The Primark episode and what it means to brands...

Making profits, the right way!

 

 

As we saw a few weeks (or a week?) ago, the deadly accident in which over a 900 people have been impacted, it is indeed a grave moment for all of us. One cannot help feel sorrow and cry out for our unfortunate brethren.

 

That said, one wonders - could this have been avoided? Maybe. For a world-class retailer, wasn't there one single clause or one person responsible for ensuring the safety of all it's workers? Did not some of these brands come over from their HQ once to ensure working conditions were safe, peaceful and danger-free? 

 

On the other hand, we often find companies/marketers complaining that they are unable to make big profits.

 

How do good brands become great and great brands become even more successful?

 

How does a brand continue to generate higher profits in today's hyper-complex, hyper-competitive marketplace?

 

There is a solution to this - This solution goes in the form of a quality, a virtue, a practice that seems to be non-existent today.

 

This is a quality called E-M-P-A-T-H-Y, Good old-fashioned empathy.

 

Empathy to our customers, Empathy to our shareholders, Empathy to our employees, Empathy to the environment, Empathy to the future.

 

If Airlines are more empathetic to their customers, they will start serving better food and not give us trash.

If Banks are more empathetic to their customers, they will stop sending them 5 offers every month and instead start listening.

If Telcos are more empathetic to their customers, they will ensure talk-time and billing is absolutely transparent with no hidden charges.

 

Naturally, over time, all of such actions will lead to true customer delight and help maintain a personal relationship with the brand. Customers can notice between a brand that is being empathetic (to them) and one that is not.

 

 

At Xerago, as part of our Customer value Maximization approach, we also conduct an EVM (Empathy value maximization) exercise – the objective of this exercise is to conduct an audit of all communication made by any organization (internal or external) and make recommendations to make them more empathetic. Being empathetic to customers is not mere lip service; it has to be backed up by genuine actions, again part of our study.

 

It may be old-fashioned, but it is nevertheless a much-needed trait in enterprises today. For the sake of everyone.

(pic courtesy: Mark Parisi)