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.  

Do you remove your theatrical HAT daily ? (Off Topic)

" Every business a stage and work is a theater." Pine & Gilmore in their famous book 'The Experience Economy'.

Yes in a sense therefore every enterprise must know HOW to perform on stage to create scintillating experience for their customers. 

But other-side of the quote is equally relevant & powerful. Once you are off stage you must stop performing and start living. Usually that is a difficult proposition. 

A military men will behave like military men even in his house with his family and in his social circles. Same applies to Police men and for many other professions. An auditor will always tries to find faults with everything he encounters even when he is not actually auditing. A lawyer will always have legal angle in his personal and social life situations. A boss will mostly act bossy in his house and social circles.

Removing theatrical hat is very important as well as difficult. We become the role we play on stage. It is only the real on stage actors know how to remove such hat and live normal and natural life unlike the on stage roles they play. 

Amitabh Bachchan and the likes will not act police or goon at home , they will be natural human being different form their on stage characters. Position of power & preference is only during on stage professional and business performances. When we try to mix up our on stage roles with our personal and social roles, difficulty starts.

Family relations for all are common  - husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter etc and friends for everyone  be it lawyer or beggar. They expect us to behave normally without our theatrical hat. 

Are you removing your theatrical HAT while with them ? Next time be conscious about the on stage hat you are wearing and removing the same when you are off stage. Life will be a different experience.

How little creativity can enable better Customer Experience (CX) ?

My family doctor is familiar with many other families too. Therefore there is a problem every-time I visit him. 

- Long waiting time

- Nothing to engage me during this waiting time

Same was the scenario at one of the prominent hospitals in Mumbai. Many people standing in queues on many counters waiting for their turn to come.  

I think in most places in healthcare sector this is the scenario. 

Why I like to address issues of customer experience(CX) in healthcare the most is because this is the sector where customer i.e. patient and their relatives are in maximum pain while they are waiting to be served.

Many a times it does not require rocket science to improve customer experience. It just need a mind of the people at the top and eye on companies in other sectors to learn from.

Couple of leading private sector banks have solved these issues, even Balaji temple in Tirupati & Cream Center at Chowatty has addressed these issues.  

Long Queues / Waiting Time:

Issue token number on arrival and token number attended on display. Based on the experience of the enterprise , even enterprise can display tentative time of waiting based on numbers in queue. 

Small dispensaries atleast can have token system (issue and display) which make patients in waiting to know number of persons before them and uncertainties of waiting time will end. People don't mind waiting if they are informed time of waiting , even they can do their work and come back. It is the uncertainties that makes them restless & spoils the entire experience. 

Engaging during waiting:

If waiting cant be avoided then make it interesting. Cream Center at Chowpatty has a system to give a sheet of puzzle/games to everyone after occupying the chair. People get engaged after ordering in solving  puzzle and in the process forget waiting time even if its little longer. Our saloons also used to keep old filmy magazines. In many a places they have TV to get engaged while waiting. 

However they miss on which channel on TV they put on display. Better customer experience will come from the channel they put up on display. Cartoon Network (CN) kind of channels and not news channel or movies which further adds to the stress level. CN kind of channel will not only make them engrossed but also will make them feel happy. 

Both the above small issues and many such issues of poor CX can be easily tackled and can be converted in to better customer experience by little thinking and application of customer centric thinking.

List down all the customer issues your organisation faces and solve it with little creativity , results will be phenomenal increase in CX.

Brutal Focus on Customer Experience (CX)

Apple is known for their sharp focus on  CX. 

Perhaps they are the leaders. 

They take care of even 'box opening' experience of the customer. 

Recently I read their sharp customer focus as defined as Brutal Focus on CX. The word BRUTAL which otherwise used in negative connotation was used to define extreme positive connotation. 

There is a new book in the market titled Stuffocation. Author James Wallman explains us that in the new economy where everything is produced in plenty & costumes have variety of choices, how do marketeer / sellers differentiate in this crowded market?

In this new economy people are now fed up with stuff they have in their cupboards and homes.  New age customers want experiences. These customers are defined as eXperientialist customers. They need experiences. Experiences to immersed with, experiences to recollect, experiences to feel differently.  Even manufacturers , mall , retailers & service providers can create experiences - which are pleasantly memorable & worth sharing. Customers do not need to go on holiday or theme parks to get experiences.

There are examples of accounting firms, dentists , computer service businesses that are creating superior customer eXperiences.

Here lies a challenge and an opportunity for every enterprises. In the Stuffocation world

it is the experience economy that rules. 

Brutal Focus on CX - Apple  (Manufacturing & retailing)

Extreme Customer Orientation - Gjensidige Insurance Company (Service Provider)

There is a Book on The company's CX way of doing business - Starbucks (Retailing)

Customer Experience Co-Creation - Fidelity Mutual Funds (Service Provider)

Entertainment Business at 25000 feet above the sea level - Virgin Airlines (Travel)
__________________ - Your Company? 

Filling this blank will give direction to your enterprise and working on it will give competitive edge. 

Indian customers are eagerly waiting for a brand that can be matched with best in the world in CX creation.

Why Customer eXperiance Fails?

Why CX Fails:

I had an interaction with call rep of call center of one of the prominent DTH TV companies. 

They asked me to punch:

a) Language Option

b) Existing or New Customer Option

c) If existing customer than punch - customer ID or Mobile Number (Which is 10 digit)

d) It will check number by repeating 

e) Correction Option 

f) Ad message of the company

g) Select Services option

After so many punches I have reached the call center representative. 

When a customer calls a call center he wants to do some transaction/inquiry or solve the problem. Mainly when a company has circulated a call center number for a specific request, most calls would be of that services.

My worries & concerns were  :

- Call drop in between and again I need to start from step 1

- Why I have to do so many punches to reach to call center representative?

- Is it necessary to market the services in between when I ave approached the company for specific services?

- Their SMS was about asking the subscribers to upgrade or else certain channel wont be available. There was no mention that it is free. So I was a bit concerned too , as how can they do so in between the contract?

How they could have improved the customer experience?

1) Their SMS should state that its is a free upgrade (Most of the discomfort would have been avoided before I called).

2) Call options rearranged /deleted

a) Language Option

b) New Customer - press 1 or Existing customer press mobile or customer ID 

c)  If existing customer than punch - customer ID or Mobile Number (Which is 10 digit) (With the b reworded, this step can be avoided)

d) It will check number by repeating (No need to correct here , it is not a banking transaction, it can be confirmed by call center executive while welcoming the caller)

e) Correction Option (No need with changes in the previous step)

f) Ad message of the company (Absolutely unwanted and creating negative experience) 

g) Select Services option

Customer Experience can be redesigned with following revised steps:

(In addition to adding the word FREE in the SMS)

a) Language Option

b) New Customer - press 1 or Existing customer press mobile or customer ID 

c) Select Services option

This kind of customer focus can not only shorten the time but improves customer experience substantially. Unfortunately most companies are process, IT and internal focused and hence create negative customer experience & reasons for customer frustration. 

When was the last have you mapped the processes keeping customers in mind?  

Why Election Manifesto Should Start With Citizen Experience Statement ?

Like Companies , countries also create experience for its citizen & guests - investors & tourists. Concept of customer experience equally applies at national level. 

It is the fundamental role of every Government to create better experience for its citizen - through better governance, better infrastructure - hard & soft, better policies, better law & order , better & sensitive Government employees. 

Every Government will make or break their chances of winning back based on their performance counted on the above parameters of creating better citizen experience. 

If we analyse Government retaining the power and Government going out of power, deciding factor is track record or people perception of ability to deliver better citizen experience. Therefore election manifesto should start with Citizen Experience Statement ( like Customer Experience Statement for business enterprise ).

In the experience economy we all are living in creating better customer /citizen experience is the KEY , KPI whether its a company or Government or for that matter any enterprise - for or not for profit. 

Vacancy for Kejriwal in Corporate World (Off Topic)

There is a book called Creative Destruction. There is a person called Arvind kejriwal. I think there is a similarity. What Indian politics & politicians used to practice since 65 years needed creative destruction. AAP has provided the same to us. AAP has started deciding behaviors and action of other 100 to 40 to 4 year old political parties. 

VIP culture and huge people disconnect is the cause of such a silent revolution.  I am not writing here about politics but what has happened on political landscape is also necessary on business landscape at each enterprise level. 

All our CXOs are behaving like VIPs.  They think their branded education , coupled with arrogance , system, processes,  only ROI focus & silo-ed way of working is the best way for Indian enterprise to thrive. They need some jolt & shock like creative destruction. During last month I have met some employees of private as well as public sector companies. Apart from many dis-similarities , one common similarity across everyone is heavy work stress & long hours of working. 

I fail to understand for whom are we sacrificing our work force ? Why the hell working 12-15 hours like a slave is a necessity? What as a society we are out to achieve? Is happiness of people working for the enterprise is of any relevance? Is it only shareholders and financial bottom-line matter?  On one hand customers are suffering due to overwork of employees by way of huge unwanted choices & mis-sale to achieve the misplaced targets and on the other employees are at the receiving end - in struggling to achieve misplaced targets. 

I think there is a need to break this mindless run & rush for ROI , IRR. 

Development YES but at what cost? Huge wealth creation by a few at the cost of stress, frustration , multiple disease , unhappy families (I am not counting yet on antisocial & unethical behaviors & environment impact to achieve the same) ? I think there is a need for one more Kejriwal at corporate level to break the way businesses are being managed or rather mismanaged  (best of ROCE generating company is mismanaged if employees are stressed & unhappy).

Time has come to put HAPPINESS at the center of all our economic activities. Gross happiness of all the stake holders. Happiness of the present generation. We don't want sermon that we have to sacrifice for the future generation. Everyone is sacrificing for present generation shareholders' un-satiated appetite. 

Creative Destruction in corporate world is badly needed. Anyone dare to step into the shoes of Kejriwal? 

2014 Year of Customer Journey Mapping

Most businesses do not measure customer journey maps. Recently I was talking with senior operation team member of one of the large Mutual Funds. He was explaining to me how they have pioneered in SMS based investing. 

I just asked ;

Whether investors need this kind of service? - (R) Dont know. 

How many investors use mobile as a investment making instrument?  (R) 1%

By doing this new innovation how much more investors would use mobile? (R)  1 to 2% more

After some dialogue I asked whether do you map customer journeys? He looked at me like as if he is asking me what is that ? and responded NO. 

This is the biggest problem with every organisation. They are investing so much in technology where it is going to impact 2% of the customer base but have no clue about what really customer needs , what customer are thinking and feeling while dealing with the company? No one has clue of end to end customer journeys , no one is in charge of end to end customer experience. 

Companies spend millions of dollars for BPR & IT  projects but have no clue of customer service designs & customer experience they are creating. 

I think it is a high time to REALLY focus on customers. Customer Focus must come out from mission statement & mere vocabulary to life. 

Let this year be declared as a year of Customer Journey Mapping. It will end with huge customer insights & many eye openers.