Three recent and not so recent experiences, which I relook now serves as some important lessons for all of us and especially for those who are into any profession dealing with clients.
Incident NO # 1: My wife was looking at diapers at one of the superstores for our 8 months old new-born (that’s kind of oxy-moronic … old and new together..*s). The attendant at the shelf, being as helpful as she can be, while assisting said “ Ma’m don’t buy these (Brand) they are bigger in size and your baby is thin.” It immediately put my wife in switch off mode – HOW CAN SHE SAY MY PRINCESS IS THIN @#$@%@ !!! She moved from there in no time and went to a different store to get diapers.
Lesson# You have to be extra careful to the emotional attachments of your clients, One mistake and you can loose a sure sale opportunity.
Incident NO # 2: I had gone to buy a fridge pack of cold drink to one of the big grocery shop, in my vicinity. When I was paying i was asked for 2Rs extra over the Printed MRP and the reason was, Its electricity charges as they had to keep it in fridge for cooling. I was like WTF ??? This could have been a practice earlier but now no one asks you for 1-2 Rs extra as cooling charges. From that day on, which is like again almost an year, I have never been to that shop for buying anything.
Lesson# keep up with market trends, short term gains are never better that long term Profits, Always look at any opportunity is “more than one time Sale” opportunity.
Incident NO # 3: We went to a restaurant, for having dinner. And it was my wife who wanted to go there to have one of her favorite dish. We had ordered the dish, with instructions that it should be on the tender side and not too fried. When it came and there were 8 pieces, out of which we took three, we found out that it is not as per our taste and aforementioned instructions. We pointed it out to the person attending us, and he immediately took the dish back, and replaced it, cooked as per our liking, without even bothering that we had almost consumed half of the earlier portion served. We were very happy and have been to same place almost every other week.
Lesson# always look at customer delight. A possible issue / problem could be a great way to delight your customer and create loyalty towards your organization and towards you as well.
No matter what position you are into, If you have the ability to understand the perspective of your customer, both Internal and External, you will always be able to offer them a solution which would be long-lasting,