Customer Feedback – SBI Best Practice
June 11, 2010 § 11 Comments
Couple of months ago I was at a conference organized by Conscious Capitalism Institute in Mumbai. Easily the best session was by Mr. O.P.Bhatt the chairman of the State Bank of India. The man being credited with turning around the giant public sector enterprise. He spoke in depth about the “Parivartan” (meaning “change”) program which touched every single employee at the bank. The strategic initiatives of getting their basics right are obviously visible with the bank’s stock performing much better than the market.
There are a couple of things that he said I would like to highlight before talking about the SBI case. One was the initiative to sensitize the staff of the bank that the average customer who has a savings bank account with Rs.5000 balance or a Rs.50000 fixed deposit, its lakhs of these average customers who provide the bank with required cash to conduct its earning ways. The other was about Parivartan2, a program to help the employees of SBI find purpose in their job.
To see SBI and its functionality for myself, few weeks ago I stepped into a newly opened branch in Hyderabad. Quite expectedly I had to move from one counter to another to another in a small branch of 6-7 employees to open a savings bank account. Finally the assistant branch manager gave me a form and thats all he could do. He couldn’t tell me about the features of the account, detail forget selling it to me. Obviously disappointed with I began to walk out while i noticed a print-out stuck on the wall which read “If not satisfied with our service please SMS “UNHAPPY” to 8008202020 I immediately messaged UNHAPPY to that number, not expecting much from a Govt. run bank.
Much to my surprise I got a call from the local head office enquiring about my grievance. Once I explained to them what had happened, the assistant branch manager called me to ask me why I complained. I tried to reason that I was present in the capacity of a customer and was to be treated like one, not as a burden. Thoroughly disappointed by their rather rude behavior again I text messaged UNHAPPY.
Within half an hour I received a call from the branch manager politely enquiring about the incident. After giving me a patient hearing, he apologized and invited me to pay a visit again to the branch the next week with in which period he wanted to “counsel” his staff about behaving better with customers. Not convinced by his explanation (which I truly thought was very appropriate) I said I required to open an account immediately and couldn’t wait for his improvement of service and that I needed to choose my banker soon. He immediately as a gesture offered to personally come down to my office, take the required documents and open my account.
This was an excellent experience but it didn’t end there. Couple of days back I received another call from the Local head office enquiring about the status of my complaint, if it had been resolved, if I needed to escalate it etc. This follow up was again impressive.
The entire experience left me spell bound. A Govt. Run enterprise, with supposed red tape, with one of the strongest banking employee unions was able to deliver this kind of service. First round of applause for the bold initiative to take up asking customers to complain at will through a simple text message. Second round of applause to the branch manager, who would be a fairly senior officer, dealing with smallest of customers (just a savings bank account with a minimum balance of Rs.1000), carefully treading the path of managing his staff who would be protected by very strong labor laws & unions by not taking action but by “counseling” them. Third applause for following up and making sure the grievance is being attended to.
Since the experience my respect for the banking giant, SBI, has grown a notch higher. It makes me wonder what stops every business in the service industry from putting in place such a strong feedback system. It is more than worth investing in feedback from customers. If an elephant like SBI can do it, so can everyone else. Looking forward to my clients of the service industry implementing such robust feedback mechanisms and that this fever spreads across the world. Businesses which are not customer centric will have to fade away into oblivion.
UPDATE: SMS UNHAPPY has been nominated for eIndia mGovernance initiative of the Year Award. It is being implemented across 1100 SBI branches in AP serving over 14 million customers. In 6 months they have received 11000 complaints and have resolved 96% of them. ISB has taken up the project as a case study and is likely to implement it as part of course curriculum. Read more. Vote for SMS UNHAPPY.
10 Key Learnings of 2009
January 8, 2010 § 8 Comments
The difference between knowledge and wisdom is doing. So the learning I’m going to share are not pieces of read text, but the wisdom I gained in the year 2009. Hope many can relate, few can contradict and many more can quicken their journey’s to wisdom through this post.
1. Starting-up is good fun: I myself started two enterprises (NxT Bizness Solutions & Dot Now Social), and worked with few others in 2009. From taking the decision to start-up from understanding of market need, potential customers to actually finalizing the name, registration its all good fun. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the freebies of starting up too; the learning, the hiccups, the obstacles, the glamor etc. I explored my inherent affection for startups in 2009.
2. SMEs are a HUGE market: Studying SMEs for the entire year, taking off from my stint at Milagrow, I realized the potent market of SMEs in India. Realized how much of market need exists, how little is getting met. It was very nice to see many entrepreneurs across the country dealing with this opportunity in their unique way. I also touched base with how little is known about SMEs on the whole. There is a huge gap to fill about understanding SMEs in India.
3. Power of Social Media and Social Technologies: Though I was an early adopter of social media while in college, then graduated into a laggard after I started working. Once on my own, I explored social media encouraged by a study by McKinsey. It is a revolution that is catching up, and what we have experienced is the tip of the iceberg. Social Media and social technologies can greatly aid business. This is beyond marketing and can prove extremely useful through all Conversations of Business.
4. Ecology is the new Business Ethic: Ecologies have existed in business ever since. I got introduced to linkages and ecologies in 2008 during my stint at Milagrow in an all new way. 2009 was the year to grasp the big picture. Co-Creation, Co-evolution, core competence taken to a new level, leverage of strengths (processes, customers, relations etc) and many more forms. I came in touch with very many and truly experienced the power that lay hidden. I’m more than ordinarily convinced that Ecology is the next Business ethic.
5. Culture is the secret of great organizations: Culture is very powerful. It has defined the progress of civilizations of the world. The combination of value system and belief system manifested into practices holds the key to not only civilizations but also organizations. During 2009, I came in touch with several organizations, some had weak cultures, some had strong cultures, some cultures were elevating and some destroying. It was the year of experiencing how culture defines the organization. I also learnt, culture is not for a wall poster, it cannot be “driven in”, it must be identified and not cultivated, in the context of an organization.
6: Relationships of Business: Healthy relationships are the key even in business. But understanding the relations of business goes beyond. Business is done between one who needs and one who provides. As long as the context is business, there is no more, no less. This is the most important lesson of 2009 for me. When there is an existing relation with a person beyond the purview of give and take, it is advisable to think twice about bringing objectivity that is required for business into such a relation. It was extremely difficult for me to build the objectivity (disclosure: I failed at it) into a relation that had business as the newest dimension.
7. USA is a nation built by Entrepreneurs: I read that USA had high business quotient, it was a nation pursuing personal liberty etc. When I visited USA, it was truly an experience (much to my surprise). It was an experience of how the power of individuals has been harnessed to build a nation. I had only come in touch with the fallacies and the ills of this excessive personal liberty leading to unprecedented greed, but experiencing USA was about realizing the collective potential individual endeavor.
8. Control is an Illusion: Like most of us I was one of them who congratulated myself for each achievement and blamed circumstances for all the failures (though I truly deep within knew neither was I totally responsible for success nor failure). 2009 is when I began to accept that events happen and I only did what I could do, I did not control or create any outcome. I began to practice letting go, practice not pursuing the end, but pursuing the means. I began to respect the Hindu philosophy of Karma one more notch higher for it gave the entire civilization the strength to let go and let come without attaching too much value to it. I’m slowly beginning to travel for the purpose of travelling in this journey called Life (be it professionally or personally)
9. Money is not that unimportant: Money to me was always a secondary virtue. Of a lower class of sorts. The year that went by taught me things about money I never properly understood before. 2009 was the year I began to give a lot more respect for money in a manner that I understand its value. I realized “Money can Buy”. Hence never discount it to second grade.
10. I’m not that much of a rookie after all: I began 2009 by moving on from Milagrow to start my own consulting enterprise. For a 21 year old it was quite an important decision, but I made the leap. Many times I thought to myself if at all I’m capable enough to take on the challenges presented by my clients and my startup. But I thoroughly enjoyed many of the solutions I gave to my clients all year through. My clients were much more experienced than me, few of them had done Graduation in Business, one of them in an top 25 B school in the world. But I too added value, enough value that they could acknowledge and appreciate. While I will always be thankful to all of them for having put faith in me and given me an opportunity, I’m also a lot more confident and don’t feel like a rookie anymore.
These are just 10 of the most important ones, and mostly only in the professional domain. 2009 was a bumpy year where I learnt many things both professionally and personally. Elaborating further is beyond the scope of this post, but I’m grateful for all the opportunities I got in 2009, I’m thankful I met the people I did, I’m glad it came, I’m happy it is over!
Management Consulting for Small Businesses – Justifies Existence?
October 23, 2009 § 1 Comment
Historically management consultants are among the most hated professional community in the business world. As a student, when I aspired to be a management consultant, I wondered why glamorous management consultants always frowned about being “hated”. Once I entered the profession as a management consultant is when I truly understood how hated management consultants are.
While there are ethical and unethical people in every industry, act of a few consultants (since the emergence of management consulting) who robbed clients without delivering value can’t be rub against the entire profession of diligent value worshippers. Management consultants, over the years, have emerged to be a very important part of the entire eco-system.
Though Indian businesses are not as consulting conscious as their western counterparts, the trends to employ management consultants has begun to improve. Management consultants still get brick bats while moving in industry circles… Especially when it comes to SMEs management consultants are look at like the famous quote “don’t employ a consultant to tell you time from your watch”. Whenever I come across these people, I so pity them for the lack of knowledge and understanding of the benefits of employing management consultants. (more...)
Business of Business Plans
September 16, 2009 § 2 Comments
It is getting increasingly interesting to do business plans for highly potent start-ups. To work with entrepreneurs who seek help on developing business models, fleshing out their strategy, understand actual financial projections, is such a beautiful experience. The experience is being enhanced by nice clients who are willing to listen to what we say, instead of using their “I already Know” filter which they are so good at.
The development of business plans for presentation to debt financers and equity investors is different. While both are interested in viability, the investors are people interested in the business as a whole. How the start-up is making the money is as important as how much money is being made. This becomes exciting for a management consultant interested in strategy. To design a business plan to depict operational models, strategy explanation about starting, sustaining and scaling, realistic presentation of market potential, potential impact, super-duper future potential; it’s a joy to do such exercises.
Not being from the finance background, financial projections were not my forte. But applying a amateur frame-work of developing the financial projections, I almost perfectly completed the job, for the first time (ofcourse with in-house expert help). Now doing financial projections and interpreting key ratios being part of my learning kitty, doing business plans is getting even more interesting.
I’m so packed with doing business plans for very interesting industry-agnostic start-ups. I think slowly the start-up practice is taking good shape. Some investor pitches lined-up would add great dimension to our developed expertise. We will become lesser reliant on the experts on board and being to develop our own expertise and frameworks to deal with start-ups.
This is just another testimonial to the power of passion for learning. How one averse to numbers, by simply being passionate about learning can make healthy beginnings and who knows may be succeed. It just shows that reading and keeping channels of learning helps immensely. From newsletters to blogs to expert opinions to interviews, even without formal management education entrepreneurship can be pursued. Learning is such a key element.
Business Plans look an amazing beginning. I hope the over load of business plan work continues and the momentum is sustained. The business of business plans looks exciting.
Customer to Entrepreneur – journey with the motto “we can do it better”
March 16, 2009 § Leave a comment
Better service. Better product. More innovation & imagination. As customers and consumers many a time we feel, if it was just “this” better.
This very idea that “we” can provide this “one simple yet effective innovation” is a thought that leads to the birth of many entrepreneurs. Customers & consumers who feel they would be much more satisfied with “these few changes”, with belief that there will be many such enthusiasts who believe the the same few “changes” make all the difference start up.
Entrepreneurs set out by identifying what they saw the need for as customers/consumers with the motto that “we can do it better” and hence believe that they will be able to attract all those who think like them (who obviously according to them are large enough in number).
Like I once heard an intellectual and innovator speak at a conference, “the user is the best innovator”. His organization, NIF, has pioneered the movement called “user based innovations”. In my opinion another brilliant concept, worthy of an entire blog (not just a mention in a post).
But like wise, user based innovations many times lead to the users turning to being entrepreneurs themselves. Probably N x T Bizness Solutions too is a similar spin off, but I’ve come across few more typical examples.
A batch mate in engineering started off a new social networking website because he was totally not satisfied with the way the existing social networking websites connected people. Only 2 days ago I had the privilege of meeting a couple, fed up with poor floor plans and amenities at various gyms have planned to start a new chain of their own as a culmination of their years of observing flaws. I also had the opportunity to meet an entrepreneur/innovator who observed the difficulties of existing packaging units and brought to market his new innovative design to reduce cycle time, improve productivity, and reduce man power costs.
While any entrepreneurial aspiration is most welcome, a loud word of caution needs to be sounded. While there may always be the need (because they observed, there must have definitely been another who observed the same flaw) it is important to understand the reasons behind the existing poor design. If the reasons are not validated, then it is important to understand how many really feel the need and can appreciate the fulfilled need.
While user based innovations, typically based on utility (end-use), are definitely a boon, as entrepreneurs it is important to innovate further to make the new innovations viable marketable products/services to offer.
Many entrepreneurs who have started off like this, at least many I know, have failed to be successful. Those successful are those who have managed to innovate further to make refined products appreciated by a larger market segment hence viable and profitable.
HML – Best Management Practises
September 13, 2008 § Leave a comment
HML stands for High Medium Low. It is a document prepared at Milagrow, on a daily basis by everyone. HML is a tool to prioritize work into 3 categories. High priority items for the day, medium priority items for the day and Low priority Items for the day.
It helps the individual prioritize better and the tool helps stick to it by simply looking at the HML and reminding ourselves as to what the high priority items are and which need to be focussed on. It is important that few high priority items be finished rather than many low priority items. In addition any appointments scheduled for the day are mentioned. The preparation of the HML helps immensely.
The HML is not static, but a weekly measurement. End of each day, each item is marked in “green” if the job has been done, “amber” if the job is half finished and “red” if the job has not been touched at all. After diligently applying the colour code to the planned activities for the day, the next day’s HML is prepared on the same sheet for easy measurement. Ideally, in a good planning scenario the medium items of the beginning of the week must slowly be done by mid week, with low items being promoted to medium priority. He initial low priority items must be targeted for completion by the end of the week. The medium and low of the week which couldn’t e done during the week are usually followed up and finished over the weekend. Such prioritizing helps immensely. Not just mental prioritizing, but physically penning them down on a daily basis is of great help.
The HML is circulated to team mates and the mentor. This helps the mentor know your activities for the day, and can help in prioritizing the activity better to suit the immediate requirements. Your team mates also know what appointments you have and what activities you are doing through the day. In case we forget to prioritize any important item, the team mates can suggest and add value. As this is a measured way of doing things, day after day the mentors and senior level managers can review the work being done at subordinate levels and guide them towards better performance.
Being in a consulting organization, where there are different tasks in different areas this is easily acceptable, and makes a whole lot of sense. But we have implemented the same with our clients’ middle level management and has worked wonders. In many organizations the middle level management is involved in process improvement or other growth related projects, apart from supervision and a host of hygiene activities. In such cases planning the non-hygiene yet vital tasks that need to be performed by the middle level management would be aided by the preparation of HMLs.
It is a great practice I feel, if adhered to with diligence. It helps the individual, team and the organization on the whole in many ways. Even if organizations don’t implement it, I think it is a great individual tool in life as such. To carry such good practices I have learnt at various organizations I’ve been with, has proved to be an advantage to be successful in whatever scale success I have achieved.
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