Super-late night celebration at Sonnet!

Experience 3 by Kevin: Super-late night celebration at Sonnet! (June 24, 2009)

Background

Mr. Anshuman Ghosh was a happy man! The last 2 hours had given the MAXI Chief, 6 efficient, hard-working and passionate marketers-in-the-making to lead – the MAXI Team 2009–10 had just been elected! Little did he know that his happiness would be short-lived as his wallet would soon become a lot lighter! Indeed, a treat was on the cards – I was one of the lucky recipients – and everyone knew who our generous sponsor was! J

Prior Expectations

The 6 newly elected MAXI members, their Chief and a few well-wishers like me got into a few autos at 2 am in the early morning of June 24, 2009, around 30 minutes after the end of the election. Our destination was the Cinnamon Coffee Restaurant at the Sonnet Hotel, Jamshedpur – the only 24-hour genuine coffee shop in Jamshedpur. Of course, we were planning to have more than just a cup of coffee – what with a generous sponsor in tow! And of course, we had to toast to the success of our fellow batch-mates, now beginning a new innings as a part of the Marketing Association at XLRI …

Actual Experience

The waiter took our individual orders around 2:30 am and assured us of ‘prompt’ service. I had ordered a ‘chicken nugget burger’. Burgers, fries and pasta seemed to be the cuisine of choice. There was a long delay after our order, made bearable only because of the amiable company and general sense of camaraderie there was. At long last, around 3:20 am, the waiter reappeared with a smile. With a flourish akin to David Copperfield making the Taj Mahal re-appear, he produced a bowl of fries. Positively starved by now, most of us dashed to have a share of those few fries. Annoyed at the now agonizing delay, the unlucky ones – those too far away to reach the fries – fired the waiter and asked him to get the rest of the order. Finally around 3:45 am, the waiter brought the burgers and only around 4:15 am did he get the pasta. We also made the stupid mistake of ordering soft drinks at 4:20 am – indeed, his return with them only at 5 am, prompted speculation on whether Sonnet actually had a bottling plant to make the same on demand.

Analysis

I will admit I have focused mainly on the timing of the service – ignoring the other aspects. On reflection, I found that most of the other service parameters were good. Certainly the quality of the food was great and the ambience was nice too – after all, a coffee shop is just the place you want to be for a raucous conversation with friends. Yet, something was missing … and it was not just the fact that we were the only customers in Cinnamon at the time …

SERVICE TRINITY MODEL

SERVQUAL ratings

Dimension	Rating (out of 5)	Remarks
Tangibles	5	The ambience, as stated, was perfect for our context
Reliability	5	The quality of food is beyond dispute
Responsiveness	2	Certainly the responsiveness of the restaurant as a whole can be questioned – if not that of the waiters and chefs alone
Assurance	3	The waiter failed to reassure us – “coming in 10 minutes” will only work for a while …
Empathy	4	However, the restaurant staff were quite empathetic – assuring us that they were trying their hardest to speed up

N.B.: (1 = very poor, 5 = very good)

A good hair day courtesy Habib’s!

Experience 2 by Kevin: A good hair day courtesy Habib’s! (June 20, 2009)

Background

I had not managed to have a haircut during the last month of my summers at Gurgaon or my miniature vacation home in Mumbai. A free 1^st weekend beckoned me at XL – and I jumped at the opportunity to visit Habib’s, Beldih Club, Jamshedpur as I always do – only this time, I thought I would try it a little earlier in the morning rather than the evening rush hour.

Prior Expectations

Since coming to Jamshedpur, I have visited Habib’s for a majority of the haircuts I have had. I find the service quality to be very good. At times, one has to wait and often one can make out just a little quickening of pace in the saloon experience because of the arrival of many waiting customers. But this time, I was in for a surprise.

Actual Experience

When I arrived, I saw that there was no one already in the saloon chair. The lady at the counter welcomed me with a beatific smile as always and motioned me to sit. Now, Habib’s has only 1 barber – an expert one at that. The gentleman set to soaping and washing my hair – and for the next 20 minutes I just closed my eyes and felt the rippling water fleetingly touch the ends of my hair and leave them just as quickly. The shape of the chair requires you to lie at a 135 degree angle that is pretty comfortable for a short nap – but in this case, I stayed awake – enjoying the effect of the cool stream on my hair.

At the end of the hair wash, the barber began his cutting – and the rhythmic sounds of scissors and hair (in whose epic battle there could only be one winner!) filled my ears, drowning out the sounds of the birds outside. Finally, at the end of it, the barber showed me the mirror – and on pointing out that I could do with a little more cutting on one side, even proceeded to do as I said. I enjoyed the total dedication and prompt response – as compared to past times, when the show of the mirror was more of a formality.

Analysis

In my past visits to Habib’s, I can say that thought the quality of the haircut was good, the customer experience as a whole could have been better. Long waiting lines and scant attention to customer feedback (with the mirror) mean that I often ended up having a proverbial bad day. I was once even turned away since the entire day’s slots were booked. Although, the saloon cannot be blamed for it, one must question the logic of having just 1 barber for a city as big as Jamshedpur – even if he be the Shakespeare of his trade.

SERVICE TRINITY MODEL

SERVQUAL ratings

Dimension	Rating (out of 5)	Remarks
Tangibles	4	A saloon is never the tidiest of places, but this time, it was decent
Reliability	5	I knew for sure, the barber would not cut off my ears!!
Responsiveness	5	The barber responded well to my feedback at the very end
Assurance	5	He was confident and polite while speaking
Empathy	5	He asked me a couple of questions to better understand the hair cut I wanted

N.B.: (1 = very poor, 5 = very good)

The first time I gave a lecture!

Experience 1 by Kevin: The first time I gave a lecture! (June 17, 2009)

Background

The juniors had just joined XLRI on June 13, 2009. I was called to give an induction session on my summer internship at Coca-Cola India and on the basics of marketing and branding.

Prior Expectations

In this experience, I am the service provider and the juniors were my customers. I expected to deliver a crisp 45-minute session on my summer internship (developing an engagement programme for Brand Fanta). However, in the end, the session turned out to be more than 2 hours long! The experience, analysis and service quality ratings are based on the feedback I received from juniors and seniors alike.

Actual Experience

I began with some basic fundamentals of what marketing and brands are – and tried to make my session interactive. I proceeded onto the specifics of the project and ended up by describing my overall experience at Coke. The ‘Audience Effect’ was experienced by me: due to the lateness of the hour, some juniors at the back fell asleep, which ruined some of the atmosphere. I was later told I fielded far too many questions which killed the interest of some. I should have factored in customer effort variability and taken a moderate number of questions.

Analysis

I was found to be customer-friendly and I think that was a desirable point. I tried to be as brief in answering since the same questions kept popping up. Finally, I can honestly say as a lecturer, it is sometimes hard to keep track of time. I spent 50 minutes on my first 4 slides, so you could say the initial efficiency of my service was poor!

SERVICE TRINITY MODEL

SERVQUAL ratings

Dimension	Rating (out of 5)	Remarks
Tangibles	3	Late hours, laptop went off once during session
Reliability	5	My information was reliable
Responsiveness	4	I was not able to take all doubts due to scarcity of time
Assurance	5	I was confident and assured while speaking
Empathy	5	I tried to understand the doubts of the juniors before answering them

N.B.: (1 = very poor, 5 = very good)