After sales: Completing the brand

Over the decades, most have done a good job of managing products until a customer clinches the deal; but then things seem to go awry. Whereas in places like America a buyer can return a faulty radio months after purchase, for example, the same is rarely true in our region.

We need receipts, proof of purchase, original packing and, tiresomely, we must often trudge thru town looking for service offices hidden away in the nether regions of an industrial estate. We must do this even if the products we purchase malfunction through no fault of our own. And the representatives we are faced with frequently have the sense of a sieve.

Two examples illustrate the difference. Virginia, circa 1992: A well art-directed ad helps me recall a favorable recommendation, so I buy a Gateway 2000 computer over the phone; and UPS delivers it overnight. Two weeks later I ruin a component by plugging a printer in the wrong port.

I call the toll free number on the box (an elegant cow-patch patterned package that's a great table for a bachelor); and I sheepishly explain my predicament to the friendly stranger. I am willing to pay for my error; yet she politely asks that when I receive the free ($300 value) replacement chip, I send back the burnt one (at their cost). 13 years and 3 Gateways later, I still recall the experience, service and brand.

Dissolve to some Sony distributor¹ set-ups for the contemporary contrast. So far I have bought on the impulse of my positive perception of the electronics giant, built over a lifetime of international exposure to smart branding campaigns and exceptional product.

Yet I cannot claim to have purchased or maintained a single Sony item in their stores—digital camera, video recorder or projector—and enjoyed the encounter (except to admit that store layouts are well done).

The displeasure is dwarfed by the post-purchase interaction. In both Saudi and the UAE, when seeking help with a faulty product, or simply to find an uncommon accessory, I am told to call or go to their service centers (which, if you believe in conspiracies, are inconveniently located away from the outlets to deter client visits).

I have queried: "Shouldn't you [the retail outlet] call about this accessory/pass on this faulty product to the service area?" I am bluntly told "no." So, no matter how good the actual maintenance may be, customers at these dealers are still inconvenienced by the process.

While there are plenty who do try, e.g. GM² dealers invest in the D!fference and Plug-Ins happily take in flawed items under warranty, poor after-sales care is prevalent enough to make many households feel their relationships with certain brands end at the cash register; and when this happens, it demystifies the hard-won aura of a brand, turning it back into just another functional product.

Agents, especially as GCC nations comply with WTO guidelines and GATT agreement edicts, must surely see the dismantling of the dealer-dominated marketplace. And those who aim to maintain leadership must surely realize that the brand experience does not rest with communication alone.

Consumers subconsciously pledge loyalty to a product through their total experience. This truism has pushed marketers abroad to even initiate CRM strategies built on the notion of Customer Lifetime Value, i.e., the financial worth of a customer based on how frequently a brand is bought/maintained throughout the user's life, in an effort to retain good customers.

So, both manufacturer and distributor marketers must consider how well they package their after-sales operations—be it in the appearance and accessibility of a service area, sensitivity training for staff, availability of accessories and so on. Only when the picture is complete can a product truly evolve into a brand.