Service and commitment.

We can recall how many times we had to wait and wait for someone to deliver our LCD, AC unit, furtniture and anything we had purchased from the store. Waiting is always enduring and not endearing and it will test our patience to the maximum as practically we feel helpless and out of control. In this manner, Domino Pizza's had been successful. It's service delivery concept is plain and simple. 30 minutes free delivery or you will get a coupon to redeem for a free pizza. It is important to set expectation of service delivery and this was done exceptionaly well by Domino Pizza.

Two weeks ago on Monday I received a call from my broadband service provider offering me to upgrade my house modem. The offer was attractive to me and my family as it provides a higher bandwidth with a lower price. I accepted the offer and as part of the set up, the service provider dispatcher will collect my house modem and replace it with a 3G modem. Although I have to pay them RM100, I will receive a rebate of the same amount in my first bill. So we agreed for the dispatcher to come over to my house in Gombak before 11 am on Saturday and I specifically informed the sales person that is the period I will be at home. The sales person agreed.

Saturday came and by 11.30 am the dispatcher still did not turn up. As my wife and I had to attend to an engagement at 1 pm, we then made our move. At about 1.00 pm I received a call by the dispatcher. He asked me whether he could come over to my house to deliver the modem. I informed the dispatcher that he was late as he was suppose to come at 11 am. He retorted that he did not promise as such. Hearing this, I pointed out to him that the sales person I spoke on Monday agreed to this and I would expect this as it would inconvenient me otherwise. He then apologised to me and we then agreed to another delivery date and time, this time on Monday at my office in Cyberjaya.

Later that evening I received a call from the sales person asking why did I requested for another delivery on Monday and at Cyberjaya. This really dismayed me terribly. Over a period of a week I had to speak thrice for a simple service of collecting and delivering a modem. I expressed my dissatisfaction and threaten to cancel the order. The sales person quickly apologised for the misunderstanding and confirmed that the delivery date and time.

Service is easy if the target and focus is to please the customer. How would we please the customer? There are many aspect of service delivery such as quality of product, timeliness of delivery, responsiveness, providing attention and assurance. However the most important one is commitment to serve.

In the case I related earlier, the commitment is in the form of a promise to deliver the product at a specific period of time. Though the promise was made by the sales person, the sales person need then to inform and direct the dispatcher accordingly. They need to act together behind the scene to deliver the product according to the promise. This is because, from my view point as a customer, the promise was made by the company and not by the sales person alone. As both the sales person and the dispatcher are working and representing the company, I as a customer expect that the promise to be delivered by both of them.

The biggest mistake both the sales person and the dispatcher did was reacting as if the promise the other made was not a commitment the other will take. The dispatcher did this when he said that he did not promise to come by 11 am on Saturday while the sales person did this when he questioned me why I need the delivery on Monday at Cyberjaya.

Probably there was a work relationship strain between them but to approach the customer and showed that they mistrust another was a great risk as I almost cancel the order out of anger and disappointment. Indeed I was and I started to doubt the service I would receive from the company. What saved both of them was the manner both quickly offered an apology when I informed them of my displeasure

In conclusion, in a service orientated encounter with the customer, it is important to be aware of the promise made to the customer as this is a commitment made on behalf of the company. This is especially important when there were more than one who had engaged with the customer. It would be most efficient to put a remark of the promise made on the service or sales form when handing over the order from the order taker to the service delivery unit. This can be made manually on the order form or in a system that the company uses for sales activities. Fulfilling the promise will provide confidence and delight to the customer and avoid a recovery effort in order to regain the customer's confidence.

Communication and the importance of it in live, work and business

All live creatures communicate, that is a fact. Although plants do not have speech capability but they have beautiful flowers to attract insects to help them pollinate. Animals communicate and though to our ear their sounds are incomprehensible, but among them they would understand each other. As long as we and the other creatures socialise in our community and environment, communication is an important tool of interaction.

The need for communication is not only one way. It can be an internal and external need. An internal need means our own need while an external need will be for others. It is not sufficient that we always prioritise our own need, we also have to consider the need of others. If we are able to provide a balance consideration of everyone's need plus ours, everyone will derive the right benefit from the communication.

Take for example a customer who requires service from a technician to repair a computer. The customer's need will be to resolve his or her problem or issue with the computer in a timely and affordable manner. The technician's need is to be paid adequately for the service. In the process of servicing the computer, the customer will like the technician to inform him or her what is the problem or issue with the computer. Then provide options based on pricing, durability and other alternatives. All these will require communication.

Recently I had engaged a property agent to let out my condominium. He was a young chap and seems to be eager to impress me. He got two prospective tenants for viewing. The second viewing landed him with intent to rent from the customer. We discussed on rental and I provided a RM100 discount. A few days after, that he asked me how many parking lots I have at the condominium. I told him the parking lot was not discussed during the viewing and if the tenant requires it then I will charge RM100 per month. So I got back my asking rental.

Before I was paid the booking fee, I asked him to see the tenancy agreement draft that he would be using as I want to check the terms. Initially he was reluctant to provide it to me and seem to take for granted that the tenancy agreement will not be a problem. After I threaten him that I would not go ahead with the deal, he emailed me the document.

I read through the document and found serious legal and sentence structure flaws in the draft. I told him but he did not believe me. He asked me what the flaws were. I told him that as a professional property agent, he should be asking his legal officer. If I were to show all the flaws, then he needs to pay me RM1, 000 for professional legal advice. He disagreed.

Later someone called me. Apparently he was the supervisor at the property agency. He confided to me that the tenancy was taken from a property website and they did not check the wordings. I then asked them how much are they charging for the tenancy and stamping fee. It was a whopping RM280. With stamping of only 20%, the rest will be pocketed. He said that prior to this no one had ever asked this question and thought that I was a lawyer. I told him I am not but I manage contracts. Eventually he agreed to let me handle the tenancy and I will be paid the RM280.

As the time for the tenant to move in comes nearer, the property agent did not provide me any update. I was only paid the half month rental for booking fee but there was no meeting set for tenancy signing and payment of all dues before I can surrender the key. A day before the move in date, he frantically set up a meeting but the tenant did not have enough cash to pay all the money dues as it was a long weekend and they were only told about the meeting that day itself. I was very furious. How can I surrender the keys when I am not paid and how come the tenant was not informed earlier. The property agent failed miserably in his job. He showed a lack of commitment and failed to communicate timey to all parties.

What are the learning points from this? These will be as follows:

1. Understanding is important in any communication. When he was asked for a copy of the tenancy agreement, he did not try to understand why did I need it.


2. Confrontation is a BIG NO. All feedback and complaint needs to be heard. If it is a fact then remedy, if it is based on perception, correct it or change the way we communicate.


3. Assurance will provide confidence. When he was confronted of the tenancy agreement flaws, he should have said that he would ask his supervisor or company instead of asking me as I know he himself would not know it unless he has experience in tenancy.


4. Update is important even if there are no news. Updating all parties to the deal is important. This will enhance confidence and follow up sales. He did not provide any update after getting the half month rental booking and only arranged a meeting in a hasty manner.

Over and under promise

Promise is a commitment to act. However it is quite common in all societies that promise is something which is uncertain until we have an English saying: "Promises are meant to be broken" and a German Proverb: "Nothing weights lighter than a promise". That is the reason why there is a requirement for a written contract to bind promise legally. If the contract is broken, then there will be legal and monetary consequences.

However a written contract would normally be for business and it involves lengthy process and cost with high value and great commitment for those who sign it off. Then what about a simple promise to deliver a service or assistance? Surely this is normally verbal and the uncertainty will then exist.

Promises that were kept by a person will win him or her other people's trust. With trust and consistency, the person will be able to build his or her integrity and reputation. It would be a lot easier to get acceptance from others once a person has high integrity and good reputation. A German Proverb aptly says "Promises are like the full moon, if they are not kept at once they diminish day by day."

So what can we do? A more pragmatic approach to this is to promise only what you can deliver. This would be the basic of promise. To then deliver more than you promise would be a delight for the recipient. So this is my business theory and methodology on promise and the reason I have placed the two prepositions before the word "promise" in my title i.e. "over" and "under" promise.

If you refer to the chart below, the basis of my business theory and method will be a degree of control of the resources (i.e. capability) and knowing intimately what would be the likely outcome of each endeavour to fulfil a promise. The barriers to reaching the highest peak of the chart will be time, cost and manpower. However the prize of delivering the customer's delight will be loyalty and sustainable business.

What would be an example of reaching to the peak of Customer's delight? Let me share a service industry example, say the customer's requisition is to be served within 15 minutes with 100% accuracy of delivery. Depending on your promise capability, the various timeline and customer's reaction will be as follows.
For a delivery of 5 minutes, your capability to serve with 100% accuracy is when orders are low. However in a thriving business, this is something you would not want but the customer is hoping for. For a delivery of 15 minutes, your capability to serve with 100% accuracy is a standard operation that you will deliver to each order. If this is not possible, then there is obviously something wrong with your service operation as this will be below market practice. In the third scenario, with high operation efficiency that surpasses market practice, you will be able to deliver your service within 10 minutes and the customer will be delighted.

Hence with this information, you may provide promise you would know you can deliver. As time passes and a lot more efficiency is gained, the timeline may be further reduced so that your high integrity is established and your good reputation is known as a world class business.