The BIGGEST confusion !!

1st chapter of Anupam Kher's book The best thing about you is YOU is titled as - We all are Unhappy.  He concludes the chapter as - Happiness can not come solely come from external sources. First of all we have to discover the concept of Knowing Yourself and being Yourself. 

Being yourself means who?  As a body or as a soul? As long as we consider self as a body his chapter title will remain true. The moment we consider self as a soul we will be on a path to achieve his last line.

Our unhappiness starts with our confusion of self as body or soul !!Our wrong belief about the self is the cause of our unhappiness. 

Know your self is not about knowing your nature and habits or anything about the body but its about knowing your true form as a soul. 

'I' should go with soul and not with body. Who is 'I' is the biggest confusion we live our life with.

Everyone else but Customer

Objective of Banks is to serve customers & for that matter objective of any enterprise. 

Look at the composition of PSU banks boards ;

• 1 Govt Nominee
• 2/3 Share holder Nominee
• 1 RBI Nominee
• 1 Workmen Nominee
• 1 Officer Employee Nominee

Where are the advocate of CUSTOMERS in the board? 

Mostly Bank's customer services are pathetic perhaps this is the reason. Competition is forcing banks to become customer centric  but unless customer service/experience is given core focus and customer champions are given board and CXO level position it wont be sustainable.   

We seriously need customer champions not only in the boards of banks but every company.

When customer experience creation capability is the sustainable competitive advantage business cant become customer centric unless voice of customer reaches the highest decision making forums. 

I am Amazed by ...

Nomenclature of this blog has changed from today. In line with the new name AMAZEMENT I list down my top 10 Amaze-rs. 

People whom I follow to get Amazed: (Order is Alphabetical,  intensity and area are different)

1) Guy Kawasaki 

For his book Enchantment & APE

2) Hillary Clinton 

For what she is and her mission to become US president.    

3) MK Gandhi

For his conviction and determination. 

4) Narendra Modi 

For his passion , vision & action for India's development.

5) Richard Branson 

For his passion for his customers. 

6) Seth Godin 

For his book Linchpin & daily blog posts  making sense of world around us (May be his initials matches with mine !!!)

7) Shrimad Rajchandra

For his clarity of thought about soul and its journey , his religious writings and powerful spiritual treatise in verse Atma Siddhi & Apporva Avasar showing clear road map to Moksha.

8) Steve Jobs 

For his passion for customers , scintillating products , public speaking style. 

9) Swami Vivekanand

For his powerful messages for human beings.

10) Tom Peters 

For his books - Circle of Innovation , Re imagine and  The little big things & various presentations.

11) Tony Hsieh 

For his culture of doing business at Zappos and his present mission of delivering happiness across the globe.

Who are the people amazing you? 

What we do to live = What we do while living ?? NO

There is a big difference between the two statements given in the heading of this post. 

Unfortunately all of us has assumed that what we do to live is the only thing we have to do while living or we can do while living.

Imagine in a lifetime time we spent in earning and time we spent in things we like and love to do.   We spent time in earning or what we do to live is to really live life we want. But somewhere we have forgotten the very purpose of our life or our earnings and we just live as if we are here to work and earn whole life 24 X 7 X 365 X our active years.

Our needs have grown so big that it takes our lifetime to earn for that and then when we become old to treat ourselves. Period. Most of us do not think life beyond job or business ie earning activities. So much so that keep working till death is considered good. Even our most celebrated star Amitabh Bachchan could not escape this race.   

When you have enough for survival (subject to our own thinking how much do we really need, because greed is endless) it it not our obligation to give back our time , energy for the society or even do things we really love which has no economic benefit.

All of us must pause and think about the difference between what we do to live and what we do while living. We need to earn so that we live the life we want to live. But the moment earning becomes endless activities , life becomes worthless. Retiring age of 60 was set by Govt so people retire at 60 but is it necessary to retire only at 60 ?

Entrepreneurs never retire from economic life and die while doing business. We as a society must awaken to realise the difference and should work to promote ,create platforms for non economic activities. Our education institutions should inculcate importance of hobbies and pursuing hobbies. We have assumed purpose of life as keep working for earning forever. Most people have no clue what to do when they are not working for earning.  

Life is not about living after retirement , it is about living daily. Therefore more we reduce our need , less we keep working for money and more time we will have for things we like/love to do. It is here in this space life lived is worth living. 

Knowing about Three Idiot is fine but it is a real challenge to become one in the rat race society all we live in.

Pause NOW. At-least  think.

EASE - Competitive Advantage

They want us to punch various numbers before their very busy cell center executive talk to us. I fail to understand without knowing what customer wants they want their ATM PIN after account number. & then last 4 digit of card number. 

Ask customer layers of authentication only if customer wants to do some secured transactions. Just to speak for common issues , reporting fraudulent transaction on credit card , retorting phishing or bug on their site.  Irrespective of what customer wants to talk to its a long and difficult proposition. 

They have 4 pages of credit card bill but no place for customer care number or emergency action points in case of loss or fraudulent transactions.  Three pages are filled with advertisements which they want to act upon for more usage of card.

Companies these days become too technology and sales driven that they have forgotten very purpose of everything the do - serving customers with ease.

This is the case with most consumer companies. Customers are finding it difficult to deal with them. 

Reaching them after sales , resolving problem with ease and with peace of mind has become extremely difficult. Companies that can achieve this  is going to be a winner.   

India is 134 in ease of doing business in world ranking. We need to rank companies in ease of doing business with. Ease is very critical in offering delightful customer experience. 

Name the company ____________ who qualifies for this status :

We are very easy to deal with.

We just don't know ANYTHING (Off Topic)

1) We learn HISTORY in school in quite detail but CIVIC sense which is critical for our life and society is given step motherly treatment in education. What is more important to know - where and when Panipat battle was fought or how to follow traffic rules and how to keep and maintain hygienic surrounding?

2) We learn biology and sex education in schools but have no clue on preventive heath-care. Our hospitals are over flowing and Gyms are struggling to survive. 

3) We learn how to earn but no clue or teaching in school or college on how to manage what we are taught to earn.  

4) We produce engineers and CAs but they miserably lack communication & social skills. Should technical skills kill or flourish human skills? 

5) We have the highest religions & religious places but very low morale and ethical standards as we are 94th ranking (out of 177) in a list of most corrupt couturiers. 

6) We are still developing country & needs economic development desperately but we rank 134 out of 189 countries in ease of doing business. Even below Bangladesh & Pakistan.  

7) We are known for our cuisine and food but do not know what to eat and how much to eat. Most Indian youth are suffering from cardiovascular diseases due to bad food habit and lifestyle.  

8) We introduced Yoga to the world for stress free and healthy living but we have earned dubious distinction of coronary and diabetes capital of the world. Both stress related diseases. 

9)  "India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only." Mark Twain and yet ignoring this our present generation look & copy Western culture to look and feel modern. 

10) We have great teachings of Mahavira and Krishna (Gita) about Law of Karma but we are one of the the most superstitious countries in the world. 

There is something fundamentally wrong the way we Indians live , choose our priorities, design our education syllabus. There is a clear cut case of re-imaginaton at every level.  

PS: Welcome to ebook based on select post of this blog at www.bloodygoodbook.com/wow-and-weird

Howrah Bridge & Customer Experience

Role of a bridge is to connect between the two ends.  Role of the business enterprise is to fulfill the customers need. 

Yet Howrah Bridge built by the Britishers is beautiful. Its a monument.Its a viewers delight. However it need not be as long as it connects the two ends. Right??

Theme of my new websites www.sunilgandhi.com is Howrah Bridge which symbolizes delight of an experience while fulfilling the basic need.  

There are many bridges in India fulfilling  the basic need but Howrah bridge is considered as one of the finest bridges in the country. Likewise there are many basic need fulfilling business enterprises in every segments for every customer. But if entrepreneurs want become a legend and monumental in what they are doing adding delight flavour in the  basic element is a must. 

Its easy in case of product design but very difficult and hence competitive advantage for service providers. Welcome to my latest website. 

Standard Feedback Form for EVERY enterprise !

Deigning feedback form is an art. These artists are rare.  

Its is not about HOW your company and your people are performing on a defined internal parameters. Customers are not interested in doing people evaluation job of your HR team. Do not limit their thinking by thinking of your feedback form designing team. 

It is all about how your company is achieving fulfillment of customers' need with ease and delight. Your questions should be framed to know all these three aspects and nothing else. 

Three questions with reasons of their answer. Period.

- Was the purpose of doing business with us achieved? 

- Was it easy to deal with us?

- Was the entire experience of dealing with us delightful?

Answer option should be either YES or NO.

This should be the standard feedback form all across the business. Let your customers speak and write more not your enterprise. Give them freedom to evaluate your performance from their perspective and not from your perspective. 

This is applicable to both customers and suppliers. 

Rs. 1 Black Money outside India = Rs. 6 NPA with Indian Banks

We are concerned about Rs.30000 crs black money outside India but what is our concern for six times of that amount lying as banking NPA? 

When Govt wants to draft a law against the criminals they should involve some of the hardcore criminals. Who better than them know the mindset of criminals? But since we cant do that we involve Police because they deal with criminals therefore second best to know their mindset.  

Similarly when RBI wants to deal with mammoth NPA problems they should not only involve branch managers who deals with borrowers but also should involve financial consultants engaged in fund syndication and advise entrepreneurs. 

New RBI guidelines of asset classification before accounts becomes NPA is interesting but these kind of guideline make banking extremely procedural and only compliance centric. Branch people are finding it difficult to address customer service properly and on top of that so many compliance , reporting & auditing is paralyzing the banking operations. 

Rather than spending time in data analysis of borrowers performance bankers remain busy with compliance and reporting. Asset classification etc is fine but RBI must change the way credit is being managed in the banks. 

Some of the pointers for practice need to stop and new practice to start:

-  Excess funding just because security is adequate should stop  

-  Non adherence of adequate promoters contribution must stop

-  Auditors must be made accountable for fudged data certification 

-  Smart mechanism to be in place to get data filed with Income tax directly

-  Relationship banking which is ignoring financial prudence

-  Surprise check of accounting data and factory/office  

-  Credit monitoring independent of credit processing and branches

-  Involving CAs in monitoring who can understand intricacies of accounting & implication of ratios.Branch people with their work pressure cant do proper monitoring. 

-  Making it strongly deterrent for CAs , Advocates and Valuers to certify wrongly

-  Active monitoring mechanism even during pre SMA 0 level. Bankers need to engage talent who can play consultative role with borrowers who lack financial prudence. 

There are four class of defaulters:

1) Willful Defaulters - Borrowing with malafide intentions (Must come down substantially)

2) Ignorant Defaulters - Borrowing without managing capacity , low financial acumen , not able to understand implications (Needs to be provided desired support)

3) Potential Defaulters - Not willful but neither genuine. Risk takers at the cost of bank's money (Must be monitored closely)

4) Genuine Defaulters - Market, policy and external factors makes them defaulter (Needs support for recovery)

Along with rigorous compliance and reporting , proactive engagement and consultative approach will yield better results in the management of PA & NPA both.

Mr. PM ignite human spirit not animal spirit

We very easily forget the very basic thing about our existence. We all are human being and therefore can and should not live like animals. 

Therefore the phrases killer instinct and animal spirit is highly misleading and I would say anti social phrases.  

We need human spirit to be ignited not animal. To those who want animal spirit to spread must watch animal planet channel to know how they live and whether we need that kind of spirit? 

Animal spirit and killer instinct make us kill one another make us forget about human sensitivity towards fellow human being. On top of that technology focus makes us forget human side of every thing. Recently I was reading a paper on 'How to make Healthcare Human Centric?' Entire process and business of treating human being has become inhuman - technology and money focused. 

Delightful Customer Experience and Pathetic Customer Experience - difference is - One is taking care of all senses and emotions of customers and other is inhuman ignoring all these critical human aspect of customers and treating customer just an object to make money. Companies that are winning in this space are engaged in human side of the business. If your company wants to become customer centric first step is to become human centric.  

All these call centers are another example of inhuman aspect of business. It irritates human and caller gets inhuman response in return from the person being called. In most organisations people are running for quarterly targets and in return not only get remuneration but lots of ailments. Excessive greed for speedy growth and higher return is ignoring human side of the story. 

"The most striking contradiction is China where, despite a fourfold multiplication in two decades in real GDP per capita from a low initial level, life satisfaction has not improved."    - Richard A. Easterlin University of Southern California and IZA 

The above observation by the professor clearly states - Happiness is not directly related with growth and development. Ignoring human side of the growth is what China model demonstrates. 

Development - Yes , Growth - Yes but process should not ignore that we all are Human Being first and therefore measurement of happiness is critical while pursuing ANY growth model.

Mr Prime Minister while mandate is for development and growth please keep approach of Being Human at the core. Involve your HRD minister to keep track on Human Happiness Index along with your growth initiatives.  

Wow ! & Weird ebook is up onsite - For Free

Happy to inform all readers that ebook Wow! & Weird is up on the site & available for free.  

All are welcome to visit the site and join readers club. 

Hope to see you there ASAP. Welcome to the new blog Sunilwrites.com 

Whether College Degree Matters in times of Internet ?

We have country wide discussion since last 2 days about the portfolio compatibility of HRD minister Smriti Irani.  This makes us thinking relevance of  education in life.  Are our formal degrees really critical for success in any field ? 

10th and 12th Standard results and parents are extremely concerned about the future of their child. Which course to select and what not. 

With so many options available and no clue about what each degree and work entails is the real problem of today. Children are not aware about what kind of work they will do in life with the degree they are opting at the age of 16 or 18. Parents are more clue less with multiple options available. Both children and parents are confused , worried and in the state of paranoia.

Therefore decision making abilities give way to explore what others are doing. Well what others are doing also is not based on any scientific research and aptitude of the students. Even aptitude varies student to student. Everyone is deciding on a gut feeling and according to the trend. Herd mentality is playing major role here. 

Parents must remember education and success are two different things. While our immediate Ex PM got the top job because of his higher education while present PM got the top job sheer by his determination and past track record and not education track record. We have examples of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg & DH Ambani all are non graduates and on the other hand Narayanamurthys of the world.  

In his book 'The Professional' wellknown author Subroto Bagchi writes "Our education system measure IQ just based on left brain and completely  ignoring right brain capacity. There are 8 other forms of intelligence like literary, musical, kinesthetic (sports persons posse this), interpersonal, intra personal, spatial (Navigational), naturalists and spiritual."  

Therefore what we do in life depends more upon what drives us and not what we learn during degree college. We have shining example of IIT & IIM A graduate but successful author Chetan Bhagat pursuing writing as a career. He is writing what he saw & learned from life during his student life and not what he formally learned from the books. 

Do not worry much about the degree as one can study whatever but DO WHAT YOU LIKE. Degree will make one aware about the world around us , it will help us interpret the world better. But as we grow we realise our interest and passion & so just follow that. 

We have many Engineers, MBAs and CAs and we also need many musicians, painters writers , film makers. It takes guts to get out of herd mentality and do something what you really savour - now or even after graduation.  Do not waste life in doing things what you don't like just because you did mistake in course section at the age of 16 o 18.

We are living in different times where degree is important but not sufficient for the success. Passion , determination & mission of doing something matter the most and mere degree cant give you that. 

In times of internet we can learn and study anything without formal degree but human skill like determination, interpersonal skills , intra personal skills , communication skills , physical fitness is what we need to learn in universities. I think biggest challenge of the new HRD minister is to bring these elements in our education system which is missing completely.

From MASS production to MASS customisation.

Business Turnaround - Step Number One

Yes CEOs across the globe is putting CUSTOMER at the center when they plan for business turnaround. 

Finding reasons for sickness is certainly a good beginning for turnaround process to begin with however for any business it is CUSTOMERs who pays for its survival - be it good business or turnaround case.

Therefore immediate focus on better customer experience can give CXOs to work out plan and strategise turnaround initiatives. Preserving customers who have not yet left the organisation is critical and first priority & making them company evangelist is next best on agenda. 

Company may be sick for any reason but the moment customers know this they may continue to do the business but search for alternative is on immediately as everyone needs dependable service providers or suppliers. Even best customer experience service providers like Kingfisher airlines started losing customers the moment they know about the financial mess the company is in.  Only hope for their survival was their customer loyalty they had created by offering great experience. 

Imagine what can happen to companies not offering not so great customer experience.

Therefore while working on other issues to  turnaround the company immediate sharp focus on the customers is the key survival tool for turnaround companies. Many a times pathetic approach towards the customers is the reason for the companies to go sick and even die.   

Point is do not wait till your enterprise go sick to focus on customer experience. Focus on customer experience to avoid sickness and even is the situation arise customer can bail your enterprise out with their loyalty and word of mouth support.  

Communication is the KEY but ..

We have had a lot of discussion on how poor communication by our ex PM and poor communication campaign by Cong routed them.  Yes communication is very critical it is about reaching out, it is about informing what is being done and what is possible. It is about what is available and what consumers need , it is also about what one knows and what one did. It is about what is one can do and what one stands for.

Many a times technocrats think that their technical skill can replace need for good communication. We find many poor communicator at higher levels. Verbal Written & Gesture - Marketing Advertising & Social Media , at all levels and mediums.

   

At organisation level and at individual level too communication is very critical. We need communication as main subject in our all college level studies. We are so much obsessed and focused on technical education that need for good communication skill is never considered a basic need for the success. 

But communication will fail if PRODUCT is bad. Good product is a prerequisite for good communication to succeed. Best written book must be able to make it to the list of best selling book. Communication can not make bad product a good one rather in times of social media more communication about not so good product will it make it fail faster.   

We should not worry whether Cong should work on product or communication, as the rule applies to every one and every company. Introspection at all levels is necessary.

NAMO moved the Cheese and ate it too !!

Who Moved Your Cheese is the apt book to read for all our politicians who are doing so called  introspection. 

Mr Narendra Modi has not only moved the cheese and but also comfortably ate it too. Everyone else during the campaign was denying that no cheese is not moving and they remain focused on old cheese. 

Yes , Governance and Development is the new cheese and others remain focused on caste , communal & secular politics.

Inability to see moving cheese happens when you lose touch with the ground reality and remain surrounded by YES men.   

Same rule equally applies to business enterprises. In a highly competitive market cheese is moving and those who can see is taking early advantage. 

Some will not accept till complete loss of business and some will agree after much of a loss to the business. 

New cheese is better Customer Experience (CX).  People have enough of options for goods and services.  They are looking for better customer experience.  Companies those who remain focused on all other internal competences will soon find that customer are not interested how smart you are internally.What matters to them or what count in the market place is what kind of experience your enterprise put together is delivering to its customers.

Many companies those who claim to be customer centric are only equipped with customer service department. They neither have mapped their customers journeys , nor has thought of offering scintillating rational and emotional experience (Most companies even have no clue about these aspects of designing CX).

Cheese is on the move , companies at the forefront are taking advantage. Companies in denial mode or in no clue mode or surrounded by YES men CXOs will realise the reality and learn lesson like the one learnt by most political parties after 2014 election (Most of them have not and will not learn even now).

Once again recommend the book Who Moved My Cheese.

How 101st Bank can still WIN !!!

Most of us most of the time become so obsessed with doing things that we only focus on WHAT we are doing. We fail to focus on HOW part of it.  

Even answer to WHAT will not give you the correct answer. Asking follow up question HOW will make the things clear. 

We are fighting for freedom is WHAT. It is non violent (HOW) means is what makes what we do meaningful.

We are publishing books is WHAT , we are doing it beautifully is HOW

We are upbringing our children is WHAT , we have learned about parenting and applying those principles is HOW

We are doing our job is WHAT , we are totally committed to it is HOW (or we just do for time pass is also HOW)

We are doing election campaign is WHAT , HOW aggressively or otherwise we are doing will decide its effectiveness. 

Customer Experience fails mostly not because product and services are useless or not up to the expected mark. Companies pays attention only on WHAT they are doing and ignoring HOW part completely. Achieve targets come what may results into mindless calls from call center  . mis-sell & corruption.  Defining and focusing on HOW is immediate priority if enterprise want not only to offer superior customer experience but also wish to become ethical.   

WHAT is rational and HOW is emotional. We human being are emotional creatures. 

WHAT you do/say goes to head and HOW you do/say goes to heart.

Therefore while designing Customer eXperience companies MUST focus on HOW part of  it to connect emotionally with the customers. HOW you make them feel while interacting with your company will decide positive or negative word of mouth (WOM) publicity , possibility of repeat business. 

Once you know about WHAT , deciding HOW can make you different.   

There are 100 banks in the country but 101st bank can still win just by focusing on beautiful HOW !!!

Wow ! & Weird

Happy to inform that select posts (about 150) of the blog is finding its place in the book called Wow ! & Weird being selected by Bloodygoodbook.com  a project by Rashmi Bansal.

I am sure readers will get an opportunity to read all the best posts at one place initially on website and if more readers like it , in the form of ebook and even more readers like it in the form of print book.

Keeping the tradition of many first time ideas of this blog , foreword for the book is written by not well-known industry professional but by a young and dynamic engineer and MBA aspirant Anish Desai (21). They are the GenNext , they not only need innovative ideas but they are driving business landscape with their innovate approach. We not only have to write for them but also have to learn from them too. 

I will soon update readers when the book is available online at Bloodygoodbook.com 

Products We Buy , Leaders We Choose !!

Products we buy:

1) Fresh with no customer reviews , not sure whether it will serve the purpose , moderate on promise , moderate perceptions about delivery , proven side effects of the company it belongs to. 

Fresh Product from Lousy Govt Company ( Side effects: ineffective , require repairs or call back as not proven track record of delivery , moderate chances of wasting our resources if it fails , Coming from Govt company so issues will be addressed on scaling up  )  

2) Fresh but with some customer reviews, not confident whether it will last long. High on promise ,  low on delivery , may have major side effects.

Chinese Products ( Side effects: health hazard, unsafe for use , high chances of wasting our resources if it fails, issues cant be addressed if it fails as comes without guarantee )

3) Experienced with customer reviews some bad and many good , confident that it can be long lasting and will serve the purpose , high on promise high on delivery , may have some side effect.

Apple (Side effects : Costly, theft prone, low chances of failing , brand image will make them addressing issues , if any quickly )

However of we don't select from these brands we will have unbranded product with nothing guaranteed at all. 

Do we also select leaders like we choose our products? Election 2014 is a choice between select brands or unbranded products.

When does your customers' journey begin and end?

In Healthcare segment of service providers usually people are happy with the actual diagnosis / treatment but people are usually unhappy with all what it takes to avail the healthcare service. What it takes means proper pre-consulting guidance, administration , registration, payment and waiting during consultation. In case of In-house patients support and facilities for family attendant , visitors are inadequate as it is not considered core services and therefore ignored.   

Now lets leave aside the industry and look at across the industry. Core product and services are given required attention but everything else considered secondary are mostly ignored. Insurance policy features are great but agent will mis sale , call center will mis handle, claim settlement will be delayed , real estate developer will built class project but companies fumble at sales team , buying process and journey ,  post buying journey  and possession.

Imagine a restaurant serving mouth watering food but ambiance , hygiene ,  waiter attire and training , queue management are not in sync - what will be the fate of the restaurant? 

I have seen in spite of core product i.e food is tasty and talk of the town but unless all other peripheral aspects are take  equal care of restaurant going out of business. 

Therefore the question is what is the starting point and ending point of product and service your enterprise is offering? From where customer journey begins and where it ends? Every enterprise must know this as customers are equally concerned with all peripheral experiences that the business offers while offering its core product and services. & most critical ignoring this aspects can make or break the business in this new experience world we all are living in.  

What Farmers Can Teach Our Entrepreneurs ?

REAP WHAT YOU SOW , is a universal truth. 

If your organisation has systems , processes, targets , thinking and culture of MAKING MONEY at ANY cost. Your people are out there in the market will mis sell, over commit , indulge in unethical business practices, do all kinds of accounting jugglery , evade tax , do environmental harm, breaks laws. In the process your organisation will become anti social organisation though doing so called legal business.  You will attract and recruit people with similar culture and mindset. 

Fruits on the tree are the result of its seed, root, water , fertilizers & environmental support it consumes.

If you want Apple you need to sow seeds of Apple. This is the first and foremost requirements. Business culture percolates from the top is seed for the business. You cant expect your people to be honest when top management is indulging in all sorts of wrong doings. 

After the first step of sowing the seed, you need to nurture the tree with regular water, fertilizer and allow sun rays in right quality to get the best fruit. Even organic and inorganic fertilizers can impact the outcome. Likewise business processes, training and soft skills of the people, IT systems, leadership everything matters and impact the customer experience your company is offering to your customers. 

When you need to offer Kashmiri Apple roped with organic fertilizers , you need that kind of environment and nurturing.  You will not get the same Apple if you grow it in different environment and offers inorganic fertilizers like cosmetic culture. 

Therefore if you wish to attain SUSTAINABLE competitive advantage of offering delightful customer experience (CX), it starts with seed i.e. culture.  Only system, processes and training wont last much. Look at all companies known in CX space and you will  realise how their culture is and why they are leading in CX space.  Be it Virgin, Starbucks, Zappos or Apple. 

You can create delight factor for sometime or for some products/services or for some processes  but it wont be sustainable if it is not through culture change. Seed has to be right for delightful products or else delightful products are by chance and not by choice. 

Problem is top management expect best of the fruits - business performance but they turn blind eye on what it takes.  

Indian firms can lose 18 to 20% of the business due to lack of clear customer experience strategy.

The above report indicates possibility of loss of business internationally by Indian firms. However within India due to poor or not so delightful customer experience how much business local firms can lose to competing firms is yet not known. 

Bottom line is clear , if you want better bottom line , focus on CX and if you want better CX focus on seed i.e. culture at the top. 

LIC & AUDI New Ad & MISSING Customer Focus

If you have noticed recent LIC Ad played on TV one can realise how much companies are customer focus and care for its customers. One important aspect we observe during insight research that there is a difference between what customers say and what they do. What they do give more actionable insight. 

Likewise companies may say and slogan that they are customer friendly. Even they put up the same in their mission statement. It is in vogue these days. But most companies just say that but don't do things in commensurate with what they say and shout. 

The LIC Ad in reference talks about product features for say 90% of the time slot and in 10% time slot they talk about what IRDA has asked them to speak in the interest of the customers. Do they not know that what they speak in so much of hurry is not possible for any human being to understand? Absolute compliance focus mindset without even bother to know whether it is achieving its purpose. They have money to market their products but no money to educate and caution the customers - forget voluntarily but even statutorily. 

This is the largest & Govt insurance company of the country. How can we expect other private companies to follow IRDA guidelines? Today even IRDA instructed another large Govt Company SBI life to refund premium of Rs.275/- crs - Why ? They mis-sold the policy. 

While we are on Ad, another Ad which drew my attention is Audi 40 points Ad appearing in newspaper since couple of days. They expect people to read all 40 points assuming people are free for this. In this attention deficit world advertisers must draw attention smartly and also communicate crisply. How about if Audi Ad has classified all these 40 points on need, ease-convenience and delight categories? People will read what is relevant for them & that too quickly. Just listing 40 points means I lost my attention on 7th and missed some very important distinction which was somewhere below.  

Communicate with potential customers what you really need to communicate. Your over enthusiasm about your products and services many a times may miss the real communication. Become customer to know your customers. Simple but..........difficult.  

This is the reality across all industries. 

In such scenario imagine a blue ocean available to the company which is actually keeping customers at the center in letter & spirit and offers delightful experience. It is a huge advantage. Customers are looking for such a company to embrace.  

Sitting is NEW Smoking then What is NEW Solvency Ratio ?

" Sitting is NEW Smoking. " Rujuta Diwekar leading diet consultant writes in her new book - 'Dont Lose Out, Work Out'.  

We all know and believe that smoking can cause serious diseases to the smoker likewise if you remain seated for longer , poorer  your health & you may die earlier, no matter how fit you are. This is a new scientific research. Physical activities through out the day is necessary to remain fitter and avoid many modern day diseases.  

Applying this research to our topic of Customer Experience (CX);

Customer Experience Index is NEW Solvency Ratio. Yes this is also true.  You may have very good EBIDTA margin , Current ratio , DSCR , ROCE, and PAT but if your CX Index if not healthy, all these robust ratios are just temporary. CX Index will indicate whether these health will be maintained , is improving or deteriorating. 

Problem is , like we don't measure how many hours we sit during the day, we even don't measure CX index of our enterprise.  Things we don't measure , we don't focus upon. But the fact remains , all our critical financial ratios are ultimately dependent upon our Customer Experience Index. 

Better CX enables more sales, quick sales TAT, lower marketing cost, better margins, better cash flow, lower debt, higher margins means better stock valuation, attracts more capital. CX Index is really critical measure of enterprise health. It can also be used as preventive measures to stop deterioration of financial health. In can tell in advance state of financial health to expect. 

You can measure CX Index by NPS , CES or combination of the two or define your own CX scorecard. You can do it in more detailed way by measuring experiences at all the touch points, different customer segments/persona, different product wise. More intense the scorecard ,  more it will be actionable. 

Before your CFO tells you state of your enterprise's health your Chief Experience Officer (CExO) {Of-course if you have one} must tell you that.

Next time before you think of smoking , think of sitting and before you think of financial solvency ratios , think of CX Index. 

Do you employ Chief Imagination Officer?

" We know for sure and not what we don't know will put us in trouble. We get fooled by what we know for sure about our business, customers and our self.  Seek out opportunities to observe and update your world view. "   Book Creative Confidence.

World is changing but we have fix view of the world around us.  Customer preferences are changing , they seek better and better experiences , entrepreneurs and ways of dong business is changing but we know what we know. We hardly change. Mind patterns (Also known as Mindset) are extremely difficult to change. 

We have MBA and such fancy degrees. We have read books written by stalwarts in their field. We have grown business multiple times. Success immortalizes way of doing things. It kills imagination and creativity. It freezes our thinking. 

Imagination , creativity, observation , challenging status quo , challenging present way of doing things , these are the qualities that are in demand and not mere degrees obtained by class room studies. Education qualification should de-freeze your way of thinking and not fix your way of thinking and kills imagination power.   

Actions of 7 billion people daily is making this world very dynamic. Imagination,  Creativity & Action are the winning combination and not just static knowledge. We as individuals and we as organisations are work in progress. Static knowledge combined with imagination and creativity will take us forward and make us progress. 

Who is the CIO in your organisation? I stands not for what we used to know INFORMATION but for IMAGINATION. To have CIO in your organisation first step is to become ONE.  

Are you addressing WHAT or WHY of WHAT?

If every entrepreneur and professional is asked to avail services from his own firm he will realize how poorly (or good) he is performing. 

Financial Statements will give you results at the end of the year but own journey mapping can quickly tell you what is wrong and what needs to be done. Problem is , mostly entrepreneurs try to analyse balance sheet and P &  L Account to know what is wrong and think about corrective measures. 

What best they need to do more often is to become their own customer. Use more and more touch points , use more and more services to learn more and more about their own business.

Focusing on financial statements for improvements is like focusing on results rather than on symptoms. WHY of WHAT needs to addressed. Financial Statements tells you WHAT, what is happening in the market with your customers tells you WHY of WHAT.