When we talk of great cx, we always think it means using technology. More often, small human touches make a difference. I will illustrate this little story that I saw first-hand in July 2021 at the Oberoi Gurugram.

One of the learnings I had during my work career at Pepsi, Motorola and HP was that the gold standard for service has always been service companies, specifically premium hotels. Not so much for product and manufacturing companies.

And I remember my boss at Pepsi hired the training manager of the Taj. If you walk into a hotel and ask the attendant in the washroom which way to the banquet hall, he will show you the way and not direct you to ask the receptionist. That was true service.This reality hit me 20 years later. Just as Covid was receding last July, after that debilitating second wave, I had an urgent meeting to attend at the Oberoi in Gurgaon. My wife clearly said I shouldn?t go to any physical meetings. Those were terrible times we?d all gone through. I said: ?look, this is critical. I have to meet this colleague, and it's very important.? She relented, and the only advice she had was to watch out and asked me NOT to give the car to the car for valet parking as that would be a grave risk. She felt a valet in the vehicle could be a possible route to infection.

So I drove to the Oberoi and realised that five-star hotels don?t expect most guests to self-park. I was refused self-parking at first, but when I insisted, they agreed to let me park, which meant I drove down to the basement.

I realised the first basement is mainly for staff. Then there's a second basement, and then there's the third basement. The first was packed; the second was full as well. So I find my way to the third basement. Fortunately, I had time, parked my car in the third basement, and walked toward the elevators. As I reached the elevators, I saw this large sheet with the names of the people.

Curious, I looked at this set of names and noticed many familiar ones. I see the name of one of my ex-bosses and many familiar people. This gets me curious! I see a person's name, his wife's and his kids' names, and I'm surprised. So I called one of the valets who had just parked, and I quizzed about the boards & names. He shared that these were the names of their regular customers, and they check these when dropping off their cars ? so that they greet every regular by their name and often enquire about their spouses/ kids too.And Oberoi collates this data for a lot of their regular customers. And he said the idea is that every one of our customers has to feel special!A person loves to be greeted by his name; he loves to be asked about his spouse. And he said they practise this as a routine. And that, for me, was a big learning. No great use of technology, no facial recognition software, just plain old-fashioned service with a special touch.

Superpowers?

We have an idea. It is not a power ring, nor does it shoot laser from its eyes. We call it x-ray vision. It lets you see if your customers are happy or disappointed, if they are loyal to your brand or if they would like to move on with another option. This superpower can tell you if they are aware of your current offers and promotions or if they are forgettable in their minds. The superpowers of CX allow every brand to see through the eyes of their customers.

The DMAasia Brand Trail is a new concept introduced to the marketing community. A unique representation of insights from a variety of industries, ranging from eCommerce and financial services to food and property.

The DMAasia Brand Trail for CX Superpowers was held in Mumbai & Gurugram on 10th Nov and 17th Nov. It was an interactive session which has garnered industry-wide participation from over 40 CxOs in attendance.

We started with a simple objective: collectively finding what it will take to win in 2023 and how brands can grow at scale.

The perspectives mentioned here have been captured at the Cx Superpowers event by our team at DMAasia. It's a wealth of techniques that you can deploy for your brand.

What is your brand's favourite superpower? Let us know and we would love to get you featured here at the DMAasia Brand Trail.

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