The brand managers are in general taught or geared up to promote consumer loyalty. The very foundation of enhancing brand equity is to promote consumer loyalty. David Ogilvy propagates consumer loyalty program to his clients. He is of the opinion that the return on investment on retaining existing customer is 10 times more than a new customer. What an Idea Sirjee..........the fundamentals never change.

Recent trend of telecom marketers in India is flipping the entire concept of brand loyalty on its head. The existing customers are made to continue their with their shoddy scheme and new customers are being attracted with lucrative schemes. One instance of Idea scheme discretly announced through their dealers was almost 40% lower of the existing tariff levels. The dealer was canvassing the newly launched scheme. I had a doubt whether it would be really implemented by Idea, therefore i contacted the customer service and my doubt was re-affirmed. The customer service gal informed me sorry sir this is scheme introduced for new customers. Before IDEA took over SPICE, i was eligible for the best tariff plans, after take over all plans were reduced drastically. It was aimed at maximising profits of the company. Suddenly one day i received a call from Idea customer service, Sir, your calls have gone down, well I told them obviously to protest against shoddy treatment and network i have cut down my billing on Idea. Naturally i am using BSNL network. This was a shocker to them ?

Todays TOI edition boldly announces Talk endlessly pay just Rs 1 a scheme launched by Tata Indicom. If one reads between the lines it is for new customers on pre-paid scheme not for post paid customers. There is a disclaimer that if the scheme clicks with pre-paid customers the scheme may be extended to loyal customers.

In the bitter race for number crunching the basics of marketing funda has been compromised. The telecom companies are resorting to short term number game which is really harmful for loyal customers or promotion of brand equity.

I knew a colleague of mine who was hell bent on achieving targets and number crunching. He had the knack of satisfying the bosses with so many manipulative techniques at the end of the month. He used to invoice the dealers and cancell the bill in the first week accounting for stock returns. It was objected by accounts dept. Later he switched to the practise of supplying stocks 30 days in advance and billing at the end of the month and passing on cash discount on late payments. This practise ultimately landed him jail, because the stocks never tallied when a surprise audit took place. Moreover this practise lead to stock shortage of 30 lakhs due to failure of the accounts clerk to track un-invoiced supplies. The company had to initiate criminal proceedings against my colleague.

I only hope Telecom companies practise ethical standards and retain their faith in promoting brand loyalty. The number crunching game currently in progress will destroy the very edifice of ethical marketing. I know some of my colleagues have lost their jobs in Telecom industry because they did not subscribe or master the art of manipulation. What an idea sirjee ? Do you all subscribe to such a marketing technique

Disclaimer :  Budding MBA s please do not subscribe to such programs or propagate such anti Loyalty programs whether you join TATA or BIRLA dont forget your basics.