Ravi Ramanathan

. Extra mile, extra smile! A labour of love Many many years ago, in fact so many years ago that there were no computers, let alone internet or e-mail, I used to learn music. To be specific, I was learning to play the harmonium. For this purpose, I was advised to purchase books on Carnatic Music from a particular publisher. When I ordered the books, I was told that some books in the series were out of print and would only be available after some months. At the same time, there was one particular song of Thyagaraja which I was fascinated by, and wanted to learn to play that on the harmonium. To my chagrin, I found that this song was not in the books which I owned, and I had neither the words for the song nor the musical notes. Undeterred, I decided to try a longshot! I wrote to the publisher of the books, and requested that if that song was in one of their out of print books, perhaps one of their staff could make out a handwritten copy for me! It was definitely a longshot! A few days later, a thick envelope arrived by mail – no e-mails then, remember? I opened it and found my song, complete with musical notes, painstakingly handwritten across several pages. Accompanying it was a small note from the gentleman who had copied the song, explaining how it had taken him several hours to make that copy, and expressing the hope that I found it useful. You can be sure I wrote him a prompt thank you note, expressing my gratitude profusely. That gentleman from the publishing company went the extra mile, that brought an extra smile to my lips. Take Visa, Welcome to Canada It was the time when I was in an East-African country, working for a bank. After a suggestion from my brother and sister who live in the United States, my wife and I decided to send our daughter, then a pre-teener to visit my brother and sister. My sister suggested that if I could get my daughter a Canadian visa, she would also be able to visit Canada. I went to the Canadian consulate, to get the visa. When I met the head of the mission, I learnt that the office in the country where I lived in was not a proper consulate/embassy, and that the visa would have to be issued by the embassy in Kenya, though the local office would accept the visa application, and take care of the processing. The head of the mission asked me when my daughter was travelling, and I told him, ‘in 5 days!’ He said he would courier the papers to Kenya right away, and the visa should arrive just in time. I handed over the papers and left. I called the official on the 3rd day to check on the visa. It had not arrived. The 4th day was a Friday. I called him in the morning, and again in the afternoon. Still, no visa. Which meant that the visa would only be available on Monday, after the weekend. Disappointed, we started to plan to reschedule my daughter’s trip. The next day afternoon, the intercom rang. The security guard at the apartment building’s entrance was on the line, and said a gentleman was waiting there to meet me. I went to see who it was. It was a pleasant surprise to find the head of the Canadian mission waiting in the car park, with my daughter’s passport and visa in hand! “Since you said your daughter planned to travel today, I went to the airport and got the diplomatic bag with your daughter’s visa! Here you are! Wish her a safe flight, and welcome to Canada!” That diplomat went the extra mile, and brought an extra smile to my lips! These are just two examples of persons in a position to render a service, who went the extra mile so that their customer – me – would be well served. Mind you, it is not that they were people at the front-desk, so to speak. The gentleman from the publishing company – I never even knew his name, or met him. And the Canadian diplomat, he was the head of mission in that East-African country – in face he was representing Canada! It certainly was no part of either’s job description, to do what they did. But they went the extra mile, so that they could serve, please, their customer. And that they did. Let me contrast that with a recent experience I had. I sought the advice of a practicing lawyer on some matter. The first thing the lawyer said was, “I will charge you Rs. 3,000/- for a verbal report, and Rs. 4,000/- if you want a written report!” I said I will need a written report, and was asked to come after 3 days. I agreed. Sure enough, when I returned after 3 days the report was ready. The lawyer’s assistant handed over the report, and I scanned through it. As I was taking out the money to pay, I asked the assistant if she could also send me the report by e-mail. The helpful assistant answered, “Sure, Sir! However, we will have to charge you an extra Rs. 100/- for that!” Hastily I declined the offer, and left with my report! No doubt, I am comparing incidents which happened in totally different contexts. But the first two incidents, the one with the publishing house, and the one with the diplomat happened very many years ago – when customer service was not such a fashionable topic as it is now. In fact the incident with the diplomat could possibly only have happened where it did – in a small country in East Africa. And in any case this was before security took precedence over everything else. Nevertheless, I believe both incidents serve to illustrate a concept that could do with some reinforcement. Both the gentleman from the publishing house, and the diplomat, did not think of customer service as management jargon. In fact, in all probability, the gentleman from the publishing house was not even aware of the term ‘customer service’, as we understand it in today’s corporate context. But both believed in providing satisfaction to their customer, believed in making sure the needs of the customer were met. For them, customer service was a way of life! Let me give you a more modern day context! I attended a meeting with a senior manager of a large corporation on a project I was working on. It had taken me a lot of effort to set up the meeting/, given that the manager was an extremely busy person. When the meeting was over, I requested a follow up meeting with the manager. “Sure,” said the manager, and I expected him to follow through with the customary suggestion to get in touch with his office to set up the next appointment. However, I was in for a surprise! He walked me to the door of his office, and followed me as I stepped out. He walked straight to his secretary, and after a brief discussion with her, turned back towards me. “How about same time, on Monday, 17th?” He turned to his secretary, and said “Jessie, please mark that in my calendar, and also send an e-mail to Ravi to confirm!” Now, that was customer service – no checking with his office later, and a follow up meeting set up in a jiffy, just like that! Now let us step back a bit, and see what ideas we can take home, from this! Now, I bet that made you sit up! You are no doubt wondering, what is this guy talking about – customer service at home? I ask you, why not? Why can we not pay our family members, the same attention that we do to our customers? There are very many ways that we can take an extra step, to bring an extra smile to the lips of our loved ones. Now, before you bestow a title like “the most loving, caring person” on me – I would be the first to admit that all too often I am guilty of failing to practice what I preach! But nevertheless, let me give you some examples of how we can get the reward of that extra smile! Let us say you are watching a cricket match on the television, when your wife asks you to get her something. Your natural tendency is to linger on at the television for a few more minutes. If your wife reminds you, you perhaps shout back “Just a minute, dear, I will get it for your after this over!” If on the other hand, you got your wife what she wanted right away, you would have got the extra smile! You could always watch the replay, or catch up on the score, later! Let us say it is your job to set the table for dinner. If you take the trouble to warm up the plates before setting the table, particularly in winter, that is customer service at home! You are at the supermarket, getting a few supplies for the home. You see a brand of chocolate, or a seasonal fruit that your daughter particularly likes. You pick it up, without worrying about the price, conscious only that your daughter likes that. Will that not bring on that special smile to your daughter’s face? Time and again, we come across examples, where a person could do some small thing extra, but does not do it, only out of laziness, or lethargy, or an attitude of “after all, it is the wife/daughter/son!” I believe that’s where the problem lies! We tend to take our family for granted, we assume they will take whatever they get! But surely, it is worth the extra effort, to see that special smile, or special look of appreciation, on your loved one’s face? Why not givre it a try? I certainly plan to!