So it’s apocalypse now. Almost. Financial markets have tumbled, Airlines and the travel industry are going bankrupt, toilet paper, sanitisers and masks have run out on shop aisles, and grocery stores are seeing huge lines in the U.S. This of course as only a secondary fallout to the massive scale of the human tragedy – hundreds of thousands infected, nearly ten thousand dead, and many many overworked and fatigued heathcare workers.
But a few interesting things that the CoronaVirus turned inside out:
Yesterday’s super unicorn Uber is now taboo – in today’s world of social distancing, any behaviour that involves sharing resources, is forbidden. So, no co-working/ no co living/ no airbnb.
From Trump rooting for the wall separating the U.S. and Mexico, Mexico is now shutting its borders to the U.S. All of history, the underdeveloped/ underdogs African countries are now moving to restrict visitors from Europe and the world.
Equity analysts are becoming epidemiologists just like their becoming super specialist psephologists just prior to Elections (this despite the 2003 JPMorgan wildly unvalidated predictions about the SARS epidemic)
Ibuprofen is no longer a good medicine – there are studies to show a correlation between higher seriousness of disease pathways in Italy and treatment with Ibuprofen.
Even Terrorists are curbing travel and terror plans –“The Isis terrorist group is steering clear of Europe because of the coronavirus. Having previously urged its supporters to attack European cities, the group is now advising members to “stay away from the land of the epidemic” in case they become infected,” The Times of London reports.
Ice cream is bad for you, hot water is good!KFC has pulled out a “fingerlickin’ good” chicken campaign based on people licking their fingers while eating on hygiene grounds.
Haircuts are being managed with long sticks, and many folks will now follow me on #embracingtheirgreys (there are memes floating around on the real hair colour of people now being revealed)
Interestingly, there was this large fear on technology probably making a lot of jobs redundant due to automation – except for “human touch point” ones like the creative arts, nursing, sports etc. Now, those are the industries facing the biggest threats – Broadway shut down, so did Disney, the IPL got postponed, the WTA tour got cancelled, so did football, basketball, F1 fixtures, the French Open, and maybe even the Olympics – all “experiences” are grinding to a halt.
There is a lesson here of the David vs. Goliath variety – we were chasing BIG – bigger TV screens, bigger houses, economies of scale – and then, the entire human race has been brought to its knees by a micro-organism, the size of like a 100 nano microns! (thats 0.000000001 cm!!)
With divorce rates in China on the rise thanks to stay at home mandates, Welcome to Love in the time of Corona – with the possible future generation of coronials and quaranteens.
The Zomato delivery guy who came with the biryani order the other day, asked for a 5 star rating. As did the Uber driver, the Bigbasket guy, the restaurant we had gone to eat at, and even the salon lady who trimmed my hair. I feel really bad about this, but I am unable to ever comply. If I am very happy, a 4 seems adequate. If the guy has specifically asked me for a 5 star, then I generally do not review. Maybe its the ex-marketer in me. Maybe I am just hard to please, or perverse. Or maybe, a 5 star experience needs to be truly about going above expectation to be deserving of the rating.
One of my New Year ideas this year was to have a set of “me – focussed” goals – travel every two months; read an informative article every day; do the 10K steps average daily; write a post once a month; watch a live concert or a play every month. Many of these look unlikely now, but I did manage one outstation travel in January – a visit to the Tadoba Andhari Reserve. I have to say, for sheer customer delight and a five star rating, this was it.
The Bamboo Forest Safari Lodge was where we stayed. The resort itself is lovely – the rooms have gorgeous wooden four poster beds; the bathrooms are like mini villas all by themselves complete with wooden framed mirrors, wooden treasure chests for new and used towels, almirahs, and even outdoors showers – I could spend a whole day just inside the bathroom with a book and some bubbles. The patios of the rooms overlook the Maasal lake – the rooms themselves are large. The reception is very picturesque. The dining hall has an outside deck, and an upstairs gazebo – both overlooking the lake. A lovely relaxing pool area with the cutest Jaipuri print covered khatiyas to relax. The decor all throughout the resort was great – with paw print mosaics on the floor, paintings and murals adorning the walls and jungle themed nick nicks strewn about. And the library! Utterly Butterly scrumptious! Just what one would dream of when one thought of cigar smoke filled cozy wood shelved libraries :).
This was nice, but nothing out of the ordinary. What made this experience a five star one was the service we received – from the detailed and friendly conversations pre-trip; to the details we got regarding pick up, weather, food preferences and allergies, things to pack and not, to the warm reception we received on arrival; the attention to little things to make a comfortable stay; and the really service oriented staff. Whether it was the mildly spicy peanut masala that pro-actively accompanied our evening drinks on the patio, or the cute little notes giving the weather forecast on the beds everyday, or the teddy bear shaped home made chocolates in the rooms, or the yummy home baked cookies and cake that accompanied every safari, the great breakfast we got along with masala chai; the loo break stops; you name what one could possibly ask for, it was there without asking! The food was awesome.
Of course, the experience at the resort was closely linked to the safari experience – and here, the resort was superlative – their vehicles, with broad seats and roof covers had other tourists asking us enviously about the comfort we were experiencing; the naturalist team was knowledgeable, experienced and friendly. For us, the icing on the cake was a nearly 30-40 mins of close range spotting of a tigress in the wild; following closely on the heels of a leopard (my very first ever cat sighting) and a sloth bear, apart from the other forest animals and birds. Only after we managed this at the fag end of the last of our 3 safaris, the organiser Arjun heaved a sigh of relief – one could see the increasing nervousness on the entire staff’s faces as safari after safari had proved unrewarding. Then he revealed to us how he and his brother Akshay, the boss of the resort, plan for every guest to sight tigers – how they are up late nights plotting strategies of where to take the jeeps for those who haven’t managed to spot some. Akshay and his wife Ramya are responsible for everything at the resort (they have been there since the very beginning – so the vision was theirs, the set up is theirs, and the day to day execution is theirs too). These two and Arjun, give immense personal attention to each and every little thing there, and that is probably why the resort is what it is.
As I was writing this, my husband was trying to reactivate a Tata Sky connection on one of our TVs. When the automatic thingie failed, he dialled the helpline number with many inwardly muttered curses (this is how we all approach any call centre conversation I guess). After a 3 minute interval, during which I saw him running haplessly from one room to another, he came to me with this huge grin on his face. And said – BEST callcentre experience ever! This girl is amazing! Not only has she solved my problem, but my call got dropped midway and she called me back. Plus she gave me a number to call if I have any problem! I will give her a very good review – and proceeded to type something out furiously (still with that huge grin). *****
So, what makes for customer delight and a 5 star experience?
A) Going above and beyond expectation – Timely, Clean, Courteous, Aesthetic, Hygenic, etc are all normal and reasonable expectations – these don’t really make one rave. What does, is, Unique (outdoor bathroom with lush decorations), Quirky (animal figurines everywhere), breathtaking (deck against lake background), Detail Orientation – basically a wow factor.
B) Satisfying Unarticulated Needs – The evening peanuts arranged pro actively on the patio, with glasses and ice were a nice touch. So were the blankets and hot water bottles in the early morning safari vehicles. Also the beanbag for my friend’s camera/ tripod. Oh, and the wet towel wipes to clean the dust off our grimy faces and hands on return from the safari! These are things we didn’t even know we needed or wanted.
C) Swiftness of response/ problem solving – When we were planning our trip, we had considered another resort also. That one also came highly recommended. Unfortunately, they took really long to revert with quotations etc. The Bamboo Forest Guys on the other hand responded super quick. Similarly, the call centre lady today was quick and to the point, and not only solved the problem, anticipated future ones and gave trouble shooting options.
D) Investing in Customer Success – It seemed that the Bamboo Forest’s whole eco system was geared towards our singular goal – to sight a tiger. Everyone from the jeep driver, to the naturalists, to Arjun, Akshay and Ramya, to the guards at the gate – would all wish us luck when we left, and look very sad when we returned disappointed. The joy on the entire team’s face when we finally sighted Maya the Tigress, was as high maybe as our own happiness.
PC – Yeshwanti
E) Personal Touch – The family told their own stories, introduced us to their father, listened to ours, and were generally just like long lost friends. One would say this is de-riguer for the hospitality industry, but the 5 star experience takes it a notch further
F) Surprise Element – Right at the end of our stay, Akshay and Ramya’s son, a cute little 5 year old, handed us a lovely gift – a box with the famous Gond paintings of the region. This was totally unexpected, and a really nice gesture.
G) Outstanding Signature Element – I recently ate this “cloud pudding” at a restaurant – it was basically a tender coconut panacotta I’m guessing. Was OUT OF THIS WORLD yummy. I had two! I gave this restaurant a 5 star rating, despite the long wait that I had had to get into the place on a Friday afternoon. The rest of the food was good, but didn’t necessarily deserve the 5. But that cloud pudding…..I have no words to describe it! Still drooling.
All in all, if you want to sight tigers, go to Tadoba / the Bamboo Safari Lodge. It is totally worth it!
Oh btw, I just checked MY Uber rating. 4.65!!$#@%&*
Last week, my Facebook newsfeed was filled with posts like these:
– As an inveterate online shopper, (can’t remember the last time I bought at a physical store/grocer/mall) I am appalled to read Flipkart will soon go mobile-only. I don’t care what their analytics team says. To browse/drool/look/re-look on a teeny 3*5 screen….yikes! How terrible the experience is likely to be!
And a sample of some comments: – …did you order that from the cell phone? I did try ordering from the cell phone and gave up half way.
– …Agree totally. Refuse to shop on the mobile:)
– …Totally agree – no matter how good the mobile app is, I can’t imagine peering at stuff on my phone screen and trying to figure what to buy
– …Interesting . ..have they done their research right with the correct tg?
– …The experience is beat when I use all my senses to see, hear, touch, feel, taste and smell the physical product. Even with books, I love to browse through every chapter before buying. Perhaps you may call me old-fashioned and not abreast with the times.
Here’s another one:
First Myntra, now flipkart! I am not ‘appy
With its comments: – …I think they are moving way too early. It will be a while before the phone replaces the desktop in terms of Internet surfing. Myntra already recorded drop in sales after they moved. Not sure how it will end up for Flipkart.
– …Agreed …while I use the phone for a bunch of apps, I still like the exp of sitting on my desktop / laptop to shop.
– …Ha,, ha They are making sure that users land up with nice neck, shoulder, hand pain… they should soon start another division for treating their loyal users!! why is it that human factors are not considered with technology advancement?
Then my husband, who was tracking a gift order I had placed on Amazon, told me – It’s been despatched. When I said – where from? Bangalore or Delhi? He said, just a minute – lemme check on my laptop 🙂
This move should make folks like my friend Debjani, whose company zineone has bet completely on a mobile ready world, and who makes very cool app support software for enterprises, happy and vindicated.
But clearly, many many people (users) are not.
The big reason really seems to boil down to size! Tablets/ Phablets notwithstanding, it IS so much better to see a 14 or even 11 inch screen than a smaller one. The whole experience changes significantly! Scale, in all its manifestations, we all know the benefits of – economies; distribution synergies; skill specialization enablement; technology consolidation; etc etc…infact, even in the new digital/ e-comm & m-comm economy, we are seeing actions and transactions that reflect the desirability of scale and size – you see companies consolidating, take overs and buy outs – which will eventually I’m sure result in a shakedown.
Other Side of the Coin?: You know, it’s interesting, that I actually started writing this post (with the same first part of the headline) a few weeks ago – and at that time, it was going to be an “anti-size” post!
What prompted it was I guess the time of the year – it’s back to school time, and most people my age have kids leaving home to go to college for the first time – parents thus facing shrunk households. This always, but always, leaves my tummy churning, with a dreadful sinking feeling – I just vicariously go through the whole empty nest thing, and badly so (I still thankfully hv a few years before this hits me – one of the few advantages of a late marriage). And the thought came to me – looking at all these large 5000 sq ft houses, what are two old people (and in some cases, a dog) going to do, rattling away in these houses? Maybe they should de-size/ de-clutter/ scale down!
It also struck me, when after visiting a friend’s lovely spanking new, set in a 1 acre plot house, built in the beautiful traditional Kerala style, with a drool worthy Prof Higgins like library, my husband told me – hey, let’s buy a plot there. And it struck me, there’s really no end to this – bigger house, bigger car, bigger salary, bigger bank balance, (and bigger tummy to go with it!); and, actually, rather than buy a plot there – I did kind of anti-action – convinced my husband to sell off one of our (bigger) cars. So, we learn to survive with just the one (we’re managing fine btw, the Ubers and Olas have made life so much easier)
See, one gets faced with it actually even in business – after expanding the no. of items on offer, a retailer almost always goes through a phase of SKU rationalizing; large companies, after many M&As, get down to downsizing; many larger size packages of consumables start getting sold in smaller and smaller “trial packages” (sachets being of course the Indian success story to aid purchase in a low Per Capita Income society.) It is no secret that none of the Big Pharma actually now have a super cool pipeline, it’s the smaller boutique Biotech and Pharma companies that are doing all the meaningful research to bring potentially blockbuster drugs to market.
Incidentally, even downsizing is not easy. Read this interesting POV on retail store resizing problems.
It is said that Dinosaurs went extinct because their bodies scaled up disproportionately as compared to their brains; (and it is said that human beings will become extinct because our brains will become too big as compared to our bodies!)
So maybe it is a circle of life thing. One is small, then wants to become bigger, so expands. When one is too big, one has to reverse direction and cut down. Anti Size! ….One is single, then gets married, then has kids, then the kids fly the nest and you hunker down…anti size! 😦 ….Company gets many quarters of growth, starts becoming bigger, acquires diverse competencies, then…realizes is becoming inefficient, so, downsizes…anti size!
So, which is it to be? Big or Small? Website or App Only? Scale or Anti Size? Laptop or Phablet?
While you ponder this, I think that the defining “default” answer on “size matters” can be found in the Friends episode below. Enjoy 🙂
From Trump rooting for the wall separating the U.S. and Mexico, Mexico is now shutting its borders to the U.S. All of history, the underdeveloped/ underdogs African countries are now moving to restrict visitors from Europe and the world. 
joshsang 