17 Sep 2020

2020, Customer Experience, MyAlchemy, Training, Writing
Birthday gift
“Happy Birthday!” “Thanks for the gift. But it’s not for another 3 weeks!” “I know. I know.” “I presume you’ve marked it in your calendar.” “Haan, haan. Of course.” “As usual, you’re preoccupied with something. It’s something to do with your writing. Or thinking of writing. Right?” “Er… okay… well…” “Admit it. Okay… wait, wait. I know this. Let me say my piece before...
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25 Jul 2019

communications, CrossCulture, Customer Experience
So who needs customer experience? For the longest time, customer experience was limited to the hotels or the hospitality industry. The world of hotels bends backwards for this. In India, 5 star hotels have tall large turbaned men welcoming you at the entrance, women in traditional attire garlanding you with the saffron flowers and walking you through marbled passageways to your luxu...
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25 Jul 2019

communications, CrossCulture, Customer Experience, Training
I’ve built a stellar team that has degrees and portfolios and awards filling reams of resume pages. I’ve interviewed newbies who come with truckloads of certificates, certifications and diplomas that cover all the letters of the alphabet. I've got the skill sets, capabilities and prerequisites to run this tight shop to perfection. Truly I think I’ve arrived. And then someone from my tea...
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30 Mar 2018

2018, CrossCulture, Customer Experience
Disclaimer Alert: I am not a cricket fan. So before all you seasoned followers of the game start, I'd like to own up to that. Not a cricket fan. Not a cricket player. Not an expert. Phew! Now that that's done, I'd like to say two things that will make the next few paras make sense. I do not live under a rock. Which means I do know what's happening in my immediate universe. And I ...
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23 Jun 2017

2017, Branding, Customer Experience
A 'Novak' moment Summer 2014.  Roland Garros. French Open witness what is now famously called a 'Novak' moment! The tennis match was held up because of rain. As Novak Djokovic parked himself on the bench to take a breather, the ever alert ball boy stepped forward and, in attention, held the large green umbrella above the tennis star’s head. Djokovic turned around and called him forwar...
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23 Dec 2016

Customer Experience 2 Comments
It’s 8:45 am. I am standing in a small queue of people: early risers who are obviously eager to catch the worm. We are outside the bank. It opens at 9 am. No one seems perturbed. Everyone has accepted this as: ‘life’ ‘fate’ ‘country’ and so on. A short young security guy stands guard at the half open door. He tries to look fierce and fails miserably. His job is to allow only the bank...
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16 May 2016

2016, Customer Experience
We’ve all dissed airlines for losing our luggage. We’ve never marvelled at HOW they find it. Here’s my story of how Jet Airways found (and returned) my bag – a bag that they had not even lost. When you lose your bag on an overnight trip, the first thing you get is separation anxiety from your travel toothbrush. It did hit me hard this time. However it is a longish story and the li...
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05 Nov 2015

Customer Experience
It's uncannily strange. Across sectors   you will find this huge group of businesses who help the industries serve their customers better. And most of this group will turn around and tell you that they don't need customer experience specially because they are not dealing with the end-customer. What they don't realise is that in saying that they are not recognizing their own customers as ...
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02 Nov 2015

Customer Experience 3 Comments
This post is part of the series that I am doing currently but spurred on by a recent experience that validates customer experience as a foundation stone for great brand building. Here’s what happened. Much of Mumbai and India have been abuzz with the Broadway Show of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast being performed locally. With 10 days of consecutive shows in a stadium in Mumbai everyon...
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