Just Sales or satisfactory Sales

It was on one of recent trips to Kolkata during end February 2008 that I went to visit my grandmother. She is an old and a very self-contained lady who seldom wants anything from others but this time around she expressed her desire to eat home-made dahi vadas as eating anything from outside gave her acute acidity. The next day morning I sent my driver to buy a packet of GITS dahi vada mix which is easily available in my home city, Mumbai. To my surprise this was not available in the odd 10 shops he visited and came back empty handed. I further went out and faced similar consequences and came back very agitated.

My next logical action was sit on my laptop, find out the GITS contact details and call them. It was past 5 pm in the evening and I called up the GITS head office in Pune. I did not bother enquiring who picked up the phone but straightaway asked for the Marketing Head or the Marketing Manager whoever was available. From my voice this person could certainly tell the hostility and wasted no time in putting me on to the right person. Here was this very well spoken gentleman on the other end now asking me what I wanted, and here I was speaking breathlessly about what a bad distributing system they had, that a popular product like Dahi Vada mix was unavailable at 10-15 local stores in various parts of Kolkata. He heard me out very patiently and took my cell phone number and said he would call me back soon.

I knew the call was never coming back. To my utter shock or amusement the committed call came within a flat 15 minutes. It was the same person apologizing profusely as well as thanking me for my immediate reaction of not finding a certain product saying that he would take my call as a serious complaint and ensure this kind of lapse does not occur in the future, he also said that his colleague would soon be in touch with me so that I could get my Dahi vada mix at the earliest. By now I had cooled down a bit and thanked him for his promptness. The next call came in 10 minutes from Mumbai asking me to wait till the next morning. The apologies and courtesy almost reminded me of the comparisons I often made with the western world on how Indian companies have meager after sales assistance and I will give you a unique example of this later.

This person told me that I would have my packet of Dahi vada mix within noon the next day. Around 11 am the next day a person called from Howrah and took my address and was at my residence. His travel from Howrah must have cost him more than this one packet of mix which is priced at approx Rs 50. Now to my utter disbelief and shame he got gajar ka halwa and a packet of newly launched paneer as an apology bequest. I initially declined politely but he was adamant that this was the only way they could illustrate regret of non-availability of their product. I accepted the gift reluctantly and conveyed a very profound gratitude for not just the gifts but on changing my opinion of the new emerging approach to business and sales in India .

Now, comparing the size of GITS to a large multinational conglomerate like LG electronics with huge advertisement budget for brand-building from whom I purchased a high-end, double door refrigerator with a mini bar and water dispenser for Rs 1 lac plus for home in Mumbai was not a very satisfactory experience. Since the day it was delivered the mini-bar door was stiff, it took some effort to open and close it. From August 2007 to March 2008 I must have called and made repeated complaints and got false commitments that they would come and repair it. Finally a week ago my husband called and literally threatened to personally talk to the MD – India operations if the job wasn’t done within the next 2 days. Guess what? A technician was at our door-step within the next 2 hours and repaired, it was a very simple problem.

The lesson I want to learn from both my experiences are that all processes don’t mean anything till the final outcome is derived just like LG sweet talks, gives you complaint numbers, verifies your address and contact numbers repeatedly and does not show up. On the contrary a company like GITS needs only one phone call and they flood you with calls till you decide that if its Dahi vada it’s ONLY GITS!!
10th March, 2008