DailyPost 2458
FORCED OUTSOURCING
The latest trend or you may call it reasonably old too, is that you are supposed to shop in the manner that is convenient to the seller, by way least use of resources from his side. Added to that the feedback ecosystem is getting stronger by the day, and you can be chased to get feedback, which will improve the prospects of product being sold more. Broadly, the game plan is that you keep doing all the seller’s system wants or his business model requires. The biggest challenge is that all of it will happen at a time of his choice or rather at any time and you have to be in readiness.
We don’t think about it because we have slowly been groomed into it. Its starts with the marketing, the time and nature of calls and at times even automated calls have made a mockery of the customer. Customer might be the king anywhere else in the world but in India. They also have audacity of keeping on calling you. It gives you a feeling that you are at their beck and call. If you have to entice customers, is this the way to do? Becoming a customer with this sort of nagging which people do, can be called as forced outsourcing.
Customer acquisition has its own nuances in the today’s age all the expense of the customer. Delivery has also found a new dimension, if you leave in an independent house, it might just not be handed over. The app would show as delivered. You can keep finding it out. The app keeps sending you automated messages, but very rarely you can get back to a person on the other who is in a position to provide any worthwhile help. Deliver is any manner is acceptable by the seller. Customer inconvenience is no longer an issue for them. They have trained into this. Maximum delivery in the shortest possible time and the customer availability barely seems to a point in consideration. If you have to get something installed after purchase, you are welcome to another round of fun.
You have to keep following with the ones required in the installation jamboree. You do the commissioning for the seller. Tracking in the first case and installation in the second has ended in forced outsourcing to you. If you get stuck up in customer complaint, you had it. The more complex the gadget, more you have to run pillar to post, in many instances it does not get sorted out too. Its true of big brands as well . You have to bite the dust fulfilling their processes / legal conditions too. Endless explanation. They sit in judgement as if you are the culprit. You as supposed to follow the company’s rules, customers challenges notwithstanding, resolution is still not guaranteed. Even in a normal store you pick the stuff yourself, find out if required and then spend time in the queue. It seems it’s only the time of the customer which is free for all and effort too in the changed business circumstances of today. Quietly, they *pass on a large part of their work on to you, you make effort and spend your valuable time, not leading to getting even any price advantage either. This we call as the forced outsourcing of tasks to the customers.
ITS TIME WHEN THE CUSTOMER HAS TO DICTATE THE SALES CULTURE AND EXPERIENCE AND NOT THE OTHER WAY ROUND.
Sanjay Sahay