A few weeks ago when I was in Mumbai, I visited the Palladium Mall in Phoenix Mills Compound in Parel. I had to spend some time waiting to meet someone. I was walking in the Mall and strolled into the Swarovski store. I happened to be the only person there. It gave me the chance to look at the jewellery undisturbed by other shoppers or store staff. Even after five minutes, with only a single customer in the store, not one staff member attended on me. The three staff members were busy sorting certain internal administrative problems. I slowly walked up to them, and still they did not attend on me. Maybe they thought this grey-haired South Indian an unlikely customer.

I asked them whether the jewels were only for display or were on sale too. They replied that the jewels in the first display shelf were “on sale”. I clarified asking them whether they would sell them to me if I paid cash. It was then that it struck them and they apologised for not attending on me. Many times in the past I have walked out of stores, reasoning that if they were not keen on selling to me, then I was not keen on buying from them either. The customer's first impression is very important and it is the start of a long relationship. After a few transactions, customers may tolerate a slight deficiency in service or they may complain to the store.

In this transaction, they were not keen on selling me the goods but I was very keen on buying from the store as I wanted to surprise my wife. I did buy two jewels costing Rs 14,500. I have been a loyal Swarovski customer. I have always been impressed with their designs and finish. In the past, I have purchased some pieces as wedding gifts. Though I have taken my wife to their outlets many times to convince her to buy, I have never been successful in my attempts. She is of the view that jewels should have a gold finish. Silver finish (rhodium-plated) would not go with her other jewels, she says. Moreover, South Indian women have an added problem as many of them wear a gold ‘ thaali ' (‘ mangalsutra '). In Mumbai, I purchased the jewels for my wife because they had a gold finish. I bought two of the three pieces on display. In India, jewellery is synonymous with gold and one needs to visit the jewellery stores on ‘Akshaya Tritiya' day to understand the buying frenzy. If customers want a gold finish, it may not be a bad idea for stores to give them that. This may be commercially viable as India is one of the largest markets for jewellery and people are slowly accepting fashion jewellery. Instead of just three pieces, maybe they can have half of the items in gold finish. If one were to do a bit of fine-tuning to suit local preferences, it could pay rich dividends. Lladro, one of the leading stores selling porcelain sculptures, offers images of Krishna and Ganesha, which may be more suited to local preferences. Offering such local choices also gives local customers a reason to step into the store. Initially, the multinational food chains could not think of burgers without beef. As a large percentage of non-vegetarians In India do not eat beef or pork, it is essential to adapt to local preferences.

One afternoon I was in the store of a large retail chain. There were hardly three customers. The goods on display were good and reasonably priced. As I neared the cash counter, a lady was protesting loudly that she was getting delayed and could not wait for the change. In fact, a few minutes before that, the billing person was seen going from colleague to colleague asking for change. He even made some remarks about the customer, least concerned that another customer like me could be watching. The customer went to the extent of returning the goods for lack of change. I was thinking of the 100 times I had been to Saravana Bhavan in Chennai for coffee or breakfast and have never been asked whether I had any change. Maybe cash management is very important in retail or better still what first impression would your company like to make? Isn't it the job of the company to make the buying experience pleasant?

In Chennai, there is a leading textile store in Purasawalkam by the name Madharsha. For the last 30 years they have always had a person standing outside the store requesting passersby to step in. Sometimes, customers need that little push for decision-making or to make them feel wanted. Though the store is air-conditioned, they keep the door open. The average customer does not hesitate to walk in.

I bought an Esprit watch for my daughter from a store in Mumbai. This was my first purchase of a foreign branded watch, besides Casio. I was asking myself why I had bought this in Mumbai and not in Chennai. In Chennai they have an imposing showroom set on a large piece of land in Khader Nawaz Khan Road. I would be intimidated to walk in or drive in. I was reminded of my visits to many tractor showrooms in Rajasthan during my TVS days, hunting for dealers. Many had showrooms with 100 feet of glass, with farmers sitting on the floor.

The tractor was always parked outside the showroom. I asked this experienced dealer why he was not displaying the tractors inside the showroom. He replied that the farmers would not look at it if kept inside. If kept on the road, the farmer passing by will touch it or sit on it and maybe enquire later. The company needs to get closer to the customer without scaring them away. Maybe I was the farmer equivalent when it comes to Esprit watch. I understand that some of the banks in Zurich have signboards in Hindi as they have lots of Hindi-speaking customers. Maybe it is a way of signalling to the customer that he is welcome and he will not be treated like a stranger or insulted.

The need to make a good first impression need not necessarily be in a store. It may be at a parking lot of a resort. The editor of a newspaper once complained that he was treated rough because he went on a motorcycle. This is a big mistake today when people who have two cars at home buy Rs10-lakh-plus Honda 1000 cc bikes for use during the weekends. For others, the first touch point may be the telephone operator; I am surprised to find that in a few organisations, it is handled by security agencies with its attendant poor handling. For a bus ticket reservation company such as Redbus and online share trading companies such as ICICIdirect or AxisDirect, the first touch point may be the Web site and it needs to be user-friendly and enable financial transactions to be carried out in a transparent manner.

The last time I visited one of the McDonald's outlets, on placing my order, the counter staff said he would get the items in one minute, if not he would give me a Coke free. He voluntarily kept an hourglass on my tray to measure the service time and served me in less than one minute. I was impressed. McDonald's had voluntarily set measurable service standards and followed it up with service delivery. This is one way of building layers of competitive advantage.

Every company must take care to make a good first impression as the customer may not give it a second chance.

The writer is CEO of Custommerce Service Excellence Foundation, a non-profit foundation striving to make Indian companies and India customer-centric. The views expressed here are personal.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW