Luring customers' hearts with quality services

Luring customers' hearts with quality services

Rudijanto, Contributor, Jakarta

Developing excellent service that gives customers real peace
of mind is a big challenge for a highly competitive businesses,
as such a marketing approach can be counterproductive.

For example, when a company launches an innovative package of
services -- the first reaction often comes from its competitors,
which respond by providing a similar package -- rather than
customers.

Look at what competitors DaimlerChrysler and BMW are doing to
win the hearts of luxury car lovers in this country. Established
here for over 20 years, DaimlerChrysler is offering an integrated
service package to lure new customers and retain existing ones.

The package entitles owners of DaimlerChrysler cars to enjoy a
free three-year service without a mileage limit.

Complemented by mechanical training programs and highly
trained technicians, the program should provide customers with a
sense of security.

Almost simultaneously, however, BMW announced a similar
campaign called BMW Service Inclusive, promising a five-year or
100,000 kilometer service with each vehicle purchased.

"This program aims to give owners peace of mind. They can
enjoy the pleasure of driving a BMW and we will do the rest. It
is part of our commitment to provide excellent service to our
premium customers," BMW Director of Corporate Communication
Helena Abidin said.

In the banking sector, the abbreviation CRM, or Customer
Relations Management, seems to be turning into a new management
fad as top banks target highly affluent clients.

Nowadays, almost all banks provide each client with a
dedicated customer relations manager whose job is to know their
customers well and offer them the best customized services
possible to suit their needs.

For instance, Centurion World is a priority banking service
offered to premium customers of American Express (Amex). Under
this program, members are entitled to exclusive lifestyle
benefits, including invitations to exhibitions and investment
seminars, luncheon and dinner events, golf tournaments and other
events that match their lifestyle.

Amex also offers each of its Centurion World customers with a
relationship manager, whose responsibilities include a broad
range of services such as consulting and advising them on
financial investment options that will provide higher returns.

Other banks have also followed suit. Bank Danamon is one of
the most aggressive local banks in promoting its priority banking
services. To support this service, Danamon tripled the number of
Personalized Relationship Officers over a single year.

In addition, Bank Danamon provides a fund manager to clients,
primarily its PrimaGold clients, who make a minimum deposit of Rp
1 billion -- more than US$100,000.

HSBC, which was awarded the title "The Best Foreign Commercial
Bank in Indonesia" for the last five years by Finance Asia, also
offers individual relationship managers to its mid- to high-end
customers.

HSBC Indonesia deputy chief executive officer Rakesh Bhatia
said HSBC Premier was the bank's flagship service for its most
valuable customers. Under this service, the bank establishes a
personal relationship with customers and anticipates their every
need.

"HSBC Premier also enables us to recognize their value to HSBC
wherever and whenever they choose to contact us, to harness the
global reach and financial strength of the HSBC Group to reward
and to deliver benefits that add value to their lives," Rakesh
said.

In the dry-cleaning sector, Jeeves of Belgravia is known among
the elite of Indonesia. Jeeves began its foray into the laundry
business in 1967 in London's exclusive Belgravia district, and it
has been operating in Jakarta since 1996.

With a vision for excellence, Jeeves is likely the sole dry
cleaning company for the so-called A-class -- famous people,
politicians, successful businesspeople and others who view their
clothes as a form of investment.

To maintain a consistent quality of service, Jeeves has a
central processing unit for its laundry service. Not only
equipped with state-of-the-art machines and imported chemicals
from Germany, Jeeves also has a special unit that mends and
restores clothes.

"Pursuing excellence in service is one of our company's
visions, because we believe that good service is an important
company product. We are fully dedicated to our customers and
always provide the best service by solving their problems quickly
with Jeeves' services," said Anita Meliana of Jeeves.

In the serviced-office sector, the CEO Suite is proud of its
comprehensive service to all clients. While other serviced office
companies merely send their clients to recommended outsourcing
companies, president Mee Kim said the CEO Suite provided
significant consultations.

"I don't position CEO as a serviced-office company, but more
as a service company, because we don't limit our services to
offices. For a newly arrived U.S. company, we help secure work
permits and help with head-hunting, travel arrangements and
residential searches," she said.

In providing fully furnished offices with highly capable
secretarial staff, the CEO Suite is one of the most logical
choices for those who do not require a fully staffed office in
Jakarta.

In a competitive business environment, companies always try
hard to provide the best services to customers or clients.
However, as competitors are always ready to narrow the gap, the
disturbing question is whether they have not entered into a
stalemate of competition.

Jo Owen warns in his best-selling book Hard-Core Management,
published by Kogan Page, London & Sterling, VA, that believing we
can beat the competition in a straight fight is not only a
delusion, but also dangerous to corporate health.

For Owen, competition is better for economists than for
businesses. For economists, he says that competition leads to
innovation, efficiency and lower prices; for businesses, it means
having to sweat to innovate, improve efficiency and lower prices
with the full knowledge that their efforts will be matched, more
or less, by the opposition.

DaimlerChrysler and BMW seem to be singing the same tune with
their free after-sales services. The banks also seem to be
playing by the same rules with their personalized relationship
managers.

When all players of a sector are racing along the same path
toward providing excellent service, Jo believes the challenge for
those who want to win is to get off the treadmill and find
another way.

At this point, the words of Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu -- who
is widely known for his The Art of War and its applicability to
business strategies -- is worth remembering: "He who knows when
to enter into battle and when not to will win."