The Power of Smile

It has been a quarter of a century since I learned the power of smile in business. 25 years back was when my dad started Adens, an ice cream parlour in our small home town named Changanacherry in Kerala, the southernmost state of India. For the kids in the town ice cream only meant a cup, a cone, a stick or in its fanciest form, a ball! Nothing more, nothing less.

It was something in lines of a revolution at that time to introduce various flavours in different shapes and sizes and more importantly ice cream sundaes that tickled the taste buds with a never before experience. The freezer that displayed different flavours neatly placed in square shaped boxes became an instant hit among the customers. It was a sight worth framing to see people flocking around the freezer to decide which flavour they’ll try that day.

Dad loved travelling and he did it extensively right from his young age. The greatest thing he got back from these travel were the experiences and uniqueness from each destinations which he promptly applied when he started the business. The shamiyana bordered palm leaf thatched seating area, the pointed white coloured fence seen in Ooty, trash cans named ‘Use Me’ at arm’s length from customer’s table, a beautiful garden with a multi-coloured fountain in the middle etc. to name a few.

All these were good when you start a new business. The bigger question is how do you sustain the interest and keep the customers happy. That’s when I saw dad along with my mom unveil the power of smile to captivate the customers and implemented beautifully the principle in management that retaining a customer is far less expensive than gaining a new one. Their achievement is even more praise-worthy with no formal management education to their credit. A classic case of naturally bred managers!

Every customer who walked into Adens were welcomed with a smiling face by my dad or mom. My brother and I did whatever little we could. He was 15 and I was 11 at that time and I presume it helped to create that ‘complete family experience’ in our customers’ minds when they walked in. The menu was extended, orders taken and the end-product was served, all wrapped with a beautiful smile. When I look back I think our customers didn’t walk in just to have an ice cream. They came in for an experience, one which offers an ice cream along with it. I also distinctly remember dad personally seeing off the customers as they take this experience back home with them. This was his way of ensuring that our patrons felt wanted and made them feel like coming back for more. Needless to say he did that with a smile again.

The picture was not always this rosy. We had our share of unhappy customers, for different reasons. Each time they were dealt personally and their concern addressed. They were reassured about the service promised by Adens and guaranteed them happiness. Most of them who initially had concerns, later when walked out, did so with a smile.

My management books emphasized the need to make customers happy. What I learned from my dad and mom with their style of management was a real-life practical example of how to do this. What they also did was to ensure that the practice not just stops with them. Knowingly or otherwise they were teaching each one of us associated with the business to practice this. Concepts of business continuity were applied without them even being aware of it.

We live in an era were human interactions are becoming lesser and lesser with each passing day. We get almost everything done online now through a world of apps and machine supported offices. I don’t even remember the last time I saw the face of a human being when I paid my electricity bill or telephone bill. Even the customer service many a times are now driven through Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems. At the end of your transaction the system or a recorded voice asks you to rate your experience by selecting a smiley that is apt for the quality of service you received. End of service.

In such a totally digitized world, I recollect with happiness, the power of smile my dad and mom had on our customers. It provided a human touch in business to ensure that our patrons come back for an experience that is closer to the heart than the non-personal customer experience modern day offers! 

Business of Analysis

Quite often I come across people who have no clue about what a Business Analyst does. I try to tell them in simple language about understanding business requirements and solving business problems by providing them with right solutions. Each time I explain these fundamental concepts to these people, my mind keeps telling me that there are more to this Business of Analysis than what a traditional definition tells you about this role. Here are a few quick thoughts from my experience as a BA.

Beyond the tools: As an analyst you invariably end up using quite a few tools to do your job. The techniques for gathering requirements, methods of analysis and documentation tools to name a few. Do these really matter for your customer? The primary question she’ll have in her mind is does this person understand what I need? Can he figure out the pain I go through so that he provides me with a solution to get rid of it. The business does not really care if you use Tool X or Y, all what they need from you is to empathize with them, understand their challenges and help them solve the issues they face. The primary intention is getting the problem solved, anything extra will be a bonus that adds to the customer delight.

Know the end game: Most of the times the business point of contact you may have are not the end users of the application. It is expected that you develop a sense of understanding about the challenges from an end user perspective before proposing any solution. Hence it is quite crucial not to miss to include end users in discussions so that you don’t miss the boat. The expensive rework that you see sometimes can be attributed to non-compliance of this idea.

Own it up: Yes, it is a business challenge you are trying to solve. But the moment your customer feels that you consider this as your problem as well, you’ve won the customer halfway. Ownership of challenges and co-creation of solutions are quite critical in terms of business acceptance.

Listen & Talk: This is a tricky one. You need to realize when to talk and when to listen. Even the friendliest customer you ever had can get annoyed if you do not maintain a balance between these. There is no shortcut for this except to use your common sense.

Befriend the devil in detail: Never forget the golden rule that the devil is in the detail. The one point you may have missed to elaborate may turn out to be the most critical part needed for the right solution. Hence don’t shy away from shaking hands with this devil. All what you need to ensure is not to get lost in the details which again can be quite easy.

Blind spots: Never leave your customer stranded. Good news or bad, let them be aware. For all that matter your customer may have a solution for your trouble. Business analysis is all about mutual understanding and trust.

Row together: Finding solutions for business challenges is not a game that you play alone. You need to row the boat together. Learn to respect the person at the helm and get this going. You’ll never know when you need to fire from a more powerful shoulder.

Empower the weak links: One of the most important aspects of Business Analysis is to keep your extended team in confidence. Architect, Technical Lead, Developers, Testers and many more. They all play crucial roles. Business Analysis alone has never delivered any solutions ever! You can play a pivotal role in empowering any of the weak links of the chain thereby empowering yourself.

I remember telling one of the interviewers a while ago that Business Analysis is not a rocket science. I still share the thought with the added flavor that Business Analysis is an art of getting into the brain of people not forgetting to understand the science of how they run their business. You need to be an artist and a scientist at the same time in order to achieve the delicate balance of providing a cost-effective solution and winning a delightful customer! 

So near, yet so far

Article for Bethlehem Matrimonial - Sep 2017

I still remember the letter box on our gate back home, as one of the most cherished sights during my school days. The walk to the box to find if there was a letter in it was always been filled with mixed emotions. It was a heart wrenching feeling to see an empty letter box. On the other hand, the feeling was unexplainable when the box was not empty and the happiness multiplied if there were letters from dear ones.

Many of the letters may have been posted weeks before with updates about events that happened even months back. All these may probably sound strange today to a new generation of kids who may find it difficult to relate to the depth of emotions attached to a piece of paper found or missing in a metal box filled with details of something that happened sometime in the past!

Years went by and we now have technology that enables us to know and see events as and when they unfold. Anything less than a live update is considered stale news these days. News channels and social media thrive on ‘breaking news’ or latest updates. A swipe to refresh the updates on an app is all what is required to see the most recent post. It is quite interesting to observe that the emotions related to seeing or not seeing a letter in a letter box can be related to an update found or missing on a social media app.

These apps today allow you to reach out to your dear ones as you wish and no news will have to wait for days or months to be shared with people whom you care. Any event can now be broadcasted live using these apps. If not a live streaming, we at least sent quick updates in the form of pictures or videos as soon as it happens. An update screams itself on our phones in the form of an alert which when selected unveils the latest news from the sender.

For people like me, who have seen the best of both worlds, old and new, somehow get this feeling at times that an update I’ve received as an ‘inland letter’ or an ‘airmail’ carried more love and warmth than the updates through the present day social media. Even when the former gave me an update about something that happened in a dear one’s life sometime in the distant past I distinctly remember the genuine love and warmth I experienced reading that as against the most recent update through one of the modern day apps.

Though it is practically not easy to replicate that beautiful experience from the past, my wife and I decided to do something similar this time during the summer vacation. Fortunately we got a few days extra to plan and execute the idea as well. We decided to take some time from our vacation days and visit our dear ones at their homes and spend some quality time with them. It will be an understatement if I say, the feeling of love we experienced was nothing compared to the hundreds of messages exchanged over WhatsApp or Facebook with the same people!

It was a reiteration that human beings are designed as social animals. For us, meeting and spending time with people gives us the much needed motivation to take our life forward. There are quite a few things we learn by interacting with similar social beings around us. I strongly believe that all these and many more may not be achievable through the modern day apps though we have given them a pet name ‘social media’!

If you’ve been one like me where you think social media indeed is helping you being in touch, try meeting these people in real life. Spend a few minutes with them. You’ll be surprised to see the difference these interactions bring in your life as well as theirs! These are the good things our previous generation tried teaching us but have slowly gone into the oblivion as we’re living in those times when people are digitally so near yet emotionally so far apart!

May you realize this fact sooner than later and may you be able to plan your next visit to your dear ones at the earliest to experience the bliss of being social in its true sense.

God bless!

Neeleshwaram Effect

A cousin's wedding took us to Neeleshwaram, a small town in the Northernmost district of Kasargod in Kerala. We reached on the wedding eve and the next day was quite a happening one. 

By evening, after the wedding, we got back to the lodge where we stayed and I went out to buy some water. Also wanted to see if I could get some tea for all of us. Found a bakery where I got the water bottles. Since there were more than six of us at the hotel I checked with them if I could get tea as a take away item. 

All what I was expecting was to get tea in disposable cups with lids. Then came the twist. 

The shop was run by an elderly lady and her daughter. The lady asked me where I stayed. When she learned about our stay at the nearby lodge she filled a flask and another vessel with tea and also packed half a dozen glass tumblers along with it! There was more to this surprising customer service. 

When I suggested disposable cups, her response was that, tea won't taste good in plastic cups and insisted that I take the glass ones itself! She even sent one guy to help us carry these things back to the place where we stayed.

The tea tasted very good and later I promptly returned the flask and all to the shop. When they took the items back they even asked me to visit Neeleshwaram again to explore this place better.

Needless to say, it was one of the best customer service I've ever experienced in my life. All what I wish is the world to have more people like these to spread genuine selflessness so that we are surrounded with love than hatred!