First impressions

This...... is a tale of two attendants......caught your interest? Read on.....

Well actually speaking, two parking attendants. It is rightly said that the first impression is the lasting one that lingers on through out the service experience. The first encounter we have will determine the fate of the remaining ones in the process line. This was further reinforced in me in two of my recent service transactions; one with a car sales center and another with a hospital chain. Of course these two organizations are diametrically opposite in the business they deal in and the level of hospitality and service touch points vary considerably. But I’m talking about one very small, highly neglected and immensely important aspect of service encounter that is common for both - parking facility and the training provided to parking attendants.

Parking your car or a two wheeler in Bangalore is a challenging and frustrating task. The vehicle to person ratio in Bangalore is the highest in the country, and to add to it the parking space made available in the city is a pittance. That also explains the exorbitant parking fees multiplexes demand and the illegal parking fee mafia on public roads thriving in Bangalore.

First the best.......

The hospital I’m talking of is Columbia Asia hospital (near Hebbal). They have a chain of hospitals spread across Asia with Bangalore having two hospitals. They are one among the top league hospital chains in Bangalore and as such have excellent infrastructure, excellent amenities when it comes to clinical consultation and procedures. But customer service is one aspect that can be gauged only when you experience it.

I happened to visit this hospital some time back. Even before I entered the gate I saw a line of cars parked outside the hospital gate surrounding its compound wall. My worst nightmares were about to come true of circling around looking for a parking space, so I thought. But I gave my stars a try and entered the hospital looking for parking inside its premises. Soon after entering the gate, there was a parking attendant who signaled me towards him and noted my car registration number. My first impression was I was being given a ticket. For what??? Because that is the only time your car registration number gets noted in Bangalore.

I pulled down the window shield to confront the parking attendant, just then he spoke - "Saar, please park your vehicle behind that 'Hoondai'. I will guide you, please come with me". Wow, really? Parking attendants know the word 'please'? Anyways, one-off and I parked my car as per the guidance. As mentioned earlier, the first impression you build always dictates your remaining experience; I was amazed and very pleased with the customer service in this hospital at every touch point.

I finished my work and came out of the hospital towards my car and noted that there were around three parking attendants who were guiding parking of vehicles in the premise and noting every car detail that was being parked in the hospital. What struck me the most was these guys were also opening the doors for the patient and family for them to get in the car. God!! Where am I? In Bangalore this act of chivalry is even difficult to find in the best of the places you visit. This is impossible. Still in awe with the scene, I headed towards my car, the parking attendant (same guy who had helped me park my vehicle in the first place) came towards my vehicle and noted down my car number. I asked him the reason for noting down every vehicle details for which he said, this was their way of keeping a track of vehicles that come to the hospital. Just in case of emergency these details help us know what time the car was here, what was the car model and the like.

This was by far the finest experience I’ve had in Bangalore when it comes to parking. Simple acts of courtesy go a long way in building customer relationship and loyalty for any organization. I have visited this hospital many times afterwards and every time the service experiences across all touch points have been stupendous. Hospitals are places where emotions are running high and such acts of genuine interest and succor ease the burden of trauma patients and family members are already enduring.

Next the worst........

This experience was when I was hoping from one car sales showroom to another at the time of buying my first car. I used to get hold of their contact details from internet and visit the showroom to get the specifications and take on test drives. Bangalore has immense competition among these dealers in the compact and mid segment cars. Not only are there many brands having many variants within the same segment, but also every single brand has anywhere from 3 to 5 dealers within the city dealing in the same cars. This made me go around the city looking for the best deal I could get hold of.

One such sales showroom belonged to Sundaram Motors. I was to go to their show room to look for Chevrolet Beat model. Their show room is located in the center of the city and as such getting to their showroom means navigating through treacherous Bangalore roads and ‘I don’t know where I am going’ traffic. After locating the showroom I head towards the gate on my bike only to be stopped by the guard and told to use the next gate as the parking space was fully occupied. This instruction was being delivered to me by the guard using a thick stick. I obliged and headed towards the other gate. Only when I reached this gate did I realize this dealer deals with Mercedes Benz cars as well. Actually the showroom for the Chevrolet cars and Mercedes Benz cars are adjoining building in the same premise.

The guards manning this gate wore Yellow uniform which was tad bit decent to the dark color uniform being worn by guards manning the first gate that I had dared to enter. I was again stopped at this gate and told very curtly that the parking space was not for two wheeler's and only cars are allowed. When I made him understand that I was directed to enter this gate by the other security guard, he told me that parking was full here also, so either ways there was no way he was letting me in. Gosh, I was not entering their show room for carrying out a heist, is there not enough parking for a bike, I was there as a potential customer. Just as these thoughts were running in my mind, a sleek sexy Merc comes and stands beside my bike for gaining entry. Well what do you suppose these guards did? They sternly stood their stance and did not let the car inside........ Unfortunately nothing of this sort happened. That is what I had supposed they will do. Instead they gave a salute to the car and let the car get in.

This experience left me very bitter. Not only did I lose interest in Chevrolet Beat all together, but also started hating Mercedes Benz for some funny reason. I still fail to understand the logic of running an über premium car showroom besides a compact to mid segment car showroom. You have two very different customers stepping in your premise and the revenue that will be generated from both these customers is equally important.

There is absolutely no parking space around this showroom and if you want to go and check out a car there you have to park your vehicle inside their premise. Were the parking attendants and security aware of this fact? Who tells these people to distinguish their customers and behave accordingly? It's one thing to get the customer to visit your store, but if the very first touch point is caustic enough to burn off your desire for the product then……....