Look around you and you will see scores of examples of how businesses do not seem to care for this factor of 'customer sensitivity'. No matter how small the customer is, she expects to be treated like an important customer - and there's nothing wrong with that expectation. Because when she signed up for a prepaid mobile service with an average monthly spend of Rs.240/-, the service provider never mentioned to her that she is not as important as the corporate customer who bills Rs.5,000 a month.
The other day I called Standard Chartered phone banking to enquire about an online transfer which had not gone through yet. The lady on the other line gave me a scripted line saying it takes anywhere between 24 to 48 hours for the transfer to take place. And immediately asked me if that was all. Thank you but I haven't got my answer yet because the debit had taken place in my account - why was there an urgency to end the call? Was there something interesting happening in office that you didn't want to miss out on, Lady?
Businesses have to realise that paying customers - big or small, expect a courteous response and a reasonable resolution. This would be the foundation on which the company's customer service framework has to be built. And perhaps, someone can tell the lady on the phone that the customer comes first while she's at work!
