I have battled for a long time with my desire to shop at Waitrose or Ocado and my wallet’s desire to shop at Asda.  Yes, Waitrose is on the whole a nicer experience. If I shop with Ocado I get to know who is going to deliver my shopping, the licence plate of the van he will arrive in and what fruit his van will be dressed in and he takes my shopping into the kitchen for me –  while my Asda delivery man deposits my shopping at my front door with hardly a syllable uttered.

However, with Ocado, I have to spend about 10% extra on an average shop for the privilege of knowing ‘Barry’s’ name prior to arrival. While this is wonderful service, it simply isn’t something on which I place enough importance in my shopping experience.  With three hungry children, value is more important.

So I was interested to hear about Publix – an up-and-coming American supermarket that promises both service and value. Interestingly, Publix’s mantra is that, being so close to the consumer, they know not only what their customers want now, but also what they’ll want next.

I want my service companies to meet my needs…but I am delighted when they anticipate them.  Service improvements such as I’ve described by Ocado are nice, but they don’t change my opinion – as they really don’t meet any needs I have.

When writing a letter of complaint to a company, you might expect to receive a cursory reply (most probably about three weeks late), and perhaps some small token of apology. But original artwork? Not so common.

My new favourite customer service story comes from Marks & Spencer last week, who have been all over the media thanks to a charmingly handled complaint. A customer who was over-charged for a sandwich wrote to M&S asking for a refund. He was offered a gift card in recompense, but when it hadn’t arrived after a few weeks he wrote again, asking for a “hand-drawn picture of a smiley dinosaur” (who wouldn’t?), to compensate for the further inconvenience.

Fully expecting to be ignored, he was astonished to then receive a letter from an M&S customer advisor which included not only his gift voucher, but… a hand-drawn picture of a smiley dinosaur (along with a note in the letter – “Unfortunately art was never my strong point, but I hope you will appreciate it”).

Nowadays, ‘customer service’ has become something of a hygiene factor, and can run the risk of getting a little stale – so it’s always refreshing to see brands adding a little human touch and going out of their way to do something a bit different. A lovely example – and one which certainly brought a smile to my face!

India, the world’s biggest democracy, is rapidly becoming the key market to crack for international brands. In a new series of blog posts Anjul Sharma – fluent in Indian culture and Hindi, Punjabi & Urdu languages - looks at the approach to branding in one of the planet’s fastest growing markets.

In these posts on India, I have talked a lot about customer service and key players who have shown what great customer service is like – Taj Hotels and Palaces and Kingfisher Airlines.  It’s time to ask how come these guys can deliver customer excellence par excellence?

The Chief Executive of Kingfisher had said they have “no passengers”, which may make you think they were about to go under (literally and financially). They have no passengers, however, because they only have ‘honoured guests’. No doubt the big guys at Taj would say something rather similar in spirit: they don’t have travellers but cherished guests (or words to that effect). 

Why do they talk about (honoured/ cherished) guests? For the answer to this question, I think we should turn our attention to Hindu philosophy and the verse “Athidhi devo bhavah”. The verse is quoted from the Taittiriya Upanishad (one of the sacred Hindu texts) that says “Matru devo bhava, Pitru devo bhava, Acharya devo bhava, Athidhi devo bhava”. In English, this means, one should worship the Mother, the Father, the Teacher and one’s Guests as God (athithi means guest). ‘Tithi’ in Sanskrit means a date. In ancient times, it was not possible for guests to anticipate their date of arrival so “Atithi” was the term used to describe a visiting person who had no fixed date of arrival or departure. “Devo” means God and Bhav means Be/Is, literally meaning “Guest is God.”

Indian religious belief systems and folklore are richly peppered with many examples of God arriving unannounced on one’s doorstep in the guise of a more humble creature like a beggar.  Hence it is an accepted and familiar part of the culture, accessible to all and part of the cultural belief system. And herein lies the difference. In the West, we are often too transactional about service. Customer service can end up being trained and performed as if employees were performing seals in a circus to earn money, increase loyalty and inflate the bottom line. Whilst all these are laudable and very important, there isn’t a deeper and more meaningful cultural anchorage that employees can hang on to. Kingfisher, Taj and other great exponents of customer service from India exemplify how when good business sense is built on strong (and ancient) cultural foundations it becomes magnetic, alluring, effective and commercially astute.

India, the world’s biggest democracy, is rapidly becoming the key market to crack for international brands. In a new series of blog posts Anjul Sharma – fluent in Indian culture and languages Hindi, Punjabi & Urdu - looks at the approach to branding in one of the planet’s fastest growing markets.

In my first post I talked about how Taj Hotels and Palaces were wowing travellers with their amazing portfolio of properties, luxury personified and customer service par excellence. This week, lets carry on exploring the customer experience offered by Indian brands – lets start talking about Kingfisher (the airline, not the beer!)

Kingfisher Airlines Limited are India’s largest airline - both in size and market share - operating over 400 flights a day with its regional Indian and international services. Even more impressive, it is one of only six airlines in the world to have a five-star rating from Skytrax. That’s quite something.

Kingfisher was never planning to be a small bird in a big sky – it wanted to be a big bird in a big sky. Chairman Dr. Vijay Mallya made his intentions clear at launch when he said “we are committed to achieving our ambition of making Kingfisher Airlines India’s largest private airline both in capacity and market share by 2010.” Ambitious indeed! But here’s the thing. This was not an empty promise – it’s been a reality which, in my experience, has beautifully and elegantly over-delivered on its promise to the delight of customers.

Let me tell you about my travels on Kingfisher. I’ve flown with them internally within India both in Economy and Business Class. In economy, the stewardesses addressed me by my own name with smiles as big as the Taj Mahal – ‘Good morning Miss Sharma, what can I offer you for your lunch? Would you care to have vegetarian or non-vegetarian?’ ‘Very good Miss Sharma, I’ll get that for you’.  By the way, the food was brilliant too. So used to being treated like a battery hen in Economy even in Emirates and Virgin Atlantic, no wonder I was speechless when she knew my name. I later discovered that they pay special attention to females travelling alone and mums with kids. So even in Economy I had the nice Kingfisher male attendant politely ask me for my luggage tag so that he could bring me my suitcase off the carousel.

In Business Class it’s an even better experience. The male Kingfisher attendants met me in the car park by the taxi drop off point. He took my bags and escorted me to a seating area in the check-in lounge. He then took my passport and bags and checked me in, before leading me to the Executive Lounge. The same attendant collected me at the time of boarding to take me through immigration, through the gate, up the stairs to the plane and sat me in my seat. Being used to carrying my own bags everywhere I was somewhat taken aback by this level of service. I told him in Hindi “I feel embarrassed that you are walking in front of me with my bags and I’m walking behind like a Memsahib”. “Madam, you are our guest and it’s our job to look after you” he replied.

Kingfisher demonstrates the power of heartfelt passion for customer service which other carriers and non-aviation based service providers could learn much from. This potent message is captured succinctly on their website…

Welcome to a world without passengers: Welcome aboard Kingfisher Airlines, where you are made to feel like an honoured guest and not just a passenger. At Kingfisher, a flight is not a journey between two airports but an experience of a lifetime.

Every time I’ve flown with Kingfisher, they’ve done just that: treated me not like a passenger, but like a truly honoured guest.

India, the world’s biggest democracy, is rapidly becoming the key market to crack for international brands. In a new series of blog posts Anjul Sharma – fluent in Indian culture and languages Hindi, Punjabi & Urdu - looks at the approach to branding in one of the planet’s fastest growing markets.

Did anyone watch the Commonwealth Games in Delhi this year? Well, there was a colourful and slick opening ceremony showcasing the sheer diversity and rich heritage of the world’s biggest democracy. But that’s probably not what you remember.

You probably remember the coverage in the press in the run up to the games. After all, you could hardly notnotice it, so ubiquitous was the story right across the TV, radio, press and internet.  Incredible pictures of bridges collapsing, badly sanitised athletes facilities (below), participants falling ill and the great names like Usain Bolt not turning up were just the start points. You’d be forgiven for presuming that customer service wasn’t exactly India’s strongest point. But think again!

There are a handful of Indian brands that pride themselves on being the global leaders in customer service. The Taj Hotels and Palaces is just such a brand. Parented by the Tata Group (who also own Jaguar and Land Rover), Taj Hotels has 76 hotels, 7 palaces, 6 private islands and 12 resorts. Spread across 5 continents and staffed by over 15,000 employees, they aren’t exactly small fry. While global in stretch, their most famous properties are in and around India where they have authentic royal palaces in regions such as Rajasthan and, of course, the infamous Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai (below) which was subject to a recent terrorist bombing. 

The 5*+ chain has prided itself on luxury par excellence balancing gracefully on old world charm, homely intimacy and ultra modern facilities. I have been lucky enough to savour Taj hospitality in Mumbai, Varanasi, Delhi and Jaipur. In fact, when I stayed at the Jai Mahal Palace in Jaipur I felt like I had walked into a ‘days of the Raj oil painting’ in all its finest glory. All the reception staff were in Jodhpurs and looked as if they had just come in from a day of exotic falconry (not to mention the fact that they were all stunningly handsome!) In Delhi, I was met by an immaculate receptionist at the Taj Palace Hotel who came out to greet me on the forecourt and took me through check-in procedures in the comfort of my own rather sumptuous and magnificent room. Indeed, in some ways Taj is almost unashamedly elitist. Its loyalty scheme is known as the ‘Inner Circle’. If you’re in, you get a silver card – none of this red to start, silver when you have more points and then finally gold. They automatically categorise you as important (otherwise you couldn’t afford the prices).

Taj is a great example of how we, as marketers, must be weary of slipping into the skewed Indian stereotypes often evident in the media. First off, this brand proves Indian companies do know how to put up structures that last – no falling bridges and dog prints on bed sheets here!  Secondly, while global brands are looking to enter India, it is just as true to say that top Indian brands are looking to enter new global markets. I expect to see further international growth from Taj, especially given the expansionist ambitions of its parent, entering carefully chosen global cities rather than blanket-covering all major cities. Thirdly and finally, Indian brands can absolutely be global leaders in customer service. Taj’s focus on service is one of the best I have seen in the world, even outstripping 7* star hotels such as the Burj Al-Arab in Dubai: it certainly does feel like they worship customer service.