Nisadas

There are very few occasions when the customer actually is on the winning end of a dispute with a company. However, it would seem that a guy called Howard Schaffer actually managed to get his own after endless delays in getting his problem fixed from a phone company.

Barely a day after reading Cerno’s post on Airtel coming to Sri Lanka (and the related post on Dialog customer service) I came across the story of how Howard Schaffer billed his phone company for time wasted (via Yahoo). Kudos to the company for actually paying up, though. It could’ve just hung back and let the whole thing blow over (after maybe putting the problem to rest). Instead, they dealt with the negative publicity created (Schaffer is a PR guy who took his tale to the local media – nasty combo, methinks) and made something positive out of it.

I’d hate to think of how they deal with any future problems, though – they’d be flooded with bills from people whose time they waste. Probably the best incentive to upgrade their customer service, I guess.

There’s apparently only one Sri Lankan chocolate that’s been selected as a Superbrand. It’s quite interesting that it’s also my longtime favourite local brand.

There’s also a shop that is dedicated to this particular brand of chocolate.

All these things came to mind one day, when I left home one day, seeing the advertisement for the brand’s new status in a paper. That very afternoon, on my way to visit my dearly beloved, I stepped into the brand’s shop to buy a box of chocolates. After making my selection, I handed over the box to the salesperson at the counter.

When she told me the price was two hundred rupees, I handed over a five hundred rupee note since I hadn’t exact notes for that amount.

Her reaction was fascinating; with a sheepish grin and a shrug she tells me that she doesn’t have change. She leaves me standing in the shop with the chocolates in a bag and goes on about her other business, oblivious to my intent to purchase the chocolates.

Puzzled, I asked her again whether she wasn’t going to take my money. She simply shrugged and told me (albeit, with the sheepish grin) that she doesn’t have any change.

This left me with four options:

1. Take the chocolates and leave, without making any payment since the salesperson doesn’t seem to want any,
2. Go out and change my five hundred rupee note and come back again with exact change,
3. Leave the chocolates and buy something different
4. Leave the chocolates and go to a different shop

Option 1 seemed a little dodgy and option 2 was absolutely out of the question.
Option 3 was an option, but the fact that I was being forced to overspend or underspend by the salesperson made it a very unattractive option.
So I took option 4.

So What?

Well, in the end the manufacturer didn’t lose out, since I bought the same box of chocolates for the same price at a Cargills. But the experience certainly didn’t impress me with the shop. Not what I’d call good marketing.

The impact of the frontline

The cashiers, the salespersons etc – these are the frontline of an organisation – the operational people. They are generally lesser paid than the managers and executives who put together brand identity and I’m willing to bet that they’re also uninvolved in the advertising of things. However, they are also generally the people in the front line – the people who have the most contact with the customer. Therefore, they are also the people who will have the greatest impact on the customer’s opinion of the product.

My opinion would be that any salesperson would always look at making sure the customer leaves with they want.

When operating a specialised store, it would be safe to assume that the customer has already decided what they want even before they step in (would it be so hard to predict what someone wanted to buy, when they walked into the old Fountain Cafe?). Therefore, the purchase decision has already been made, so its merely a matter of closing the deal.

Failure to do so, doesn’t mean that the salesperson failed in her duties. But it does mean – in my opinion anyway – that she contributed negatively to the brand, especially since the shop was dedicated to the sale of that particular brand of chocolate.

So what can be done about it?

I think that sales persons need to be more involved in the branding process, since they are essentially part of the brand itself. All the money pumped into branding and advertising would be in vain, if the point of contact with the customer didn’t live up to expectations.

Maybe it’s because I read too much of Seth Godin.

UPDATE: Ramit Sethi has an old post, which I think covers the same topic, albeit with a better name for it: The Failure of the Last Mile.

With a title like that and the words “Learn how your character flaws could give you some real advantages in the workplace.” right below, how could I possibly resist clicking on the link that would help me “Get the full 2006 Careers Guide, free“?

I was then met with the usual marketing tool of signing up before I actually get my hands on the goods.

While filling in my details, I noticed something strange at the bottom: I had been presented with what could be called a Hobson’s choice – I could either get the guide and then receive email from the publishers, or nothing at all.

Being the sort who generally tries to get only that which I want, I de-selected the check box and clicked “submit”.

Oh. That’s very interesting. It reads (click on the image for larger version):

The form was not submitted because of the following error(s).
Please correct these error(s) and resubmit.

- The following required field(s) are empty :
I wish to receive relevant information from New Scientist and Reed Elsevier in the future:

To cut a long story short, I was interested in the guide so I went ahead and clicked “yes” and submitted these details.

After that I was redirected to an online copy of the guide. I would’ve preferred a downloadable pdf that I could read whenever I wanted, but hey, that’s not the point.

The point is, was this permission marketing? If we check with the wikipedia, we find that

Permission marketing is a term used in e-marketing. Marketers will ask permission before they send advertisements to prospective customers. It is used by some Internet marketers, email marketers, and telephone marketers. It requires that people first “opt-in”, rather than allowing people to “opt-out” only after the advertisements have been sent.

Why would people offering me a “free” guide want to know my email address and then send me “relevant information”? I think it’d have something to do with marketing their products at a later date. If so, why wasn’t I given the opportunity to opt-out at the very beginning?

I mean, what would Seth say?

It’s weird. I like the service I get from HSBC. I don’t bother them very much. I have friends who work there.

So why should they (the local branch) have a problem with me switching to a more secure and less crash-prone operating system/web browser?

When I took up my first intern/trainee job, one of the things I did was get an HSBC card. Not only did it look good, but it also meant that come payday, I would be one of the lucky people to get my hands on the cash first. The others would have to wait a day or two longer before their allowance was in their accounts. So I’m happy.

But I stopped using Internet Explorer and switched to Opera. Bad move. The Internet Banking facility doesn’t work for me. But thankfully Firefox came along and things were ok.

Fast forward to 2005: I’ve switched completely to Linux when it comes to surfing the net. This is because I’m paranoid about spyware/adware/zombie networks and frankly I haven’t the faintest of confidence in Internet Explorer’s security.

And then I try to access MY account via Internet Banking. No dice. Opera (even with “Identify as Internet Explorer” enabled) doesn’t work. Neither does Firefox.
I’m told that

To access internet banking, please use

• Internet Explorer version 5.0 or above; or
• Netscape Communicator version 4.72 or above (version 6.x currently not supported)

What gives?

So I inform the bank of the issue. This I do on September 12, 2005.
I get the following reply on September 15, 2005:

We refer to your mail of 12 September 2005.

Please be informed that we have taken your request to consideration and are looking at the possibilty of enabling Linux Users to login to our Internet Banking Service.

However we wish to inform you that we are not preventing any users of Linux from accessing the Internet Banking Facility.

Right.

It’s become common knowledge that Microsoft’s Windows OS and Internet Explorer browser aren’t exactly the most secure software in the world. Even if the developers manage to patch the security holes, the very fact that Windows/IE are so popular the world over make them ideal targets for hackers. This was common knowledge ages ago – that’s why alternate browsers have been able to make such an impact in the global internet community.

While I agree that there is no silver bullet for surfing on the web, I feel that institutions shouldn’t place restrictions on how people access the information they put on the web.

A little searching led me to this email at the Lanka Linux User Group(LKLUG) that seems to discuss the problems in the JavaScript code at the site that seems to restrict users. Note the date: July 19, 2005.

I’m not a coder, but according to the email, it seems that the web site doesn’t consider Linux as an operating system that the potential visitor might be using.

It’s been more than three months since the LKLUG have figured out what’s wrong with the web site’s code. So how come the problem hasn’t been fixed yet?

Ah well.

For anyone interested, there’s a workaround (thanks to Chamindra) . The simplest method (which I’m using now) is to download the User Agent Switcher and install it on Firefox.

UPDATE: As of late 2007, the HSBC site got revamped and now supports internet banking with many different browsers. I have so far had success with Firefox, Opera and Safari (on Windows).

It’s weird. I like the service I get from HSBC. I don’t bother them very much. I have friends who work there.

So why should they (the local branch) have a problem with me switching to a more secure and less crash-prone operating system/web browser?

When I took up my first intern/trainee job, one of the things I did was get an HSBC card. Not only did it look good, but it also meant that come payday, I would be one of the lucky people to get my hands on the cash first. The others would have to wait a day or two longer before their allowance was in their accounts. So I’m happy.

But I stopped using Internet Explorer and switched to Opera. Bad move. The Internet Banking facility doesn’t work for me. But thankfully Firefox came along and things were ok.

Fast forward to 2005: I’ve switched completely to Linux when it comes to surfing the net. This is because I’m paranoid about spyware/adware/zombie networks and frankly I haven’t the faintest of confidence in Internet Explorer’s security.

And then I try to access MY account via Internet Banking. No dice. Opera (even with “Identify as Internet Explorer” enabled) doesn’t work. Neither does Firefox.
I’m told that

To access internet banking, please use

• Internet Explorer version 5.0 or above; or
• Netscape Communicator version 4.72 or above (version 6.x currently not supported)

What gives?

So I inform the bank of the issue. This I do on September 12, 2005.
I get the following reply on September 15, 2005:

We refer to your mail of 12 September 2005.

Please be informed that we have taken your request to consideration and are looking at the possibilty of enabling Linux Users to login to our Internet Banking Service.

However we wish to inform you that we are not preventing any users of Linux from accessing the Internet Banking Facility.

Right.

It’s become common knowledge that Microsoft’s Windows OS and Internet Explorer browser aren’t exactly the most secure software in the world. Even if the developers manage to patch the security holes, the very fact that Windows/IE are so popular the world over make them ideal targets for hackers. This was common knowledge ages ago – that’s why alternate browsers have been able to make such an impact in the global internet community.

While I agree that there is no silver bullet for surfing on the web, I feel that institutions shouldn’t place restrictions on how people access the information they put on the web.

A little searching led me to this email at the Lanka Linux User Group(LKLUG) that seems to discuss the problems in the JavaScript code at the site that seems to restrict users. Note the date: July 19, 2005.

I’m not a coder, but according to the email, it seems that the web site doesn’t consider Linux as an operating system that the potential visitor might be using.

It’s been more than three months since the LKLUG have figured out what’s wrong with the web site’s code. So how come the problem hasn’t been fixed yet?

Ah well.

For anyone interested, there’s a workaround (thanks to Chamindra) . The simplest method (which I’m using now) is to download the User Agent Switcher and install it on Firefox.

UPDATE: As of late 2007, the HSBC site got revamped and now supports internet banking with many different browsers. I have so far had success with Firefox, Opera and Safari (on Windows).

Sometime back, I was in Habarana wondering how so many barber shops so close together could still stay in business. Apparently, they were just managing – but only just. According to an accounts guy from one of the “big” hotels in the area with whom I spoke, whenever someone starts something new in the area, everyone else who’s jobless follows suit. While that situ might’ve changed (haven’t been there in quite a while *sigh*) it seems that copying good ideas is a global thing.

From the 28th of August 2005, the Million Dollar Homepage has been selling pixel property for advertising – 01 US dollar for one pixel. With the subsequent publicity, he’s managed to sell 495,300 pixels at the time of writing. That’s $495,300 in less than two months!!

Let’s put that into perspective. Assuming around 100 SL rupees to the US Dollar, that’s 49,530,000 rupees. [feeling just a *little* green around the gills now].

I mean, how much easier can it get to earn money? This guy deserves all the credit and attention he’s getting for coming up with something so innovative.

Then there are the people who try to work on this idea. Alex has something to say about that on his blog.

Doing a search on google for the Million dollar homepage led me to the 50 million dollar website from a Google Ad. This guy’s giving out $1000 to the people who buy the most pixels on his site.

Hmmmm….

It means “Much in Little”. Effectively, that there is something great about being small.

Sometime back, Prabhath directed me towards an interesting and very thought provoking article – Small is the new big. An interesting read that makes very succinctly clear the advantages of being a small company.

Well, my association with the Vesess Web Design team has shown me the truth of this situation. Having a small, multi-skilled team works out in so many ways for the organization, as well as its clients.

Everyone has a clearly defined responsibility which they have to fulfil. But when it comes to skills, everyone develops a multitude of them. We all discuss what we’re doing – so we collectively learn from each other. In this way, while we individually specialize in our particular fields, we obtain a better understanding of how we can perform best as a team. The better we function as a team, the better our service.

Further, there’s the cost component – being small means lesser costs. Lesser costs for us means lesser costs for our clients.

Then there’s the advantage that comes from being a close-knit team. Bureaucracy doesn’t even come into the picture. Decisions can be made quickly and acted upon almost immediately.

So it’s really no great surprise that some of the best up-and-coming companies out there are built on the “small is big” idea. I like to think of it in terms of Velociraptors – small, agile (and vicious) dinosaurs who, by acting as a team turned out to be some of the most effective hunters of their time.