BRAND PROACTIVE - ANTICIPATE AND ACT; DON’T BE REACTIVE

 BY JAGDEEP KAPOOR

When a customer has to follow up in order to get the service that is his due, it is a very bad reflection on the quality of Brand Service provided by that organisation. From the customer’s point of view, it is a detestable task. He hates it. He expects the organisation to follow up on its own and give him the service that is his due.

Service that is reactive is bereft of the essence of good customer care. It leads to dissatisfaction, a bad Brand Experience and makes the customer feel cheated.

If, on the other hand, a Brand Service Professional takes the trouble to provide the service he is supposed to without being reminded, it creates a good impression in the mind of the customer and over a period of time helps foster a feeling of trust and dependability. In short, it provides the customer a Brand Experience that he treasures. He feels that the Brand Service Professional is taking care of his needs and is interested in helping him. He is also relieved of the tension of worrying about whether the task would be done or not.

Take a look at a patient. He is also a customer. Just like a good doctor is also a good Brand Service Professional. When in his care, the patient knows that his needs will be taken care of. His mind will be at peace because he knows he is in the good doctor’s hands. As a Brand Service Professional, the doctor knows his patient’s case history. He knows his allergies, if any.

And he knows what it takes to cure him. The patient feels secure and at ease when he is in the good doctor’s care. He sleeps without worry, knowing fully well that he is in capable hands.

On the other hand, a doctor who is a bad Brand Service Professional will constantly have his patients run after him, reminding him of what he has to do. His patients will constantly live in fear that the doctor might have forgotten something crucial that may harm them. It looks as if the patient is serving the doctor instead of it being the other way around.

Similarly, with other professionals like lawyers, architects and consultants, it always pays to be proactive. My Proactive Brand Service Prescription ensures a higher level of satisfaction.

A Clearing & Forwarding (C&F) agent for a Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) firm is a Brand Service Professional who offers warehousing, billing and dispatch services to the distributions of the FMCG firm, there are occasions when the distributor has already made advance payment and waits for the receipt of goods along with other relevant information.

A bad C&F agent neither informs nor performs.

A good C&F agent, on the other hand, ensures that the goods reach on time with all the information that the distributor needs. This gives the distributor the confidence that he can go ahead and plan for the further deployment of goods to retailers. A proactive C&F agent will never force the distributor to phone and ask about delivery timings.

My Proactive Brand Service Prescription ensures that what is expected is done without the need of any reminders. It saves time and builds a rock solid reputation for both the company and the Brand Service Professional.

Copyright © 2005, All rights reserved with Jagdeep Kapoor – Managing Director, Samsika Marketing Consultants Pvt. Ltd.
No part of this document may be modified, reproduced, stored, deleted or introduced in any retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means (Electronic, Mechanical, Photocopying, Recording or Otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of the document.
The author is Jagdeep Kapoor, Brand Guru and Managing Director of the successful Samsika Marketing Consultancy.
Tel: (022) 28477700/7701 (022) 28470214/15 Fax:022 28477699
E-mail : jkapoor@samsika.com