costs and benefits of various treatments and will press for information on results and outcome."

121

Cases in CRM

In order to attract more patients, providers are locating ancillary clinics in malls, kiosks and grocery stores for easier access. More providers are communicating with patients online, and charging them for email consultations.Telemedicine units placed in the home make 'virtual' visits a reality, monitoring, among others, glucose, oxygen, pulse and blood pressure. Caregivers review home-based data, evaluating and educating patients via realtime audio/visual conferencing. Dr. Sethi is also of the opinion that customised care centres will target specific diseases. Qualityoriented, focused and customer-friendly, these specialised centres will deliver care for specific conditions, such as cancer, heart disease and orthopedic ailments. Consumers will welcome and comply with chronic care management programs, understanding that stemming disease progression will ultimately be more cost-effective than paying for acute interventional services (emergency services). The focus of care will shift increasingly from treatment to prevention. Questions
1.

In your view, how important is Dr. Sethi's department in realtionship to customer care? Why do you think so? How important is technology in customer care? 'Hospitals are no longer treating illness.' Comment. 'Consumers of today are better informed.' Comment. Suggest newer ways of ensuring better patient-doctor relationship.

2. 3. 4. 5.

122

Case No.
RUDRAKAF MA - AAR INDUSTRIES
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to:

justify the need of CRM activities. .--.-.. recognise the importance of proper trained front end marketing officers. identify the causes for necessity of balancing presence in different market segments.

RudraKarma-Aar Industries Ltd. was a diversified company with dominance in the Auto Industry. Started by Dr.Sudeep Saxena way back in the mid-nineties, the company had gradually progressed in the first decade and successfully survived the slack in the economy in the fag end of the century. A visionary, Dr. Saxena, always felt that he has to diversify in product lines and integrate the operations to withstand the cyclical fluctuations. So RudraKarma-Aar which started with a small garment trading firm slowly turned itself into a garment factory and Dr. Saxena started a small Export Unit. Prompted by the success in this area, Dr. Saxena, who was 52 years of age by then, then entered in the Tannery and Leather Exports. His thinking was simple but refined. Feeling that his one of the two sons preferably the elder son Suraj could be groomed to take over this business, he ensured that Suraj returned back from Canada with a specialisation in Business Administration. His younger son Akhil, graduated in Mechanical Engineering had by then left for his Masters Degree in US. At home Dr. Saxena had planned ambitious project of entering in the Auto Industry segment. This was as per the study reports he came across and the wind of change in the countries' Economic Policy and the overall rise in the average income of the salaried class. All pointed to the Northward progress of the Auto Industry and Dr. Saxena decided to encash upon the same. Funded by a medium sized Public Issue the Auto Division of RudraKarma-Aar Industries Ltd. started its operations in the vicinity Gurgaon. RudraKarma-Aar Industries Ltd. started the production of Bi-Wheeler horns for the Scooter as well as the Motorcycle Industry.

125

126

Cases in CRM

First two years were very crucial for the Company as they had to tap all the manufacturers in the Western and Southern India too. A strong Marketing network headed by Mr. Kapil Singh and comprising three regional offices and seven resident representatives was established to service the Auto-Majors. Kapil Singh had a rich experience of more than 22 years in the Auto Industry and he had dealt with virtually every Auto Manufacturer across India. Getting approval of the large manufacturers in the Northern and Western States was difficult, but Dr. Saxena was successful in steering through these stages properly. Soon in two years time, RudraKarma- Aar Industries Ltd. had a vendor code of six different Auto Majors as OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) Supplier. Along with his responsibilities in the Garment and Leather Industry, Suraj was also assigned the position of the Director, Operations for this Auto Division. Akhil who had returned with his MS followed by another accreditation in Finance was inducted in the Company as a whole time director subsequently. Being the younger child and brought up in sound financial conditions, Akhil had more or less forgotten to listen, a negative answer. Also to avoid the wrath of his short tempered nature, he was pampered by the family members to a considerable level. Overall in his personal life, Akhil had become more aggressive and dominant. Kapil Singh, the VP Marketing of the Auto Division had marked this point in their very first meeting with Akhil after his return from US. However, Akhil's such nature soon earned him a name and still all subordinates were scared to face him. This resulted in a significant increase in the efficiency of the overall operations. Coupled with the boost in the industry and by virtue of the stability attained after first few years of teething problems, the turnover the Auto Division scaled to a hundred and ten crores in the ninth year. However, Dr. Saxena still felt that there was more scope for growth. Till now they had presence in the Auto-OEM segment but their name was not established as a brand in the replacement market. Dr. Saxena knew that the OEM Business had to be coupled with the retail business through the Distributor-Dealer network simultaneously. This was because the population of vehicles in the Market was ever-growing and a better relationship with the Dealer Channel would be rewarding in the long run. It could also enable them to bring up new products in future and give a cushioning against the cyclical variations in the OEM Market that is always sensitive to the financial interest rates, festive and off-festive period, typically down at the Calendar Year end etc. He threw open the topic for discussions within his two sons and the Marketing Head. A deep study of the competitors' activities who had a strong presence in both OEM and Replacement segment in Auto Market revealed that to promote the product directly, to market it, needed a strong tie-up and relationship with the garages and auto-mechanics directly on a one to one basis.

Case 30 RudraKarma - Aar Industries

At the end of a closely held meeting amongst the four, the picture became more clear. Dr. Saxena, Suraj, Akhil and Kapil Singh were clear in their minds that they needed to strengthen the Marketing Team by adding CRM Officers who would directly deal with the mechanic level and promote the Brand. Mr. Kapil Singh was assigned the task to frame out a proper project to study and implement the induction of such mechanism in the Marketing team that could take over the Brand Building at grass root level effectively. This was to be reviewed with Dr. Saxena and the two Directors on a weekly basis. Questions
1.

Comment with your observations about the overall journey of RudraKarma-Aar Industries. .............. ., .,,.. ..,.,,.,.,,., What in your opinion would have been the right way to start the CRM function in such situation ? State all steps to be followed in a definite time frame to implement the required set up for ensuring dominance in the Retail Market.

2.

3.

127

Case No. 31
EASY MONEY VS. HUMAN TOUCH
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to :

evaluate technology as a source of service provider. examine the ambiguous response to technology as a means for customer satisfaction.

No more waiting in long queues. Just log in into your account and log out with the cash. These are the words that best describe the way banking at Narmada, a Nationalised bank is moving forward in the country. Today, the bank is no more housed in dingy place where employees sit upon ledger books, taking eternity to check the balance in your account. Thanks to the rapid spread in the usage of information technology, things are moving fast even in the Nationalised banks that have been forced to adopt technology to negate the advantage that their new counterparts were walking away with. Mr. Kumar, the Chief General Manager of the bank states we are ever upgrading ourselves for newer ways of doing transactions. From plastic to virtual money, the bank is adapting technology to offer the latest modes for transacting business. We have changed considerably over the past 10 years more so during the last five years. What started off with individual branch computerisation, today we are networking all our branches, thereby helping consumers to operate his account from any point in the country. This is due to the need to innovate to survive. The rate of adoption of IT by foreign and private sector banks in the country has been significant over the last five years. This can be attributed largely to intense competition as well as the Internet phenomenon worldwide. A number of banks in the public sector have also accelerated the pace of IT deployment, largely because of the competitive pressure brought upon them by private sector banks and foreign banks." An official of the bank echoes the same sentiments: "Needless to say, competition from foreign banks was one of the motivating factors for us to switch to computers. But housekeeping scored over everything else. Maintaining books and regular tasks like

129

130

Cases in CRM

computing interest at the end of the calendar year was tedious. The quantum of database was so huge that computerisation was the only way out. Banks would have certainly started downing their shutters had banking software not taken over the reins." Technology has moved in so rapidly into the banking sector that today, with mobile being the 'in-thing', banks are not far behind to position themselves for this new medium to ring in customers in convenience. Most of them are talking about helping people access information of their accounts and even do transactions while on the move-calling this is M-banking (mobile banking). Mr. Dixit explains, "Our bank has been more foresighted in their approach and is using technology, which can be 'componentised' and 'reused'. We have adopted technologies like enterprise application integration, which connect their disparate and heterogeneous systems; we are investing in customer relationship management (CRM) systems, data from which can be mined and used for years to come". With the entry of non-traditional players the banking arena has witnessed an increased pressure on profit margins of traditional financial institutions. These players in turn offer customers a wide array of options and services. The fallout: Customer loyalty is on the decline. In order to attract and retain customers, Narmada markets new products and has increased delivery channels. Speed of response to customer, which is critical, and first-mover advantage significant has been given much attention in this banking institution. Traditional business planning and evaluation processes can hamper the response time. Thus, for us (Mr. Dixit answering) technology has come to play a decisive role in considerably reducing time to market new products. It also facilitates the planning and evaluation process. Anywhere, anyhow and anytime banking that fits in with their lifestyle is what consumers are looking for today. Technology allows this to become a reality. Despite the dotcom bust and E-commerce not taking off in the expected trajectory, experts agree on one thing that the Internet is here to stay. Most of the services offered on the Net have been received quite well by customers and there is no reason to believe that the same won't be the case with banking services. Despite the major problem E-commerce is facing today in the form of online security, the concept of Emoney, whereby customers seamlessly interact with the organisation, seems too lucrative to resist. Internet banking, or E-banking as it is popularly called, offers banks and customers a huge opportunity by way of convenience and reach. Bank (Mr. Dixit commenting) has a tie up with Rediff to offer such services. Technology primarily improves customer satisfaction,

Case 3 1 Easy Money Vs. Human Touch

even as we (Mr. Dixit referring to this phenomenon) are forced to remain competitive while reducing costs. The Indian banking sector woke up to the world of technology in early 1990s. Though in the beginning the employee's resisted computerisation (especially in Nationalised banks), the management finally succeeded in convincing its employees about the benefits and need for adoption of technology. Until the advent of automatic teller machines (ATMs), customers were unaware or not directly affected by the technological revolutions happening in the banking sector. ATMs became the major revelation for customers for it offered the facility to avoid the long queues in front of the cashier in a bank. It also provided them the flexibility of withdrawing money-anytime, anywhere. However, Mr. Dixit has a different point of view on this. According to him, for the new breed of banks, human contact is anathema. The overarching desire is to resolve grievances on the phone or through the Internet. The customer is preferred to remain a faceless entity with a number to identify him. But at the traditional banks, a harried customer, running from pillar to post would often find that a kind word, a cup of tea and a patient hearing solves half the problem. " However, with the insurge of technology, the face to face contact with customers has declined sharply. The human contact is decreasing. This is not a very good sign. After all, technology is here to aid us in our work but not to replace the human component altogether. Also, the fact remains however advanced a technology may be, it has inherent limitations, such as in our business, where ATMs malfunction at times, or are misused. Additionally, technology is replacing human labour. This trend in the long run could displace a sizeable proportion of the staff leading to higher levels of unemployment. We need to know how far to go." Questions
1.

Why is Mr. Dixit so worried about the future regarding customer care and its interrelationship with technology? How is Narmada quite different from other Public sector banks in terms of customer care?

2.

3 ) S uggest way s in which one can maintain balance between technological interventions and human inputs vis-a-vis customer relations.

f ?- 1 - T- >% /*%

ase No. 32
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Objectives ,, After going through this case, you will be able to:

analyse this case study within the framework of customer retention and customer care. examine the logic of pursu ing a customer centric model to that of resource centric model.

For a restaurant to thrive, the best of customer services and experiences are critical. Restaurants which have grown in the past have a history of continuously improved customer services and experiences. Multiple techniques have been used ranging from table reservations to express take-away, drive-ins to free home deliveries and more. Keeping in trend with this tradition, Crunch, a well-entrenched restaurant chain, have come up with an Online Meal Ordering System (OMS). Speaking about this system Mr. Dixit, the Manager at one of the outlets of Crunch comments "Today the Internet has a widespread reach - from mobile phones to day-to-day use devices in homes Internet has seen an exponential growth in terms of coverage and awareness. The food industry has also felt the strong presence of Internet-the online sale of food and beverages has increased 18 times over the last five years in India. Families prefer to order food and have it at home. However, presently this picture is true for the higher middle class families. Especially the service sector employees, prefer this system to others as, it helps save time and energy. Moreover, their odd timings of work gel well with this system. The online food and beverage market is experiencing a renaissance as people discover the convenience and ease of ordering online. More importantly, more than 80 percent of those who ordered food on the Internet said they rated the experience as excellent. The Online Meal Ordering System is an indigenously built Meal ordering system that has been

133

134

Cases in CRM

designed to seamlessly integrate with the existing website without having to replace the existing website (or in case of restaurants with no website - OMS gives an online presence to your restaurant). With the click of a mouse, customers can order food, food gift certificates, and make reservations for dining, directly from the restaurant's website; quickly, effectively and securely over the Internet. Orders can be sent to a fax machine, or to an email account or can directly be viewed over the Internet. Payments can be made upon delivery (as is usually done) or in advance. OMS also helps build valuable customer information database automatically as orders are placed on your website. This enables targeted marketing campaigns. OMS also provides live sales reports and statistics online through an exclusive password protected account management page." Mr. Dixitadds "Through the OMS we provide a customer service that is unparalleled. Some of the highlights of the OMS system is that it is simple, fast and convenient ordering of food, availability of the menu online 24*7*365 - no need to recite the complete menu over the phone (an online menu is ready to be viewed and printed by people worldwide), accurate - no more spelling out the dishes' names, secure - gives you an opportunity to get the clients to prepay to eliminate fake-ordering, no computer/computer knowledge required: ability to directly receive the faxes to your fax machine, menu with the actual pictures of the product thereby adding to the uniqueness of your online presence, creation of a customer database: helps offer a personal touch by remembering customer birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions. Prior knowledge of time for delivery helps prepare and provide better service. It also provides base for online promotions, electronic coupons and gift certificates without needing the costly conventional media. Additionally, one can receive direct customer feedback and suggestions while simultaneously keeping the customer informed. Crunch, with its headquarters located in Mumbai was established in the year 1952. Well known for its customer service right from its early inception, it has grown by leaps and bounds. Today, it has over 75 outlets in all major cities of India and also has some 20 outlets in United States of America and Western Europe." When asked how the enterprise could expand so rapidly, Mr. Singh the owner of the chain, replied " We take utmost care of customer needs. We try and build a trust relationship with them. This policy and ideology is ingrained into each and every employee of this enterprise. Our business is such that the gestation period of profits is immediate. We make

Case 32 Food for Thought

profits daily and thus funelling resources in the right direction are also very important. But as stated, it is the customer base that has given us this distinction. We ensure that the customer is not only satisfied, but immensely happy about the service and quality of food that we have to offer, though the impact on the purse of the customer may be slightly higher than in any other enterprise offering the same service. Though slightly costlier than other competitors, out customers are attracted and have remained loyal to us.

Questions
1) Examine how Crunch made it big.
2.

Assess various technological inputs (with regard to customer satisfaction) in making Crunch a successful business enterprise. Suggest any more customer related innovations.

3.

135

Case No. 33
MEGA FOODS KITCHEN

F
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to :
explain

the reactions of the customer towards the offer made by mega foods kitchen.

What was the result of the sample test done by the customer? Nita Karnik peered at the test samples of chapattis from Mega Foods kitchen. After three days of storage, one was as hard as rock but yielded a bit after being put in the microwave, the second was soft but had split into two layers and the last had turned mouldy. Nita groaned. She was not getting it right. But the results were due today and she took the samples to Taran Mazumdar, Food Consultant and Technologist at Mega Industries' Food Company. Why was Nita Karnik forced to take the sample to the Marketing head of the company? Being annoyed with the taste of the chapattis he accompanied Nita to Satish Vyas, Marketing Head of the Company. He tasted the chapattis and commented that the difference in the taste was bound to occur, mainly due to the preservatives added to increase the shelf life of the chapatti. Back in the laboratory Nita said to Taran that they were concentrating more on the price, shelf life and consumer acceptance instead of concentrating on the product development. What was the outcome of the discussion between the various personnel of the company? Later that day the research, marketing and the sales teams had meeting with the Managing Director Mr.Maini. Satish started the discussion by stating how the ready to eat chapatti was costlier than the home made chapatti. Ritesh Pai, the Sales Head intervened and explained that in western countries reheated tortillas or burritos were popular due to their

137

138

Cases in CRM

eating habits. However, the eating habits of the Indians are a sharp contrast to that of the western countries. We concentrate more on taste and temperature. What were the strategies of the foreign fast food companies? To support his point further Myna Sharma, Marketing Research - Head stated that it took a whole generation for Maggi Noodles or Kellog Cereals to appear on the grocery list of the Indians. Thus, she also stated that the Indian market for ready to eat chapattis was too immature. Nita spoke up in defence stating that the success of ready to eat chapattis lies in the time required to prepare them. She stated that the ready to eat chapattis would be a huge hit with the working women and in those where family size was too small and suggested the idea of ready to eat chapattis should be dropped. However, the MD shook his head and suggested that they carry on again reminding them of Maggi's success story. Satish interrupted and stated that such a project will be too costly and also spoke about the probable threat from the MNCs. Seeing that the argument was leading nowhere, Taran quoting examples of MTR, Gits, Parampara remarked that even small industries have the potential to make it big. He said that they should not concentrate on marketing strategy, positioning, segmentation etc. in the food industry because they do not create demand. It is already in existence. We still do not have any marketable product and our marketing thinking is superseding our manufacturing capability and product development. He further added "Our whole mission should be to make great tasting food first and deliver this food in a truly revolutionary technology". He suggested that they should come with some revolutionary technology in packing so as to overcome the problem of shelf life. According to Nita, what should be the focus of the company for success? Nita further stated that the western countries had mastered their ready to eat food, i.e totortillas and burritos and now they were mastering our chapattis like missi roti and kulchas. Satish said to Nita "So what's missing?" And she replied "Very simple, focus on packaging technology, focus on customer. That should be our focus. I believe the devil is the detail and success is in passion. So get the passion towards the customer and the product and packaging right, success will be there." Questions 1) What type of CRM would be an appropriate solution to this situation?

Case No, 34
GL IRE ALL INDIA LTD.
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to:

justify the need to maintain credibility in market. recognise the importance of proper homework before formal business discussions. identify the causes that lead to failure in following preset systems.

Chennai Domestic Air-Port was flooded with passengers and their mates and buddies. The atmosphere was vibrant with an air of excitement (as is always) in such a beautifully clustered area. Carrying a cup of hot coffee in one hand and a laptop in another, Gautam Laddha, scheduled to fly to Mumbai made his way toward the lobby and occupied a chair elegantly next to a foreigner. A frequent flier (out of India) Gautam was quite conversant with the ways niceties are exchanged in the West and an eye to eye contact with the French next to him made him smile lightly. It was just for this last five minutes that his cell phone had not buzzed and so he started having small sips of his favourite filter coffee and briskly going through the head lines of an English daily. Amidst the announcements in the local language and followed in English, Gautam could hear his cell ringing and now it was his PA Kavita on line. This was a routine call as set by Gautam. Daily morning, Kavita was supposed to report him on few important factory matters of the previous day and the cumulative sales figures. All HODs were advised to send a small SMS with relevant details to Kavita in the morning latest by 9.30 a.m. and Kavita re-arranged the same in Gautam's format and mailed the entire file. To avoid any reasons of non-accessibility of mails, she had to call him and give a telephonic update too. Gautam listened carefully as usual and was just about to cut the call when Kavita asked his convenience to discuss with Mr. Thomas their Production Head for some of his urgent queries. A clearance from Gautam and Thomas rang in a second. There was some specific problem in their Assembly Unit and Testing Divisions. The machine used for testing the

141

142

Cases in CRM

consistency of the tail lamp of a highly popular car model was under breakdown and needed some alternate solutions. There was an ever-mounting pressure from the Customer end and few decisions were needed to tide over the crisis. Gautam, smart and fast as ever, made quick decisions and empowered Thomas to set the matter right as per his directives. This was just an alternative to do the fire-fighting and in the subsequent three telecalls all was lined up to bring up the machine in order by the third shift at night. The French person sitting quiet till now just found the right opportunity to open a dialogue and introduced himself to Gautam as Mr. Jean K. T. Without any loss of time he informed that he was representing a Four Hundred Million Dollar Automobile products manufacturing and distribution multi-national with head-quarters in France. Currently, he was on a sourcing tour to India, travelling now to Mumbai, and with one of his colleague already stationed in Delhi for last one week. He was the Head - Global Sourcing for Automobile components and assemblies and they had just visited China for the same activity. They had short listed total 17 potential suppliers in the North, West and South Zones of India and had chalked out a complete travel plan to visit and audit them. Automobile Lighting Assemblies was one item on their hunting list and he had just been to one such supplier in Chennai. His curiosity had aroused while Gautam was discussing with his Plant Manager for the Testing Machine and crossing all formalities he decided to open the topic. Gautam was just about to respond when the Security Check announcement was heard and both rushed for the Flight Having exchanged the allocated seat with somebody, Gautam ensured that he was besides Mr. Jean to continue the dialogue. As soon as the use of electronic equipments was permitted after the take-off Gautam opened his laptop and started giving a presentation on the total operations of the five plants of Glare ALL India Ltd. to Jean. The organisation chart showed the number three position of Gautam as the Executive Director in GlareALL India Ltd. -(Lighting Division) Mumbai. Gautam explained all the capabilities of GlareALL India Ltd. - (Lighting Division) right from the conceptualisation, design and styling to production and on time supplies supported with proper logistics support and wide spread sales and distribution network. At the end of the twenty minutes presentation, Jean was quite impressed and offered willingness to work together subject to audit and clearance of GlareALL India Ltd. - (Lighting Division) by his team members. Gautam who was an aggressive seller did not want to close the topic without striking any deal in particular. He insisted Jean to specify their requirement and took the drawings over his pen drive and started studying the same. A reflector tail lamp assembly that Jean wanted to out source was almost matching to a particular type that GlareALL India Ltd. - (Lighting Division) was currently supplying in the domestic market. A complete break-up of the product costing was on Gautam's laptop and he could give an estimated price to Jean right across.

Case 34 Glare ALL India Ltd. (Lighting Division)

Jean was very much impressed with the costing and he worked out their requirement for this. It resulted into a whopping to ten million dollar business. Gautam pondered for a minute. He wished he could countercheck his offer of four dollars with his costing head. However, it was not possible as they were inaccessible to the telephones being still in the sky. Gautam worked out the formal quote in their standard format and putting in the pen drive passed over the same to Jean. Now the only hindrance was the feasibility check and audit clearance by Mr. Jean's team. This was scheduled on the next day immediately. All was fine until now. The real problem came to surface when the costing team was given the drawings on his arrival to the Plant. The end product was virtually similar to the product on shelf in Glare ALL India Ltd. - (Lighting Division) as studied by Gautam correctly, but the process of Assembly was a high precision one involving ultrasonic weldings and composite twin moulding etc. The cost price worked to more than Rs 172 per assembly without considering the standard overheads and profit. It clearly meant that every piece sold would be at no loss no profit level. The more it were produced it meant generation of more losses. But the quote was already given and the deal virtually struck. All permutations and combinations failed to show that the costing touched the green zone. Value Engineering would be time taking and the Management had to decide on a policy decision -Whether to stick to the commitment given by their ED and carry on the deal to protect the image of the Organisation in International Market or to decline the deal and face whatever arises later to that?

Questions . - - -- -- --- - ----- - - 1. 2.

Comment on the way Gautam Laddha has faced the customer. What in your opinion should the management of GlareALL IndiaLtd. - (Lighting Division) do to come out of this gracefully. Can you quantify the cost of maintaining proper relationship with customers and if yes, how?

3.

143

No. 35
SALES OF A NEWSPAPER
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to :
explain

a well established brand whose market conditions are on the decline.

What was the background of Rohini, a wellknown brand in Karnataka? Rohini is a well-known daily newspaper for almost last 30 years in Karnataka, both in urban and rural areas. Rohini gives the entire news in the local dialect that is Kannada. The focus is on the local news in all the major towns and cities in Karnataka. It has four publications from various cities: Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli, Belgaum. What problems did Rohini find itself in? The sales over the past few years have been as follows:

YEAR 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

SALES (in Rs.Lakh )

10,000 20,000 30,700 45,000 43000 38000

Rohini suddenly found its sales decline.From the table above, it can be observed that sales have taken a downward trend over the past two years.

145

146

Cases in CRM

What was the discussion between the CEO and the Marketing Manager? The CEO, Mr. Swami said one day to the Marketing Manager "I don't see things going right".The Marketing manager decided to undertake a market analysis of the whole Karnataka market. What were the findings of the market analysis undertaken by the Marketing Manager? The following were the findings:
1.

The sales of Rohini are concentrated only from the rural areas in spite of strong competition from the local newspapers. The urban population is shifting its daily habits from Rohini to The Hindu because of the shift of the education from Kanada to English. Moreover, local small newspapers entirely catering to the local population in rural areas is posing a strong threat. Like Hubli has its own Hubli Patrika which gives a detailed information about the happenings at Hubli. Rohini gives the information on politics in Karnataka, advertisements, movies, but on surveying the customer it has found that Rohini does not come in time. It is not a regular newspaper. Moreover, it does not provide the information like other newspapers. It is more politically oriented then consumer oriented. It is also observed that the profile of readers is that of people in the age group of 45 years to 70 years. The income segment that is reading the newspaper is al so in the range of Rs. 10,000 to Rs 15,000 a month. Moreover, the distribution machinery was involved in distributing other local newspapers because of the attractive incentives provided by them.

2.

3.

4. 5.

6.

7.

Hearing the shocking findings, the CEO called upon an immediate conference to strategise the present issue.

Case 35 Sales of a Newspaper

Questions
1. 2. 3.

Is CRM a major issue in this particular case? What are the issues of CRM involved in this particular case? What CRM strategy would you as a marketing manager of Rohini adopt?

REACHING OUT
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to:
create awareness

of marketing of newly launched company in the personal care Industry. __.__-

What is the brief background of the personal care Industry? Till now it has been only HLL and only HLL. It is on the top of mind brand for every customer or retailer, be it Lux, Wheel, Surf. How did this company achieve so much recognition? It is a pioneering company in India dealing in personal care product, FMCG and toiletries. It has progressed gradually but because of its consistency in performance, quality it has been popular among the consumers. Also because of its sales promotional policies, it has been number one in terms of sales and profitability. What was Mr.Patel marketing ? Mr. Patel, a fresh chemical engineer developed a new shampoo during his M. Tech course. He then formed a company and started selling and manufacturing the shampoos under the brand name "Hair clean". He priced it much lower than other shampoos in Maharashtra. This pricing strategy paid rich dividends and Hairclean became a startling success. He then developed a bathing soap with unique freshness and perfumes. Although the cost price of this soap was high, Mr.Shah priced it substantially lower to the competitive products in the market by maintaining lower profit margins.

149

Cases in CRM

150 What are his future plans? He wants to expand his market on a nation wide scale.He approached a market research consultant for suggestions. What were the market research consultant's suggestions? His suggestions were: Distribution focus: He should appoint wholesalers. Wholesalers have to be appointed district wise on commission basis. The wholesaler appointed by Mr.Shah should comply with the following conditions:
:

Good infrastructural facilities Sound financial base . -- Strong network of retailers covering various parts of the country Well trained, experience sales people

He should appoint sales representatives to look after the marketing activities. He should appoint one well experienced marketing manager. All the sales representatives should report to the marketing manager and the marketing manager should report to Mr. Shah. ........ He should also advertise for long term gains. Considering his affordability, advertising budget should be prepared. The effective media should be considered for advertising. The media which can reach the maximum number of people. The present pricing of the products will not help in sustaining over a long period of time. However, in the long run he can raise the price gradually. The prices charged for him should be affordable by the customers. He should have a customer orientation. He should develop a feedback machinery from the customers. Questions 1) What do you think should be the customer orientation in this case? Specify some customer relationship measures to achieve success in the market.

Case No.
GOVERNMENT ENTERPRISES AND BABUDOM
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to:

analyse the reasons for lack of customer care culture in public enterprises. examine the relationship of customer care and globalisation.

Before joining hands with one of the private Telecom giants, the charges and tariffs of the government run telecom department in India were the highest in the world. Now STD charges has been reduced to 4-5 times because private companies enter in telecom dept. Today, due to intense market competition, the rates have come down in a big way. What is more important is the perceptible change in the behaviour of the public officials which is welcome. They are more customer centric and their training ensures a much more customer friendly behaviour. However, there still exists intense red tapism and lack of transparency and perhaps inheritance of the colonial bureaucracy. Below is a piece that discusses these gaps and.its implications for the organisation. While travelling across Bangalore, there's one eye catching ad campaign; the hoardings proclaim that GT, the government-owned telecom utility in Bangalore, now offers 256 Kbps broadband Internet connectivity at tariffs, which may seem unviable for the organisation. Like many others, I too made my way to my local telephone exchange a few weeks ago, only to learn that all GT was offering currently registration forms-the actual connections would be provided months later. The reason behind the delay was not huge demand, but the fact that the so-called 'launch' and the media campaign were mere eyewash. According to some sources, back-end equipment still has not reached exchanges, so there is no question of connections being provided. Incidentally, GT claims that some telephone exchanges in Bangalore are already offering these services. As far as I know, this is not so. These telephone exchanges are the same ones where broadband trials have been on for some time now, but are not open to the customers as such.

153

154

The government-run organisations certainly do not discriminate when it comes to treating customer care, especially when seen in the bad light. Take another example: I recently read an advertisement by an IT

Head of an international school based in a hill station in Shillong. This school has over 4 Mbps of connectivity through GT and is one of their largest customers in that area-one might think that's the reason enough for GT to treat them as a valuable corporate customer. But the government run GT remains in poor light. This IT Head of the International school, writes of a recent incident when their Internet connection went down. Unable to get GT on the line, he called BLT (to whose gateway they connected) to see if they could help. A bit later, around 6.30 p.m., BLT officials called back and said that they got hold of the GT officer at the local telephone exchange but he said that he would sort it out only the next morning. What this IT Head was un-nerved about was the fact that this GT official lives on the exchange premises, just one floor above the room to which he would have had to walk, unlock and switch the power off on one modem! > - < * Surprisingly, if you happen to be invited to the residences of GT officials, as I had been once, you will be surprised to know that they are having superb level of speeds almost 10 to 15 times, no disconnections and sometimes no bills e.g. for a specific down load for which a normal customer downloads at his residence at 1.5 to 3, kbps, the same at GT's employee residence connection can be down loaded at @ 10 to 18 kbps, isn't is surprising? Also another surprising fact is why the GT is opposed to fixing meters like std metres for tele calls, you will be surprised to know that normally a customer who is using Local calls /internet worth Rs. 1000.00 is billed @ 20 to 45% higher may be more, and they do not provide any statement for local calls. ;. Incidentally, not everyone in these organisations is entrapped in the culture of red tapism. At the top levels of GT are officers who work very hard and are extremely market-savvy. I know quite a few personally and I know they care, not only about customers, but also about the future of the companies they work in. However, the middle and lower levels revel in red tape and sheer insensitivity. I now take all GT claims with a large pinch of salt and I would not trust any mission-critical task to their people or their networks. In cities like Bangalore, GT is already paying the price for its level of service; enterprise users are leaving and if you go to any of their so-called 'Quick Customer Service Centres' you will discover that even most individual customers come there simply to submit telephone surrender forms.

Case 37 Government Enterprises and Babudom >>:,,.,, .

So, is there any hope for GT? I can only guess- quite a few of us as an individual customer may have no choice, but enterprise users do, and they are already moving away from this service provider. Questions Is transparency important in understanding customer relationship? Explain the failure of GT in CRM and identify reasons for this. How far is accountability an important parameter for CRM?

1. 2. 3.

155

1
Case No. 38
MY^EXPERIENCE
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to:

evaluate how attitudes can affect customer satisfaction and retention. assess why communication is an important medium of CRM. examine how body language can play a major role in customer experience.

I don't like to shop. Clothes shopping, grocery shopping, car shopping; it doesn't matter; I don't like it. I want to get in, get what I want (fast), and get out. A recent shopping experience, however, was a pleasant surprise. This experience showcased customer service at its best, and most simple. Once again I was reminded that great service is not about grand acts, it is about common courtesy, artfully delivered. While on vacation in Delhi, I needed to buy a pair of casual shoes (I had forgotten mine). I found myself in a store called the Walkers. A friend once told me it was a good store. It was crowded, so I almost left. But one of the salespeople made eye contact with me. It wasn't the kind of eye contact that said, "Oh no, another customer." Instead, it was an eye contact that said, "I'll be right with you." It was a good eye contact.

Sol browsed around for a few minutes and found a pair of shoes I liked. Sure enough, the salesperson came up and said, "Sorry about the wait, let's get you some shoes." I showed him the pair I wanted and asked for size 7. He said, "Let's measure your foot just to make sure." I know I wear size 7, but his whole demeanour showed that he wanted to make sure I got the right shoes.

157

Cases in CRM

He measured my foot and said, "Size 7 is right, but you have a very 'robust' foot. The type of shoe you have selected will not be the most comfortable for you. I think this other style would feel much better." Being the sceptic that I am, I looked at the price of his suggested shoes to see how much he was upselling me. Same price. With nothing to lose, I tried on the style he suggested, and they were extremely comfortable. I must admit: they are the most comfortable pair of casual shoes I've ever owned. As I paid for the shoes, the salesperson continued to wow me. He said, "If you ever buy a pair of shoes somewhere else be sure to tell the salesperson that the arches in your foot have fallen a little, and you need shoes with some arch supportlike these." When I get good service like this, I want to keep it going. I asked her if there is an outlet of the same company at Mumbai, where I live. "Absolutely, it's at the Flora Fountain." Since then I've bought two pairs of dress shoes at the Walkers at Mumbai, again with great service. I can't imagine buying shoes anywhere else. And I have sent many of my friends there. Thinking about the Delhi experience, I deliberated on the skill of the salesperson. One word sums up his style - professional. This salesperson was a professional in every sense of the word. His skills would apply anywhere, as applicable in a bank, hospital, theme park, or law office as they are in a shoe store. When I entered the store, the salesperson made immediate eye contact with me. It was a sincere eye contact that said she cared that I was there. As soon as he was finished with her customer, he came right over to help me and apologised for the wait. The store was busy. But I noticed that everyone was being helped. The salespeople had mastered the art of handling more than one customer at a time while making each customer feel like he/she was the only one. None of the salespeople looked frantic, just responsive. This salesperson knew about shoes. On the other hand, I know very little about shoes. Seeing that this was the case, he took charge of the situation and made sure that I was getting shoes that were right for me. I benefited from his knowledge. There is an art to sharing knowledge, I admit. Some customers may say, "I know what I want. Just get it for me." By briefly talking to me, however, he realised he could make a recommendation for me, that I was flexible. He read the situation and adapted to my personality and needs.

Case 38 My Experience

Of course, all of this meant knowing one's product. My salesperson could have easily brought me the pair of shoes I originally asked for. But he wasn't selling shoes; he was selling the right shoes. That's the difference. I left the store knowing more than when I walked in. I now know to ask for extra arch support in my shoes. Not a big deal, but I will always remember that advice. I thought to myself "Being a true professional takes thought and effort. But, once you are truly professional you can go just about anywhere. The skills are universal, and they are rare. True professionals stand out from the crowd and grow rewarding and satisfying careers. And the customers of the world know when one is at work." Questions
1. 2. 3.

Why does the author prefer this particular shoe shop? ...... ,,, , How can an employee affect a customer's choice? Is it the right thing to do? The sales person in this case study, went beyond his duty call to impress the customer. What does it say about his training? How far do you think body language and human interaction matter in CRM?

4.

159

Case No. 39
THREE TALES
Objectives After going through this case, you will be able to:

examine the objectives of customer care centres. explore the relationship between management; employees at the customer care centre and customer. assess how accountability in an organisation is beneficial vis-a-vis customer retention.

Mr. Shastri is a software engineer. He had opted to use the 'Telly' prepaid card for his Nokia 6117 model cell phone. Within a couple of days, the card began to have problems relating to connectivity. So, he called up the contact person of the company to let them know of his trouble. His request fell on deaf ears. So, he decided to visit the company dealer in his area, and his experience as a customer was really uncalled for. This is what he had to say about it. Recently, I had one of the worst experiences with customer care centre. It was when I was having some trouble with my cell connectivity. I lost my connectivity and hence I called to figure out what was going on and to get the problem rectified and one of the first things that struck me about their customer service was that, they used it very poorly. By the time I got to a real person, I was already ready to switch service from them, because it was so poorly mapped out and confusing. The next area where they really fell on their faces was wait time. They get very busy while dealing with some of their field representatives. I know and they know that they are busy at certain times everyday but they don't effectively address that situation, either through staffing or use of technology. So they know that they are going to get busy and they are just fine with that. The wait time for me was over an hour and they were just fine with that. So, that is really not a good way to put a customer in a good mood. The other area where they really have trouble is when you speak to someone like I did and

161162
Cases in CRM

they take your information and assess the situation and inevitably in the six calls that I had to make to them over a two week period, they had to pass you on to another agent or a supervisor. When they passed me through, my information did not go through with the call and every time that I was passed I had to go through and recount my story again and go through all the standard questions that they are required to ask, which in the end probably ate up probably fifteen hours of my time with all of my calls with them. So integrating that data in a way that allows everyone who touches the customer to know what is going on and what the situation is I think required. I don't know how you can do business without having that sort of information with the people who are dealing with the customers. Beyond that, either their training or their corporate culture needs a lot of work, because each person that 1 dealt with had a different story with what was going wrong and what the solution was going to be (which indicated to me that they had no idea or no training on how to answer that or even worse corporately they didn't know what was going on but they weren't going to tell the customer that). When you combine having to restate your problem every time that you call, and then having people come back to you with no consistency what so ever, it resulted in probably the worst experience that I' ve had with customer care. I am still dealing with them only because I am waiting for the best deal. Ms. Swami had a similar experience with Telly', which she narrates, I am notorious for having five or six mobile phone companies in my life. The last three phone companies that I have had have been horrendous. One phone company charged me for international roaming charges while I was in the state of Haryana. To fix this problem it took no less then six phone calls a total wait time of 120 minutes, only to discover that I had a phone with technology that required a different customer service representative, therefore; bouncing me around from department to department. By the time I got to the customer service representative they had to contact the technical area to resolve my phone problems. Simultaneously, the Internet portion of my mobile phone also went out. I was told that the service would be restored shortly, and again it took three weeks to restore the service, at least a half of a dozen phone calls, and a visit to their local stores (where they were no help what so ever). All of that only resulted in Rs. 350 credit to my phone bill. Adding more to it, I was offered a free call card. When I checked my statement on line, the card was never sent and the order was never processed. When I called they could not expedite the card even though I had a very vigorous travel schedule. I went to the local store once again and they knew nothing of an offer of a free card. I was thoroughly disgusted and changed phone providers. When after much delay (one week), I was given another card, the grace period of returning