Set the right expectation & stand by it!

I have very vague, but fond memories of flying 'Go Air' in '06. And as I recall, I was particularly impressed by their timeliness, service and crew. Indeed I also recommended the airline to few, over the other LCCs (Low Cost Carriers), sort of WOM (Word-of-Mouth) advertising for them, though I didn't get paid for it :( But my latest, and probably the last, Go Air experience really marred my impression of the airline. Needless to say that it didn't bear any semblance to any of those faded memories I had of the then carrier or the crew.

So, let me run you thru' the sequence of events. On my way to the airport, I received an sms from the airline announcing a 40-minute delay. Having set already, I decided to hang around at the airport, and thumb-up a good book. So, I propped up my dangling feet on a spacious couch in the departure lounge, past all the checks, and waited to board a 40-min delayed flight. Well, delays often happen, rather always, and it's good to be prepared for it rather than anticipate. Personally, anticipation kills me.

I waited for some good two hours, eagerly following all announcements, with no information about my flight. It was then I started getting anxious. I looked around for the Go Air crew, and found none. Though there definitely was an empty kiosk with a colorful Go Air sign. Soon, I found other passengers, also baffled, waiting for any information about the flight, and searching avidly for the Go Air staff, who really seemed to be eluding their passengers.

Another hour passed-by. Now the passengers started asking random airport officials, and crew from other airlines, for the status of flight. We also requested them to call someone from Go Air to help the passengers with their queries, but no luck. Ridiculously strange, but true, it was then that sitting in the departure lounge, I actually called the Go Air call-center, and then their airport office, barely half a mile away from me, for the flight status. After a long two and half hour wait, I had also tried to sneak out of the departure lounge, to get an update on the flight. But it being the airport that it was, I had been watched, checked & restricted from doing so.

Its alright to be delayed, even for six hours, and I am sure the airline had thousand excuses, true or untrue, but I was a goddamn customer, and I had the goddamn right to know that my flight had been delayed, and more so, because I had bought that right!

After the long six hour camp, finally the crew appeared from a corner, and announced the boarding. People did yell, but they seemed to be oblivious, shut, from it all. We boarded, angry, furious, only to find straight-faced, curt air host & hostess were dressed in track suits, and if anyone asked them for water, they would yell “10 rupees”, ensure they collect the cash, and then get a glass of packed water from behind a small, dingy shelf. They put me off too, just as much as the long six-hour weight, and the crew at the airport. But what about them? Was it the track pants? May be, yes. Was it the lack of courtesy? May be, yes. But these guys weren’t rude. They were just straight-faced, just like I am when I meet strangers. Well, maybe. I guess, that’s where the difference lies. A mismatch of expectations and deliverables. The industry expects you to expect these air hosts & hostesses to be warm, and helpful. And any kind of expectations not met results in a disappointment.

On a product level, this can be applied when the manufacturer or seller promises A-B-C, thereby setting the customer expectations, and if he fails to deliver accordingly, the product fails miserably in the market. On the other hand, there are products that set very reasonable expectations, and promise a single or a few attributes to the customers, usually the USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Volvo, for example, stands primarily for safety, and secondarily for comfort, but it doesn’t promise looks or speed. Tide, being priced lower than the other detergents, ensures value-for-money, and doesn’t promise anything beyond bleaching the clothes white.

Even on a personal level, I feel managing expectations is a real challenge. An individual, just like a commodity or brand, should commit only what he can realistically deliver, and deliver as promised. And, its better to promise a little less than fail on your deliverable, which I believe is equivalent to cheating because when you over-promise, you are cheating yourself since you know your real ability, and it results in cheating the others because he would take your word, and count on you.

I think every principle of branding and marketing can be mapped-back and also applied to an individual. Infact, its amazing to relate and apply these fundaes to ‘I’? It really makes me feel that I am living in a closet full of brands, myself being in the process of becoming the brand 'me'. (Read label: Brands)

- Namrta Batra

The Chameleon Brand

So, have you folks seen a brand that changes colors, from blue to green, to orange, to pink. Quite colorful indeed! Yes, we are talking about 'Go Air'.

I can't quite recall what color was Go Air then when I first flew it in '06, or if it was multi-colored at all, but my last stint quite amazed me. I happened to pick-up a pink luggage tag for my hand-bag, and when in the departure lounge, obviously went looking for 'the' counter, rather kiosk, with a pink 'Go Air' signage. I took a walk across the length of the lounge, and found no pink-s, except for a baby dressed in a pink frock and some pink lipsticks. I strolled again, walking back to from where I'd started, and found no other pink. It was then that I started reading those signages, and found one in green with 'Go Air'. I had done a course in marketing, but it was my common sense that told me that 'this' cannnot be 'this' 'Go Air'. After all, pink and green were disctinctly disctinct colors. But after some enquiries, I settled for otherwise, only to find out later that the plane bore a blue 'Go Air' and its interiors had an orange 'Go Air' branding. Isn't this a strong case against consistency in communication of a brand. An utter abuse of Visual Identity!

To violate the Visual Identity of a brand is equilavent to raping it, I insist. Its not a lesser sin than having several names to refer to the same brand in the same market. And it just creates more clutter for brand, in the already saturated market in the minds of their target audience. True, brands are re-christened, but it follows all the customary fanfare. And they are given yet another, new, but unique name. Infact, companies spend crores on re-branding exercises. Reliance-ADA Group, I know for sure, had spent a good 70-crores only on a single day, when they first re-launched the new brand, internally, for the employees, and boy, what delicious cake I'd savored then.

Jokes apart, I can't stress upon the importance of a logo more than what I did in my previous post (use label: Brand), and a 'Go Air' typeface on blue is by no means similar to the one on pink or green or orange. Not because their RGB or CMYK constitution is different, but also because the human-eye perceives them as distinctly distinct color. Because even if the visual can't speak a thousand words, it does draw attention, and well, recognition. Probably just like the first thing you noticed in this post may have been the visual . And also because someone as illiterate as me, or as read as me, would first cast a quick glance to locate the brand visually, and not literally ;)

- Namrta Batra

Owning a 'process'

"A process (latin processus: movement) is a naturally occurring or designed sequence of changes of properties or attributes of an object or system." (Source: Wikipedia) Simply put, process is an over-used term, used to describe a set of defined tasks to achieve a desired goal.

So, if I were to use a flowchart to define it, I could say A -> (follows) B -> (follows) C.... -> (follows) Z. Remember, as kids how we could just learn the alphabets without having to apply ourselves. I mean, c'mon you don't have to think, re-think, analyze or calculate that what would follow 'A' this time, 'B' or 'D' or 'X'. It has to be the 'B' always. In a way, the alphabetic string may be a good layman analogy for process. But where is the damn need to think, re-think, analyze, calculate or apply yourself. Well, I just meant that since God has gifted us with some brains, I mean some of us with some brains, so why not make a use of it.

When applied to a business scenario, partciularly an IT industry, process is put in place to increase the efficiency an organization, and boy, not only can it make things faster, easier and more profitable, but it could just work wonders. If I may go back to the same layman example, then of-course the 'wonderful' pace with which you can recite the alphabets cannot even match-up to your calculation speed because it does not require you to think, re-think, analyze, calculate or apply yourself. An apt example is China, a thru' and thru' process-driven economy, with very limited resources, is turning out to be the World's Factory and a trade powerhouse. "Business processes are central to the functioning of an organization... Several companies intend to establish process-based organizations in order to cope with the increasing complexity and dynamics of the economic environment."

The rise in attrition rate is also emerging as a big concern for most companies today, hence the shift to the people-based organizations, and consequently more pampered employees :) Jokes apart, some organizations are actually coping-up with a horrendous 30 percent attrition rate. Imagine the immense cost incurred in hiring and training such a large number of employees. I am sure, the entire recruitment process would be a considerable chunk of their total outlay. So, a quick-fix to this problem is to just put a process in place, and get anyone - black, white or colored, to just follow it. Saves the employer from begging, pleading and pampering, and secures them from unforseen attrition challenges. And saves the employee from the need to think, re-think, analyze, calculate or apply himself so that he could 'chill matadi'.

There can also be varieties of thinking, eg, to think innovative, out-of-the box, etc. Well, these are no more than just corporate jargons, but by no means an easy task. Therefore, people rely upon and adore process-es to make life a little easy for them. And in the process they forget the most vital 'thinking' process itself and just follow the process like a slave. And it works, both for them and the organization. But where is the personal development then? Do they learn, and grow with the organization? Or is it more of a static growth for them, where the growth is only in terms of the number of process-es owned and the designation on the business-card.

So, I think we should really think and re-think if we want to own just the process or if we want to own the broader objective to be achieved by the process. My take is that owning the broader objective not only helps us apply ourselves to refine the process itself we go along, but also conditions us to change well in time if there is change in the objective.

- Namrta Batra