How Mahindra created a WOW experience for us

Good service is good business.

~ Siebel Ad

 

A business keeps its customers by treating them Right every time!... has been the first lesson that I learnt in college, studying Hospitality and Hotel Administration. This is one aspect that I carry with me and pass on to every student or trainee that attends my training sessions.

Benjamin Franklin said, “Well done is better than well said”. Action is all that matters! In today’s hyper competitive market, it’s just not enough to have a great product at a competitive price but it’s imperative to deliver great customer experience. That consistent superior experience cultivates customer loyalty, strengthens the brand value and of course gives better revenues. That delight experienced by the customer turns him into the advocate of the company. All companies say that customer satisfaction is their priority No. 1, but there are some who actually walk that extra mile for each one of their customers. Such companies have a fan following and they’ll always tread on an upward growth graph.

Customer delight!

In the early 90s customer satisfaction was the buzz word; another 5 years all the competitors did provide that. Then came customer delight, which is exceeding the customer expectations. Another five years went by and everyone spoke the same thing. The early 2000s coined the word customer dazzle or creating that ‘wow’ experience. That’s also the time when I started delivering customer care and service excellence training sessions, be it to the call centre employees or bank employees of the State Bank Of India. I always spoke about the Emotional Bank Account that we all open with each other and every customer we deal with. 

Finally I experienced an exceptional customer service that I wish to share with you all.

It was time for us to buy a bigger vehicle, an SUV. We, my husband and I were looking at various options. Now there are so many available in the market and many more in the pipeline. My mariner husband who sails for 4 months was home and within a week of that we started looking for vehicles and requesting test drive. We went to different brand showrooms. One of them was the Mahindra showroom, G3 Motors at Uran Phata, Belapur,Navi Mumbai. We were greeted warmly and shown both the SUVs, XUV 500 and Scropio. We liked both of them and test drove both.  Then we went back home thinking of zeroing on one of the many SUVs we had seen including Mahindra.

My husband started receiving follow up calls from G3 motors by both the SUV sales persons. When I got back home from work husband told me about the calls. I had met Mr. Sampat Khule,who works at the Nashik Plant of Scorpio two years ago at my institute  and I remembered how fondly he had spoken about the vehicle then.

That made us narrow down our choice to Mahindra and Scorpio top model S10 4WD.  Thankfully I found his visiting card and spoke to him. We booked the car that day 6th July 2015. We were told that it’d take us 3 -4 weeks to get the delivery.  My younger son’s birthday was on the 19^th and we were wishing that it’d be  really nice if the car could come home for the occasion. These things have an emotional connect in my family as my husband misses such occasions due to the nature of his work. I happened to mention this to Mr. Khule and he said that he’d try his best to deliver the vehicle before that date. I was really thrilled and shared the same with my husband. They went out of their way to get the vehicle out as soon as it was possible for them  following up with Mr Attif Ansari, Area sales manager.

Team of G3 Motors and their sales executive Ms. Anjali Patil and Mr. Ravi Chilke ensured that they gave us our car on 17^th itself so that we had the car on my son’s birthday. They expedited all the procedures including registration at the RTO. We took our Mahindra Scorpio home on 17^th of July 2015. The 3-4 weeks actually shrunk to just 10 days. We really felt like VVIPs true to the fact that customer is the king! Along with the car keys they gave us a framed picture of Mata Vaishno Devi, my family is a devotee of Devi Maa. Son was given a remote control toy car that he was thrilled to receive. While we drove out of the showroom, he opened his gift and remarked that it was his best birthday gift. As a mother it gave me so much more than just taking a vehicle home. It was experiencing great hospitality and exceptional customer service and it certainly created the ‘wow’ that I always speak about. I am connected to the hospitality industry where we are taught to create such wow moments for the guests, at Mahindra they exceeded my expectations completely!

Thank you Mahindra for such a great experience, you have certainly created a brand ambassador in me.

from my column

You’ll never have a product or price advantage again. They can be easily duplicated, but a strong customer service culture can’t be copied.

~ Jerry Fritz

My idea of a perfect roadtrip

Life is a journey, bring it on... Head on!!

What: A road trip

Where: Kanyakumari to Ladakh - Incredible India!

When: May - June, 15 days

The vehicle  would be the good old Scorpio, and Bryan Adams, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Deepak Chopra, stand up comedian Kapil Sharma, Angelina Jolie and ofcourse my husband the companions.

The reason why Scorpio is the chosen vehicle, simple akhir Dil hai Hindustani! Time tested and reliable. Good enough for seven of us. Ofcourse we are travelling light. We have ample time at hand exploring India and getting to know each other.... a little at a time!

The company: 

Bryan Adams... Ohh the man with the voice to die for and who has a legacy of chart busters, my kind of music, music player can rest often. His voice will be the music to the ears even when he isn't behind the guitar. Summer of 69 to Run to you....all the way! What fun would that be. May be we come up with another album on this tour, " India head to toe'

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the youth icon, the man of the moment, the captain cool. He'll double up as the fitness expert, trainer for us to keep the endurance during the long road trip.May be by the end of the trip we all will have a physique that we are proud of and would've perfected the helicopter shot.... howzaat! 

Deepak Chopra, doctor and coach of well being, will be our spiritual Guru. The safety of the trip will depend on our willpower, levels of motivation and grace of the almighty. Chopra will keep us motivated and yeah there can be yet another bestseller from him after the trip.

Stand up comedian Kapil Sharma, brilliant that he is at his job. He'll keep us all entertained. This man sure has a funny bone and can bring smiles instantly. He is a laugh riot. Laughter is the best medicine, so we'll laugh our way to the top.

Angelina Jolie, the woman who does charity and is a champion of adoption. She can add an Indian child to her global brood, the female company that I'll have. She can double up as Lara Croft for the others. Can get some interesting parenting tips from her. Will we be able to perfect the 'one leg" pose? Why not, there will be enough time to rehearse that.

Not without my dear husband, he loves the long drives and road trips it'll be a perfect opportunity for us to embark on the tour. I need him around for many reasons, topmost being  he is an expert in handling me, years of coaching have gone into that! When the world sees all calmness and peace, he can see the volcano ready to erupt. He is a master mariner so that'll make him the perfect navigator for the trip. He will also be our photographer capturing the wonderful and magical moments.

Have got the road maps in place, list of things to carry is ready and bags are packed. Have double checked everything. Its certainly once in a lifetime opportunity so can't take any chances. Here we go.....

We begin from Kanyakumari, ofcourse breaking a coconut and hailing the Bappa for our successful road trip. All of us bring with us just the basic things that we'll need. Roles are all chalked such as arranging meals, driver's roster and making the weekly schedules. To do a good turn everyday and being prepared was the motto of the Girl Guides. Getting to use that.

Meals will be in the local, rustic places so we'll get a taste of all the states that we pass by. Not just the highway on the plate it'll be, all the roads on the plate! GPRS will certainly keep us on track. We'll cover a distance of over 4000 kms. Having fun in the great company...

This post is written for the perfect road trip, Indibloggers facebook.com/AmbiPurIndia