Looking for a reason to hide

Brilliant post by Seth .

Take the real character test

Terrific article by Shoba Narayan in the MINT .

The point that today , many confuse character and reputation is a valid one .

Barclays Bank

Barclays Bank entered India probably a year or so ago . I'm quite aware of their presence in India . This has nothing to do with their advertising or PR . Every other week I receive calls from people claiming to call on behalf of Barclays Bank and offer a personal loan or a credit card . To each caller I explain that I need neither . The cumulative number of such Barclays Bank calls is at least 12-15 in the past 3 months . They all call on my mobile . If all these callers had called on my various office or home numbers it may have been understandable . By now every marketing agency in India that Barclays Bank has employed in the past 6 months should have on their database that this consumer was contacted and has repeatedly declined every product offering.Yet the calls continue . 

This could mean - 

a. Barclays Bank has no idea (yet) that their attempts to garner business are turning consumers off 

b.   They know . But have run out of ideas to reach consumers . So this kind of harassment has the tacit or explicit approval of the Bank folks.

Either way this isn't doing much for the bank other than make it appear rather desperate and clueless . Maybe Barclays Bank is a terrific bank that provides exceptional service . After the experience of the last few months would I consider a banking relationship with Barclays ? Nope.

Trust and comfort are essential for a consumer to establish a new banking relationship. This kind of calling may work for a mobile services provider seeking to offer a new SIM card . It's grossly out of place for a bank.

Go Fish

Fishing rod from Chanel for 18,000 $ . Will be a long time (if ever ) before this makes contact with water :)

Chanel can make a 18,000 $ fishing rod . And someone may even buy it . Question to both - why ? 

Say it..NOW

If you want to extend a helping hand or say a kind word , don't wait . Do it now.

A philosophy that can extend to all life situations . Kindness not just as highlighted in the article above . Everyday kindness that brightens up the world for everyone connected . 

Small service from big companies

Service has a relation to big + organized in Indian retail and phone/internet service providers . Service seems to be inversely proportional to the scale of the company .

In an earlier post I had written about big service from small retail . For the past several weeks I'm experiencing small (read : no ) service from 'big' service provider Airtel . About 2 months ago we shifted to the Airtel internet connection . For the first 2-3 weeks it worked well . Post that there are problems everyday with the connection . Either it won't work or it will work for 30-40 mins and stop thereafter . In 4 weeks I've called Airtel more frequently than I called the cable internet guy in the 4 years we had the connection . One of the factors seems to be the poor quality of the modem . It heats up to an extent where one can toast bread on it while on the near daily call to the Airtel call centre to lodge a complaint . The problem re the modem has been advised to Airtel . One of the service persons turned up , checked it and declared it fit . Hence , no need to replace ( He analyzed the problem as being one of connectivity alone . Whereas the problem is the duration and consistency of the connection ) .The problem persists to a point where if it is not not resolved we will disconnect the service . And certainly share the problem with folks we know so that other can make informed choices on whether to take an airtel internet connection .

The people at the call centre seem to be well meaning folks . They in fact bear the brunt of a customer's dissatisfaction . The problem is at the levels and with the people at Airtel who make crucial decisions like quality of equipment to be purchased , the design of the service process . 

Airtel spends crores on advertising to build the brand . Some of it put into buying better equipment , ensuring problem resolution and follow up calls to check if the problem has been satisfactorily resolved will do much more to build the brand than the advertisements.

It seems to be the malaise of many mammoth organizations to focus on growth , market share , market cap , profits at the cost of service and value to the very entity on whom all business is based - the customer . Airtel is not alone in this delusion . The list of companies who join them in this category makes for who's who of Indian business . It's an diverse group where multi-nationals and Indian brands have equal representation .

To paraphrase the (now) popular idea that there is money to be made at the bottom of the pyramid - there's money to be made and an enduring brand to be built by being customer focused .

Airports as cultural ambassadors

Each region of India has a wonderfully distinct culture . The cuisine of each region too is distinct. There are amazing heritage products in each region . You'd never know of it though from the airports of the region / city .

Air travel has gone up tremendously in India . This means millions of travellers who spend ( or are forced to spend due to delays ) time at the airports . Each airport could be a magnificent cultural ambassador for the region offering authentic local cuisine , best of the products from the region . This would make it way more interesting for travellers  and rewarding for the airport and the retailers .

In a recent visit to Chennai I observed the changes in the Mumbai domestic airport .It is  by far the best airport in India . The stores , Cafes , foot reflexology massage offer good options to travellers. Would be terrific to see Mumbai food like Pav bhavji , vada pav (low oil variety !) available at the airport .  

Chennai airport has few food stalls . All of which offer high calorie , average tasting snacks . The kind you could find anywhere - sandwiches , samosas etc . A restaurant that offers average fare with no local flavor (except an odd dosa on on the menu ) . There's a new restaurant that offers fancy fare like Pesto Panini . For region that has mouthwatering , exquisite cuisine there is no representation of it at the airport . Likewise there is no representation of the gorgeous silk products of Tamil Nadu , stone work , wood work or any craft from the region for that matter.

( in a few airports where local products are available they unfortunately often tend to be average e.g Lucknow)

Turning the airports into cultural ambassadors for the region / city would be a win-win situation for all - the travellers , the airport , retailers , the artisans . Introducing the richness of each region of India to it's people and guests has a value that extends beyond business and monetary benefits .