Customer Loyalty is like a love affair:Don't hard sell it !

Over the weekend, I had planned to buy a blazer.Though I have multiple options in T.Nagar, Chennai the place where I stay , I opted for Shoppers Stop . Shoppers , has been a pioneer in Indian Retail market and I have always admired their retail practices.After my purchase, in the billing section the Customer Care Associate( that is how Shoppers call their staff) requested me to join their Loyalty Program (for the great benefits it delivers!)I was not keen for that ; Soon the request started to become a hard sell. Customer Care Associate started pitching for the loyalty program and was literally forcing me to enrol in it . With sales pitch going overboard I was forced to move away from a polite refusal to give a stern ‘NO’ as response. Seeing the situation the Supervisor came in and asked the associate not to push hard. Finally, I got my bill and was greeted with a Thank you which defintely cannot be qualified to be courteous!
While on one side I understand the Associate’s interest to make me sign for the Loyalty program ,trying/forcing to build Customer Loyalty through such hard selling could turn counter productive . And for me it was surprising it came from Shoppers! Nevertheless , this incident does not dilute my respect and loyalty to Shoppers . I hope this would be addressed in their Sales training .
I feel some of the key drivers that helps in understanding Customer Loyalty are :

And my refusal came from the judgement of my buying pattern and personal preferences.

Railways on SMS:Railways gets closer to Customers!

" 14 million passengers

2.4 million employees

63,327 km of route length

18000 trains a day

Revenue of 18 Billion USD (approx) "

- Indian railways success is no underachievement.

Railways ministry is the plum portfolio every political party wants to grab in its kitty after the elections .In recent years , Indian railways have brought about significant process changes aimed at improving customer satisfaction and improving brand equity.
One of the recent initiative is 'Railways on SMS'.

Under this scheme - customers can track train status,ticket status,fares and accommodation availability.Its a good step that would be of great value add to customers given the fact that mobile telephones has reached out to nook and corner of India.To roll out an initiative covering such a huge customer base and rail network is no mean task.

There are definitely quite a few best practices which we could pick up from our own railways !