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Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. is one of India's leading four-wheeler automobile
manufacturers and the market leader in the car segment, both in terms of volume of
vehicles sold and revenue earned. Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan holds a
majority stake in the company. It was the first company in India to mass-produce
and sell more than a million cars. The company headquarter is in Gurgaon,
Haryana (near Delhi). More than half of the total number of cars sold in India
wears a Maruti Suzuki badge.




Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) was established in February 1981, though the
actual production commenced in 1983 with the Maruti 800, based on the Suzuki
Alto kei car which at the time was the only modern car available in India, its' only
competitors- the Hindustan Ambassador and Premier Padmini were both around 25
years out of date at that point. Through 2004, Maruti has produced over 5 Million
vehicles. On 17 September 2007, 
  was renamed Maruti Suzuki India
Limited.

  
Maruti Suzuki offers 13 models, Maruti 800, Alto, Ritz, A Star, Swift,
Wagon R, Zen Estilo, Dzire, SX4, Grand Vitara. Swift dzire, A star and SX4 are
maufactured in Manesar, Grand Vitara is imported from Japan as a completely
built unit (CBU), remaining all models are manufactured in Maruti Suzuki's
Gurgaon Plant.



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In these competitive times the challenge is to keep inventing newer ways of
doing things to keep the customers in your fold.

Over the last few years, the company strengthened the existing practices and
experimented with many new initiatives by way of kaizens (continuous
improvements) to delight its customers.

These initiatives ranged from product design and quality to network

expansion, and included new service programs to meet unsaid needs of customers.

The company has retained its competitive edge by offering high quality
products.

In the field, the products are supported by rapidly expanding networks. The
company has diverse networks for new cars, spares, service, pre owned cars and so
on, and all of them were in expansion mode last year to enable the company get
closer to the customer.

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The company takes great pride in sharing that customers have rated Maruti
Suzuki first once again in Customer Satisfaction Survey conducted by independent
body, J.D.Power Asia Pacific. It is 9th time in a row.

The company was first car company in India to launch a Call Centre in the
year 2000.

The award mirrors the company's commitment towards "Customer

Obsession´.


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Car pickup & delivery facility for women car owners.

Quote Unquote: "The study finds that vehicle pickup and delivery before
and after service has a strong impact on customer satisfaction. In particular,
customers who say that their vehicle was picked up from their doorstep before
service and delivered to the same point after service are notably more delighted
with their after-sales service experience, compared with customers who do not
receive this service...."

Maruti also launched mission to promote safe driving habits jointly with
Institute of Driving Training and Research.

It also launched µDil Se¶- a special program for Indians living abroad or
NRIs, to facilitate them to gift Maruti cars online to friends and relatives at home.

Online club µSwift Life¶ is made for all Swift owners.

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As the name suggests the company set out to delight

its customers by offering them faster car service by
introducing new concepts such as Express Service Bays &
2- Technicians Bays.

These are done for customers who are hard pressed

for time.

Both the initiatives undertaken in this direction have helped improve

customer interface and also helped increase the productivity and capacity of
existing workshops.


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The company aggressively conducts 'Mega Camps'

throughout the country round the year.

Activities undertaken during a mega camp include

complimentary car wash, AC & Pollution check up, oil and fuel
top ups, wheel alignments etc.

Apart from mega camps workshop camps like A/C checkup camps, PUC
and general check-up camps, Locality camps , Pre monsoon camps etc are also
regularly conducted as part of customer connect initiatives.

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Another unique initiative is the door step service facility

through Maruti Mobile Support.

Maruti Mobile Support is a first of it's kind initiative and is

expected not only to help the company reach out customers in metro
cities but also as a mean to reach semi urban /rural areas where setting up of new
workshop may not be viable

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The company used technology to meet customer needs

and even delight them. Following feedback that the company's
cars were more prone to theft owing to their resale value, the
company worked on an anti-theft immobilizer or "I-Cats;" system for all its new
cars.

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The company's effort of providing all car-related needs -- from learning to

drive a car at Maruti Driving Schools to car insurance, extended warranty and
eventually exchanging the existing car for a new one -- under one roof at
dealerships also enhances customer satisfaction.


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You can hardly pick up a business newspaper today without reading

of the demise of the big Detroit automakers at the hands of Toyota. But
what exactly is behind this success?

A large part of the answer is Toyota's obsession with its customers. Toyota's
internal sales and marketing bible, ï
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 ,
makes it patently clear to all staff that totally satisfied customers is the
source of its success. Everything Toyota does is done with this in mind.

But in what may be surprising to those who believe a manufacturing

strategy doesn't work in a customer-centric environment, I would argue that
a good measure of Toyota's success is a strategy that manages to straddle
both manufacturing and non-manufacturing environments. It's one called
Lean CRM, which was developed by Toyota in Europe, in response to the
growing volume of customer information collected at the many touch-points
during the customer lifecycle. It allows Toyota to sense changes in individual
customers' behavior and to respond in a way that increases customer
satisfaction. It has enabled Toyota to sell significantly more vehicles, with a
shorter trade cycle and higher repurchase rate, at significantly lower costs.

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A typical European customer will own a new vehicle for three to eight years
before replacing it. Toyota's process guides how different touch-points over
the customer lifecycle are delivered and how to employees should respond to
customer-initiated touch-points and deliver Toyota-initiated ones.

This process starts when the customer is just thinking about buying a new
vehicle, with Toyota's marketing. The marketing guides prospective buyers
to the Toyota web site, where they can learn more and request further
information. Requesting information is an example of "customer pull," where
Toyota responds directly to the customer. It is the first point at which the
customer becomes known to Toyota, and it triggers a check to see if Toyota
already knows the customer. What the company already knows about the
customer guides how future touch-points to that customer are delivered.




As Toyota guides the customer through the purchase process, the auto
company uses what it knows about the customer to provide just the right
information that Toyota leadership thinks will help him or her make the right
choice. This is an example of "smart Toyota push." In addition to more
vehicle information, Toyota might send out a customized offer, maybe even
a pre-approved credit offer if the customer's credit record with Toyota is
good. Statistical models are widely used to help identify which customers
should have which information pushed to them. Where models are not
available or not appropriate, simple data analyses or Toyota best practices
are used, instead.

As the customer buys his or her new Toyota and enters the ownership
lifecycle, Toyota uses every opportunity to sense customer pull and to
respond to it²and to push exactly what it thinks the customer wants,
exactly where it's wanted, exactly when it's wanted. It is this combination of
pull and push that guides each customer step by step during the customer
lifecycle and toward the customer's next purchase. It is the backbone of the
lifetime conversation between the customer and Toyota.

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The heart of Toyota's Lean CRM is "Customer DNA." Just as real DNA
influences how each individual develops, looks and responds to his or her
environment, Customer DNA controls how each touch-point between the
customer and Toyota during the customer lifecycle is carried out. It defines
each touch-point²most likely a contact or a campaign²that a customer is
likely to have with Toyota, whether initiated by the customer or by Toyota.
The touch-point trigger, the touch-point delivery process, previous or
subsequent touch-points, the roles and responsibilities involved and the
business rules that control how the touch-point is executed are all contained
within the touch-point definition. The touch-points appropriate to each
customer²which make up that person's Customer DNA²are assigned to
them as soon as the customer is identified.

Toyota implements the touch-points through the Unica Affinium campaign

management system (CMS). Using an industrial-strength CMS like Affinium
is the only way to manage the variability of customers, the different touch-
points and their implementation.

A regular process automatically reviews what is known about each customer

and decides whether a touch-point should be triggered. If more than one
touch-point is appropriate at the same time, it also decides which one has
priority and what happens to the other. For example, an update of
customers who have had recent service from a dealer will trigger the review
process. For those who were due to be sent an inspection reminder but had
the inspection recently, the reminder will be cancelled. And the mileage at
the last inspection will be used to calculate when the next reminder should
be sent out.

Similarly, if the customer requests information about a new model, the

request will automatically trigger a review process to identify the best touch-
point and which touch-points should be triggered as a follow-up.

As Toyota introduces brand new touch-points, such as a new Customer

Driver Club, all Toyota has to do to update the Customer DNA is to define
the touch-points associated with the Club, how they interact with existing
touch-points and the membership rules for the club and then enter that data
into Affinium. The next time a review is triggered, the new touch-points will
be there along with the pre-existing touch-points.

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The Lean CRM approach outlined here has been developed in close
cooperation with one of Toyota's European sales companies and its dealers.
It has been piloted in touch-points during the customer lifecycle. It has
enabled Toyota to sell significantly more vehicles, with a shorter trade cycle
and higher repurchase rate, at significantly lower cost. A comparison of a
recent before and after marketing campaign showed a 70 percent reduction
of non-target customers being mailed, an 80 percent reduction in campaign
costs, a 50 percent reduction in campaign development time and a 60
percent increase in campaign ROI. Over the next few years, Toyota's Lean
CRM will contribute between $5 million and $10 million (in U.S. dollars) of
additional contribution each year to the sales company.

Despite the reservations that some have about applying lean principles
developed in manufacturing to sales and marketing, Toyota has shown
clearly that Lean CRM does deliver significant benefits for customers and for
itself. For Toyota, it is an inextricable part of its long-term drive toward total
customer satisfaction






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