ABC Steel Furniture Vs Mr.Tissaka
The past Christmas holidays gave Mr and Mrs.Tissaka who were busy working professionals a bonding time, when they started to clean the household and decorate the house in preparation for the New Year. Mrs Tissaka suggested to have a new TV stand and Mr.Tissaka recommended the brand ABC expecting to buy it from the closest showroom.

Leaving the work behind Mr.Tissaka went to an ABC Showroom in Wellawatta from Kaduwela to buy a newly designed TV stand which they saw in a picture in the papers. His whole intention was to complete the home decor before Christmas Eve and surprise the kids.

Mr.Tissaka stepped in to the ABC Showroom with the expectation of buying the TV stand and to run back home quickly, but was disappointed with the answer from the Wellawatta ABC salesman saying "It's out of stock". Though, Mr.Tissaka expected a solution to this problem, the Wellawatta ABC salesman was adamantly silent and showed no interest to in helping the customer. Ignoring the lethargic behaviour of the salesman Mr.Tissaka continued to ask, "Can you check with you closest branch, whether they have the TV stand I'm looking for?" Then the salesman reluctantly moved himself to make a telephone call, while Mr.Tissaka impatiently waited for a positive answer. After a while the salesman appeared and directed Mr.Tissaka to the ABC Kohuwela branch saying that they had stocks of the same model TV stand.

In heavy traffic congestion Mr.Tissaka reached the ABC Kohuwela branch in search of the TV stand he wanted. It was shocking to Mr.Tissaka to hear the answer that the TV stand was out of stock. Frustrated, Mr.Tissaka grumbled that the salesman at ABC Wallawatta directed him after checking with your branch and now you are giving me the same answer as "Out of Stock".

Without any apology or caring the salesman of ABC Kohuwela rang the salesman at ABC Wellawatta and started scolding him loudly saying, " Ohelage wada nisa api customerlagen banum ahanawa" ( We are getting scolded by the customers, because of your work). Embarrassed and furious, Mr.Tissaka stepped out of the showroom without getting what he wanted.

Connecting the Dots…..from the Planning to the Service delivery.
"Customers don't expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong."
Donald Porter, V.P. British Airways
The analysis the Business Model of ABC steel furniture.

"Value Proposition" of ABC
When we ask the question as, "What value ABC delivers to its customers? Or "Which customer problems ABC is helping to solve? Or "What customers' needs is ABC satisfying? ABC has strongly established its position with having the characteristics like "New Designs", "Range of Products", Comparatively "reduced cost", "Brand/Status", "accessibility" and "convenience" in the minds of customers.

"Key Resources" of ABC
When questions as "What key resources that the ABC Value Proposition requires?" Either "ABC's revenue channels? Or "ABC's Distribution Channel? Or "Is it customer relationships? I am sure you agree in the current context that distribution channel and the revenue channels could be identified as key resources for ABC.

You may agree that ABC's deliberate focus on human/people resources and developing their skills, attitudes and competencies would enhance the service delivery through continuously improving customer care along with the sales revenues.

ABC's "Key activities"
When it comes to ABC we could see that the "production" and "distribution" are two prominent activities.
Activities related to building up of "Customer relationships" like "Problem Solving", "Serving above and beyond the call of Duty", "Acknowledging customer needs", "and Active Listening "," Admitting mistakes", "Apologizing", "Appropriate non-verbals", "Arranging follow-up", Assurance of effort" would add value towards the business and the customers.

ABC's "Customer Relationship Management"
When we critically analyze, "What type of customer relationships, does each of ABC's customer segments expect, establish and maintain with them? Which relationships have already been established? How has ABC integrated this with the rest of the business model? I would suggest that, ABC would have benefited more, if they focus and continue to improve more on "Personal Assistance" or "Dedicated Personal Assistance" to enhance their service quality.

ABC's "Channel Management"
With no doubts in any business focusing on answering the questions like, "How do we raise the awareness of our company's products and services? How do we help customers to evaluate our company's value proposition? How do we allow our customers to purchase specific products and services? How do we deliver the value proposition to our customers? And how do we provide post purchase customer support?In the end, the customer doesn't know, or care, if you are small or large as an organization. She or he only focuses on the garment hanging on the rail in the store.

(Giorgio Armani), you may realize connecting the dots/flow and rhythm of all what we plan and implement are important factors when it comes to deliver delightful customer service.
Source: Robert Bacal, "Perfect Phrases for Customer Service", (Mc Grow-Hill, 2005), pp 17-25.