Right Data at the Right Time to the Right People

Today I was travelling from Bangalore to Mumbai on an airline. I had a upgrade voucher that I used and got upgraded to Business Class. As soon as the flight took off, I realized that 6 of the 16 business class seats were un-occupied. That is such a waste of opportunity. The airline could have used this opportunity to delight at least 6 of their loyal customers. All the airline had to do was the following: Include the Frequent flier status/miles of the passengers in their manifesto. Once the boarding is completed and if there are vacant seats in the […]

The Importance of Setting the Right Expectations

Let me start this with another Mulla Nasruddin tale: Mulla Nasruddin was walking by a market when his friend told him about the great fair happening in the city hall and how everyone is going to see it.. So, Mulla decided to join in.. It was a fashion show and beautiful models, all dressed up, were seen walking the ramp. Sometime later, a fuming Mulla stormed out of the city hall. When his friend saw him storming out, he followed Mulla and asked him what got him so angry and worked up? Mulla said – They show all these beautiful women walking […]

What I Learnt About Engagement From My Son and His Friends

We had planned a small new year eve party at our home yesterday. We had invited a few of my 10 year old son’s friends and our neighbors to the party. The plan was simple – Play some games, eat dinner and watch a movie to ring in the new year. The kids came in on time and we started off by engaging them all in a few games – getting them to dance, compete against one another and in general have fun. It was all good until it was not so good. As long as we adults were totally […]

Stop Annoying Your Customers

Have you ever felt that you are taken advantage of, your patience taken granted for? Today, I felt the same with a set of friends, family and strangers. Today, I went to watch a movie to a movie hall. This was a high profile movie with great expectations. So, all of us in the cinema hall (INOX Lido) were eagerly waiting to watch the movie. The cinema hall had a set of captive audience, so what did they do? They played ads at the start of the movie, for 15 mins. The movie was scheduled to start at 9:00 AM. […]

Customer Engagement Vs Employee Engagement

Employee Engagement Vs Customer Engagement

Yesterday, I went for my regular, monthly haircut and this time chose a different hair dresser from my usual one. For the first few minutes the dresser was talking to me, enquiring how my day was, wanting to check what my expectations were and also about where i lived. Couple of minutes in, one of his colleagues walked in and they both started having a conversation about something that was common between both of them, totally ignoring me. Though, I think that the result of the hair cut was better than I expected, I don’t think I will be going back […]