Kingfisher Air - Attacking the Root Cause or Root of the Brand ???

Our Dear Dr Mallya is now asking their people not to treat their CUSTOMER as Guest as they have a severe cash problem and it is not a good policy now.

He mean to say that its their treating Customer as Guest policy is one of the causes of their problem. How unfortunate ??

He is attacking the fundamental of the business basics. He must know that if any one will bail out or invest in his cash strapped company , the only reason would be their policy of treating customer as their guests.  Brand he has built which people loves today is only because of their CUSTOMER policy. 

Even CUSTOMERS have paid too steep price to Kingfisher Air just because they threat them as their Guests. 

Its not their CUSTOMER policy but everything else is lousy. Only good they have done is to raise the bar of customer experience.

I am sure he will not attack the root of his BRAND and  attack the right causes of the problems.

Community Creation & Social Media

Blogging after few days. 

Well was busy with setting you new blog www.cforcapital.wordpress.com ( Focused on creating community of banking / finance professionals and capital seeking entrepreneurs )

2) One more in the offing www.wforwow.wordpress.com ( Focused on Community of Chief Customer /Experience Officers, though very rare in India but aim to grow this fraternity through this community )

3) White paper on Healthcare ( Health Dispensers ) Industry on How to create WOW!! Customer Experience for their Customers 

4) Creating content for my website at www.sunilgandhi.com

Lot of content creation planned for few few days. 

This blog will continue to have pieces on entrepreneurship, social media and personal experiences on life journey.

Cheers.

Does your enterprise Balance Sheet reflects TRUE Assets? No Its Not.

Opening the Balance Sheet and looking at the asset side will not give the true answer.  

Reasons:

- Fixed Assets are revalued and not MTM. We all know how much it will fetch if we are out to sale NOW. Yes but its Assets as long as it produces the goods which are acceptable in the Market with our cost structure.

- Stocks have two elements: Bogus & Inflated to boots profit and dead stock reflected having no market value. Remove these two to arrive at true value

- Debtors also have two elements: Generated through bogus sales and almost doubtful to doubtful debts

- Loans & Advances includes money given to associate concerns which is not recoverable in most cases. 

Therefore after adjusting the Balance Sheet with above realities , you may arrive at the RIGHT figure of the assets.  & if you adjust assets with actual liabilities , you may be surprised { shocked } with your networth figure.  

Therefore Balance Sheet is not the right place to find out the TRUE assets of the company.  Its the Non Balance Sheet assets that counts and matters the MOST.

Assets = Resources under Influence of an Enterprise which can be leveraged for Wealth Creation for all stake holders. 

An enterprise can influence its people working for it to give their best, its suppliers to supply best at most competitive rates, its customers to patronage again and again and refer new customers also,   its share holders to invest when opportunity demands , its relationship with government and other agencies to quicken the process and also policy influence,  its relationship with local area  groups/infrastructure ( What Tata Steel has done and is doing for the town Tata Nagar )  to garner their support as and when require , its Brand Promise & of-course its assets in the Balance Sheet. All these are the assets. All resources and relationships MUST be leveraged to create wealth. Not all area under INFLUENCE are reflected in the Balance Sheet.  

Question is HOW to leverage assets and HOW to expand area of Influence ?? Truly successful companies are masters of both. If any one is missing success will be limited but when both are present  success is to be seen to believe. In personal category Amitabh Bachchan , Dr Manmohan Singh are the shining examples of how they leveraged their Assets ( Voice / Acting and Knowledge / Experience - nothing is reflected in their balance sheet on the contrary these assets have made their balance sheet stronger ) and expanded area of influence.    Two of the largest enterprises in the country Reliance leveraged their capacity to deal with govt , capacity to execute at jet speed & Infosys leveraged owners' foresightedness , perseverance and governance policies to create wealth.  None reflected in the Balance Sheet.

To conclude its Assets outside the Balance Sheet that makes enterprise Balance Sheet stronger. Not the other way. Take stock , become aware of your off balance sheet assets TODAY and have plan to leverage them fully.

Assets = Resources under Influence of an Enterprise which can be leveraged for Wealth Creation for all stake holders.

 

Is the BRAND you represent LOVABLE??

Which are the brands do u as a customer LOVE??? If you take too much time to think you don’t LOVE any.  If the name is on your sleeve that’s LOVE.  

Passion for Customer will make your Brand Lovable.  We all know LOVE is a two way game. Customer will LOVE your brand only if you love your customers. What we do for our loved one requires no mention.  Passion of not sales person and marketing team, but its passion at the TOP that matters the MOST.  Yes (mostly ignored) culture of the organization percolates down from the TOP.  “Shining in the sun like a pearl upon the ocean “ is the Hindi movie song  but it has a message for every enterprise.  Yes end to end experience to the customer from the brand must be like that. It should be shining and visible from among its 100s of competitors.
 

You should be clear leader and on top of the mind of your customer in your category. Whenever there is a talk about delightful customer experience expamples are given about brands like Starbucks and now Zappos.com or Kingfisher Airlines in India. Hardly MOST companies embrace WOW !! / Delight and Memorable Customer Experience as their business strategy.  Its never their in any Business Plan.
 

Zappos.com sends pleasant surprises to their customers along with orders . They invite customer,suppliers or anyone to visit their office in Las Vegas. I wonder why many companies even can not copy the best???
 

Entrepreneurs who celebrate their day to day business will delight their customers (even employees and suppliers too) . No one else.  What Laloo Culture could do to Bihar and what Nitish/Narendra Modi Culture is doing is for everyone to see. We are also witnessing what no culture at all can do at central leadership level. Its a clear case of CULTURE issue. Culture at the TOP matters the most. Bucks stops and start from there. Enterprise indulges in many many training programme for its people every year. True training deficit is mostly at the TOP { Who can tell their bosses/owners ???} .

Make it a point in next Management Meet  that objective worth pursing for next 12 months is Talk of the Town  { Customer Experience and Culture of Employee Happiness. } . No other strategies. Whatever it takes to achieve these two goals are the guiding actions. Period. Make your area of Influence a merrier place. Celebrate your entrepreneurial endavour. Its about brand in action & its also about CSR in action.

Note: We all know how miserable Loveless life could be. Same applies to your BRAND. 

Are U curious enough to remain Successful & Relevant ?? Perhaps No.

CURIOSITY is what keep us relevant , interesting  & growing as a person or company. Yes, we stop to remain interesting or growing once we stop to remain curious. I know everything and I am successful and don't need to know more is a  KILLER attitude. Literally KILLER. It kill companies and starts downfall of individuals. 

Observe children and you will learn HOW curious they are about everything on this earth. Curiosity is the mother of  learning and for continues learning continues curiosity is important. Life is a continues changing process. It changes daily every moment. However successful companies once achieved success think they have the permanent expertise to remain successful. 

Meet a child and meet a hugely successful person or even some 40 odd year plus person. Child is extremely curious to know , asks questions and try to understand while successful and senior adult would mostly behaves in I KNOW or I don't care to know or learn attitude. 

I was watching Classic Legend programme on Zee TV by Jawed Akhtar and he was talking about legendary actor Ashok Kumar. He said Ashok Kumar was so curious through out his life that he started learning new languages at the age of 64. He was always wanted to know and learn new things till he lived upto the age of 90. I think that was the reason the star ruled bollywood for 60 years.

Yes its absolutely important to remain curious about new things in life. Companies MUST not only keep learning about new products and services but also about new way of doing things, new ways to attract and treat people, new way to manage the affairs every few years. 

In history we have plenty of examples about very successful companies and person failing miserably after few years. Even we have seen countries first Japan and now European countries failing after remaining successful for many years. Someone has rightly says " Success Immortalises the way of doing things in the mind of successful companies and people. "

Pattern of thinking MUST be broken to get to see things with new perspectives. I know and I don't care attitude is about FIXED pattern of thinking.  

"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." Albert Einstein

"I am a big believer of boredom , boredom allows one to indulge in curiosity and out of curiosity comes everything." Steve Jobs

With success and growing age  , unfortunately MOST of us individually or as an enterprise fall in this trap, without fail.  To remain interesting one must be interested. Not Curious is equal to Not Learning.

Shakeup everything if you are so successful and inculcate a sense of curiosity in your enterprise { people} . May not be relevant today but if you want to remain successful tomorrow also , its the first ingredient.

HOW Social Media for Professional Firms !!!! ???

Professional Organisations like Advocates, CAs , CSs , Doctors , Architects , HR and the likes are great knowledge repositories in their  area of  expertise. People go to them for WHAT they know and HOW what they know can solve clients personal or business problems. 

In Pre Internet era life was miserable or not so happy. Few , large and influential people from these professions were in advantageous position. But situation changed slightly with the arrival of Internet. With their website all the firms and professionals were on the same platform and visible to everyone ,  potential clients. Similarly through the sites of many businesses approaching them has also become easier then for professionals.

However life is changing NOW and changing considerably. Yes arrival of social media is blessings  for knowledge professionals. It offers enormous opportunities to  showcase expertise. Many companies are now using LinkedIn profile for recruitment. Similarly self employed professionals can participate in debates in some interest specific groups, answer questions on LinkedIn, commence their own blogs, can have facebook fan page, tweet regularly to update as well as attract clients. Yes all these can be done and can be views by any prospective clients across size, industry, and geographies. 

This is the power and power of social media for professionals , especially small and medium firms.  Get your social media content and customer strategy in place and be ready for pleasant surprises. Its about Personal Brand Building. Do it regularly , do it carefully, do it with passion and do it with a difference.

Are U FANATIC about Customer Experience??

While studying a report on customer experience at one of the UK based banks, I came across the term "bank puts much of its success in recent years down to its
fanatical focus on customer experience (service) . "

I wonder how many CEOs are FANATIC about the Customer Experience their company creates!! Forget FANATIC, are aware and care about it ?? Its the role of CEO to create WOW!! and Delightful Customer Experience for their all stake holders and more precisely CUSTOMERS.  

Every business is under going challenging phase ( low margins, tough competition, difficult to retain real talent , china threat ) , technology is changing rapidly ( mobile, to tab to smart TV to smart machines, innovative products and execution capabilities ) new ways of of doing business ( online, franchise, outsource, collaborate )  new age entrepreneurs ( young , energetic  with no legacy baggage, ready to challenge convention ) , govt policy paralysis ( slow to No - tax or procedural reforms forget FDI ) , high sales but low cash flow & profitability, fudging of accounts not only to manage shareholders and analysts but also to have elusive sense of self belief.  

In this grave situation only hope for survival is severe Customer Focus & creating Stupendous Customer Experience.  Yes its to the extent of Fanatical about it.

How many business plans talk about this?  How many strategy /board or owners meets have this on agenda? Wonder many businesses today struggle to survive and crying of recession!!! If customer is not your competitive advantage , what else can be??

7 + Reasons WHY Social Media is a MUST for EVERY Enterprises

We are afraid that if we go social , there will be lot of negative branding against our brand or company. Many companies have this apprehension and they avoid social media.  What a missed opportunity!!!!

Social Media platforms mean voice of people, customers. Brands are not providing them platforms but social media companies are doing it. Customers will not only express their views , feelings and experiences but also share the same & it will be further shared by the recipients.  It will go viral in moments. Whether brands are active online or no, customers are talking about it. Earlier there was one way and one to one communication. Now its many to many. 

Smart Companies are taking advantage of this opportunity. Yes its a HUGE opportunity. Use negative comments to your advantage by interfering in the discussion and clarifying company position. Without company's version to the negative experience, it will go more negative. Once company also participates and clarifies the position not only complaining customers but also all other readers will know the reality and understand how company responds when customers are in trouble. 

Its an opportunity on the contrary to stop the damage that can be caused by negative comments and experiences of the customers. Its an opportunity to converse with others and potential customers.  Its an opportunity to WOW!! by quickly responding and responding with offer to help as and when customers are in need. 

There are many examples HOW companies are reaping benefits by actively participating in the  discussions / responding on social media and solving customer issues. It will also make companies to do something special so that people /customers talks about the same on social media. Yes it can be planned to use for positive  ripples in the customer groups. 

Build Brand , Spread Quickly,  Strengthen Customer Relationship, Stop Damage by Negative Branding , Engage with Customers, Create WOW !! Experience , Get new Customers & also much more. 

Some of the large Indian Brands using SM actively: Dabur, Pizza Hut, Britannia, SBI, Amul, Maruti, ICICI Bank, Flipkart. More are joining the bandwagon.

Issue of WHY social media is long back answered.  Companies Must think on HOW and HOW quickly to start leveraging this powerful medium.  

Most old (started in 20th century) businesses are Social Media Immigrants but all businesses started during last one decade are Social Media Native.  For natives its way of doing business but for immigrants its new and hence worrying. Quickly become adjusted to NEW NORMAL and reap the advantage. 

Ask and answer NOW: Whats our Social Media Strategy and Action Pan!!! ,

Intentions Matter Less Than Actual Actions

It is said that Strength of the Chain is decided by its weakest link. Same applies to Customer Experience. Howsoever beautifully designed customer experience might be, one weak link can spoil the entire experience. 

Yesterday I had to get some documents from someone for someone.  It was asap requirement. I could fortunately managed to get the same asap. It was appreciated by a friend of mine who was seeking it. Next question was about delivery of documents to him. I was dependent on someone who was meeting my friend next day. I also conveyed him that he need to carry some documents. But link proved weak and somehow he didn't turned up as promised.

Now my asap WOW !!! at the first step, turned out to be a bad experience for my friend. at the end.

Learning is - WOW !! Customer Experience  must be deigned end to end covering all the customer touch points till the end of the experience. Any weak link & its gone for a toss.  Intentions matter less than actual actions.

How many top level superior intentions turn into equally superior customer experience??   Challenge lies here.

Another WOW !!! from Flipkart.com

I ordered books on 10/1 at 18.19 and books delivered to me from Bangalore to Mumbai on 11/1 at 9.20 in the morning. 

Unexpected pleasant surprise. 

I am neither a preferred customer nor order was not an emergency , even I didn't pay for the shipping but then what went RIGHT??

I think its their style to WOW!! their customers. Its the culture supported by matching processes and motivated team. It is their way of saying  "This is HOW we do WHAT we do."

2nd Episode: Day 11/ Jan /12: Time 19.20

I ordered one book , 6 copies for gifting to different individuals. Since order were for 6 copies of the same book, I got a call from Flipkart.com today 12/Jan/12 at 9 AM confirming that I have placed these orders. Look at the customer thinking that might have gone into this process design. 

Disclosure:  I am no way even remotely connected with any one @ Flipkart.com