How going online helped the Indian Railways to connect

“Profit and growth come from customers that can boast about your product or service — the loyal customer. He requires no advertising or other persuasion, and he brings a friend along with him.”
— Edward Deming

Acquiring good customers, earning their loyalty and retaining them for the long haul has been declared the only mantra to developing sustainable competitive advantage in a market landscape where technology ensures that firms and their competitors can duplicate any and every new development in a jiffy.

From call centres dealing with client’s clients to banks and restaurants selling intangibles; from FMCG majors to the local kirana shop, businesses are grown by not merely delivering to customer’s satisfaction but by achieving customer delight.

All strategies leading to this goal are two-pronged. In other words, firms pursuing the loyal customer have to work towards building long-term relationships as well as measuring satisfaction and effecting improvements to better its score.

Industry best practices
Indian Railways reservation system: The Indian Railways, one of the largest rail networks in the world (8,702 passenger trains ferrying around 500 crore people annually) delivers customer satisfaction through its online ticket reservation website. The website experiences a few million hits each day. Online services offered include details of train schedules, fares, reservation status, PNR inquiry, telephone numbers (enquiries).

Federal Express: FedEx is a behemoth by any metric. Being present in nearly 220 countries, covering 365 airports, employing over 1.36 lakh employees and operating more than 645 aircraft, and still, delivering customer satisfaction is no mean feat. The company offers value to its customers, be it through reliable and value-added services (guaranteed customs-cleared, 48-hour delivery promise for international consignments) or its fool-proof tracking system, whereby customers can track their parcel as it travels to its final destination by a special tracking number and a reference and even obtain signature proof of delivery.

Ritz-Carlton: With a corporate motto that says “ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen”, Ritz-Carlton takes the customer satisfaction concept several notches higher. A Malcolm Baldridge award winner, Ritz-Carlton trains its employees well. The hotel’s values are consistently reinforced with a series of activities that include daily “line ups”; a performance appraisal based on objectives drawn up by employees and their superiors and reward and recognition for extraordinary achievement. The hotel empowers its employees to ensure that problems are dealt with quickly. They are not only given the room, but are required to act immediately and do what it takes, irrespective of the type of customer complaint. They are instructed that regardless of their regular duties, they must assist other colleagues in responding to a guest’s grouse.

Conclusion
In a marketplace where firms are tripping over each other to attract new customers, the ones that collect and nurture long-term loyal customers stand tall. With information explosion and the plethora of choices, these customers are of a rare breed indeed, but they can tilt the balance and make that subtle difference between profitable firms and successful organisations.

Suresh Lulla is the managing director of Qimpro Consultants, founder of the BestPrax Club, and chairman of the IMC Quality Awards Committee. In 2005, he was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award by the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, in recognition of his outstanding achievements in Management Consultancy.