JAGDEEP KAPOOR is CMD of Samsika Marketing Consultancy
A Brand Service Professional needs to shower his customers with love, care and a lot of attention. Especially when the customer’s need is acute and deep. When the Brand Service Professional over-indulges the customer, use my Prescription –Pampering Brand Service Prescription.
There is a certain set of customers who have a higher expectation than others because of the lifestyle they are used to. They are quite willing to pay a higher rate and expect the service quality to be in keeping with the high standards they are used to.
The segment needs to be treated differently. The Brand Service Professional needs to go far beyond the threshold level of service that is otherwise provided. Naturally, this does not mean that regular customers should get bad service. But if the service quality that regular customers are provided with is rated as a ‘good’ Brand Experience, then nothing short of an ‘excellent’ Brand Experience should be preferred to customers treated with the Pampering Brand Service Prescription.
The reason why they demand and should get service quality that is rated ‘excellent’ is because they give large volumes of business or that they aspire to the best and are willing to pay for it. That is why they must be pampered with a superlative Brand Experience.
A good example of my Pampering Brand Service Prescription in action is the Jet Airways Privilege Card holder who gets pampered every inch of the way while flying the airline. Right from check-in, its right royal treatment for him. Jet’s Privilege Lounge provides transit passengers with a quality of service that regular passengers can only dream of. The setting is warm and relaxing. The hostess, constantly concerned about the customer’s comfort, is always on hand with a delicious morsel, a tempting drink or even something to read. In-flight, the choice of hot or cold towel can be very refreshing; the choice of menu is designed to titillate the palate. Down to the last detail, the customer feels privileged and pampered. It is a special experience he will yearn for again and again and again ….. and nothing else will do whenever he needs to travel by air. Because Jet Airways has made him feel special.
To get a feel of what my Pampering Brand Service Prescription is like, let us dine at the Southern Spice in the Chennai Taj. This is one eating experience in which the rich strains of history and culture are orchestrated with the nuances of taste to provide an experience that is truly divine. The soft ambience of the place adds to the glow. And the subtle, invisible yet omnipresent Brand Service Professional makes it a Brand Experience the customer will cherish forever.
Another example brings out the thoughtfulness and the concern for the customers that the Pampering Brand Service Prescription brings to the fore.
It was the first day of Navratri, the nine-day festival that heralds the Indian feast of Dussera. So it was on the morning of the first of the nine Navratri days that a regular customer strolled into a Monginis outlet and asked the counter sales person for items containing chicken. It suddenly struck the counter staff that it was a day of abstinence. She could easily have ignored it and notched one more sale for Monginis, the largest cake franchise and fast food store chain in India.
Instead, she said, “Isn’t today a day of fasting?” and the customer sheepishly realized that she was saved by the bell. This caring attitude of the Monginis staff endeared the brand to the customer.
My Pampering Brand Service Prescription highlights the fact that all Brand Service Professionals should treat some customers better than others. Everyone cannot be treated alike because there will always be a premium segment of customers who have to be pampered. Regulars should get service, which never dips below a certain standard. Special customers should get special treatment.