Journey to perfection

Once upon a time, in an ancient city there lived a potter. He used to make pots and beautiful toys made of baked earthen clay, and sell them in the market to make a living. He also had many disciples and among them there was this special one who was remarkable. This disciple absorbed everything his master had to teach him. Soon the disciple started his own business of selling wonderful baked clay objects. His reputation spread by word of mouth and he soon became famous. All his goods were sold within hours. He sold all his items expect one. He would take that item to his master. The master used to have one look at the item and hand him a list of defects in the item. The disciple would then go back to his workshop and try and remove the defect and the next lot would be that much better. And he continued to take the last piece of his inventory to the master and the master would invariably tell him where he could improve.

This went on for many years. By now the disciple was very famous and rich. And he was getting tired of his master handing him over a list of defects. So this time when his master again told him how he could make the items better, he snapped, "I am already best in the business. My pots and toys sell at prices that are many times more than yours. And you still point out my faults."

The old master smiled and said, "Oh is that so? I think you will not improve any more. Your goods will continue to sell at today's price but you will never get more than this. Your journey to perfection ends today."

My uncle narrated this story to me a long time ago. Those were the days before Internet and I was too small to ask for the source. So I assume this story is his own creation. And it is worth putting it out to the world. I would definitely like to know the source. Anyone?

Picture courtesy: Sarah Lewis

Are you loyal to your customer?

Of all terms in the management lexicon, I find the term 'Customer Loyalty' the most oxymoronish.

Let us first examine what 'customer loyalty' means. A random search in google would give you many definition. I will use the most common one, extracted from wiseGEEK (this just happens to be on the top; I have nothing against or for it):

The term Customer Loyalty is used to describe the behavior of repeat customers, as well as those that offer good ratings, reviews, or testimonials. Some customers do a particular company a great service by offering favorable word of mouth publicity regarding a product, telling friends and family, thus adding them to the number of loyal customers. However, customer loyalty includes much more. It is a process, a program, or a group of programs geared toward keeping a client happy so he or she will provide more business.

Why do I find Customer Loyalty an oxymoron? Because I always see 'loyalty' as flowing from bottom to top. The subjects are (or used to be) loyal to their kings not vice-versa. I have heard of 'loyal servants'; never heard of 'loyal masters'. So far with me?

And if customer is the king why should customers by loyal to a company or a brand? The company or brand should be loyal to the customer. Suddenly the whole perspective changes, doesn't it? What this means is that the companies should go all out to prove that they are more-loyal-than-others.

Actually this happens in smaller companies. For a small company, customer is not a king; s/he is god. The company goes out of its way to serve god. As the company grows bigger, this philosophy is sadly kept aside. The focus then switches to how to make the customer loyal to the company and not the other way round. How to keep the customer happy.

So I wish to rephrase the definition of loyalty:

The term Customer Loyalty is used to describe the behavior of company's effort to serve customers in order to generate repeat purchase, good ratings, reviews, or testimonials. Some customers do a particular company a great service by offering favorable word of mouth publicity regarding a product, telling friends and family, thus adding them to the number of customers. However, customer loyalty includes much more. It is a process, a program, or a group of programs geared toward serving a client so he or she will provide more business.

There is a world of difference between keeping a client happy and serving a client to the best of your ability. You should be loyal to the customer; not the other way round.

Picture courtesy: Shannon Pifko