The Indian retail sector is attracting more and more entrants but many of them end up relying on pricing and promotions to make money. This can never be a sustainable competitive advantage.

One opportunity for retailers to create that advantage is to consistently deliver a positive customer experience. Clichéd it may be but customer delight is and will always be a strong and sustainable competitive advantage if it is actually done.

So, why do retailers miss this obvious one?

In spite of investments in training, good service fails to take off in many instances as it is easier said than done. More importantly, training can only provide inputs about what constitutes service and behaviour that will help this. “Smile at the customer and offer to help” is a common enough input, but the challenge is making the staff actually smile and keep on smiling.

Some might argue that this is a part of their job. However, if everyone did their job properly the world would be an ideal place. So, how can one make this happen?

Let me share two anecdotes related to this topic before moving into a prescriptive mode.

A British retailer’s customer had been overcharged and he complained about it. He was promised a gift voucher as a refund, which never came. After a while the customer called up the service cell and in a sarcastic manner asked for at least a cartoon of a smiley dinosaur to compensate for the inconvenience.

Imagine the customer’s surprise and delight when he actually received a drawing of the smiley dinosaur, a brief note and a gift voucher for more than the overcharged amount.

The drawing was a personal touch and the customer went around talking about it extensively. The dinosaur went on to become an Internet sensation.

Next is an incident where I was waiting to be billed at a supermarket. An error in the billing occurred and the supervisor was required to enter a code to correct it. The cashier yelled out that the supervisor was required. Like jungle drums, the message was passed around by a few more staff members shouting out for the supervisor. A reply came back that the supervisor was having lunch. I was wondering why the person was having lunch at 4 p.m. and was considering a quick exit without making the purchase.

Just then a young man quickly rushed up to the cash till hiding his right hand which had rice sticking to it, entered the code and went back. That was the supervisor who had rushed out to ensure that the customers were not held up just because he was having a very late lunch.

In both these examples the people who went that extra mile probably got the same training and inputs as the other employees. Yet why did they take that extra effort which made the difference?

This is because of what I call the ‘spirit of service’. Such people are helpful by nature and it shows. Unfortunately, they are also lost in the ocean of employees and frontline staff and invariably it is just a matter of time before this spirit is killed.

How can the employer not only kindle this spirit but also make it all pervasive? While the solution is not rocket science, it is quite difficult to implement simply because there should be a paradigm shift in the management mindset as also a genuine willingness to walk the talk.

The simple recipe to awaken this spirit is:

Prioritise the frontline, customer-facing staff. They should become the most important entity in the retail organisation.

Create ownership by involving them and taking their feedback and suggestions seriously. More importantly, keep in mind their constraints before rolling out any customer-facing initiative.

Recognise and celebrate people with the spirit of service. Make them ‘service ambassadors’. This will create a reference group which can be an aspiration for the other staff to emulate.

Motivate the entire frontline consistently to ensure that the ambassadors do not become an internal joke for going the extra mile.

I would love it as a customer and also as a retailer if this spirit of service pervades any store I shop at. It is quite simply energising and leaves a positive and lasting impression, which no price cut or promotion can beat.

V. Rajesh is an Indian retail expert, consultant and trainer.

vr.office@gmail.com

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