Sanjeev Garg, Global Head of Customer Care at the Commercial Vehicles Business Unit of TATA Motors in Mumbai, India, will chair the final judging committee for the individual performance categories in the customer service awards section of the 2014 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Entries for the competition will be accepted through January 14 - get your entry kit here.
As someone in charge of a global customer care department, Sanjeev told us about what he believes are the top three best practices that should be implemented to make a customer service group world class.
“A world class customer care group should ensure a strong and profitable relationship with all of its customers,” Sanjeev told us. To achieve this, Sanjeev recommended:
- Maximum usage of IT for all service offerings;
- Continuous engagement with customers to improve processes and products; and
- Benchmarking of practices with the best in the industry.
Sanjeev won a Gold Stevie Award for Customer Service Leader of the Year in the 2013 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. (See the full list of 2014 awards categories here.) “The Stevie Award has come to me and my department as a testament to our commitment to the customer care industry,” Sanjeev commented. “It has motivated us to take innovative steps to further enhance the customer experience we offer and build long term relationships with our customers.”
Positive Feedback
The inspiration for Sanjeev and his team is very simple. As he puts it: “Happy customers and their positive feedback on our actions.” Sanjeev is very much aware that customer expectations are changing day by day. “It is mandatory now that we anticipate these changes and act promptly on them,” comments Sanjeev. “This poses a new challenge every day which can be overcome only if everybody in the organisation works towards it.”
Continues Sanjeev: “The process involves a lot of decision-making at the top management level and I love to challenge my own decisions. I encourage my team to express their views on my decisions, and that helps me reconsider my assumptions, contradict, or even refute my positions—and finally identify creative alternatives.”
New Beginning
Sanjeev loves his work. “This daily process of self-challenging is enthralling,” he told us. In his senior customer care role, he feels that he still has a lot to learn and to contribute to society, which can be achieved through this profession.
To sum it up, as Sanjeev told us on winning his customer service award: “This is not the end, this is not even the beginning of the end, this is just perhaps the end of a new beginning.”
About Sanjeev Garg
Sanjeev has been the Global Head of Customer Care for the Commercial Vehicle Business Unit of Tata Motors since December 2011. His customer care group is spread across four continents and supports more than 3 million Tata Motors vehicles through 2,300-plus service touch points and over 33,000 retail networks of spare parts.
Sanjeev started his career with Novartis and Godrej Soaps Ltd in 1990 .He then joined DCM Daewoo-Toyota. There he was instrumental in launching the Cielo, India’s first premium car, in 1994-95. He also created a dealer network for DCM-Daewoo Motors in India and went on to head the export vehicles business for that company. In 1996, Sanjeev joined General Motors Ltd and was instrumental in launching new initiatives for the customer satisfaction index and new Competitive Intelligence processes. His work at GM encompassed global geographies including South East Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Under his leadership, GM was ranked No. 1 in customer satisfaction in the Middle East, ahead of Toyota, Honda, and Nissan. He is also credited for the successful launch of the Chevrolet brand in India. Sanjeev worked briefly for Force Motors, India as President-Sales, Service & Marketing, and was instrumental in launching Force One, the first SUV from Force Motors.
A Gold Medalist from the College of Agriculture Engineering in Jabalpur, Sanjeev went on to complete an MBA degree from the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad. Based in Mumbai, India, Sanjeev is married and has one son. He has a strong interest in sports, especially Formula 1, tennis, and golf. He loves travelling, reading, and understanding different cultures.
About TATA Motors Ltd
Tata Motors is India's largest automobile company, with consolidated revenues of Rs. 1, 88,818 crores ($34.7 billion) in 2012-13. Through subsidiaries and associate companies, Tata Motors has operations in the UK, South Korea, Thailand, South Africa, and Indonesia. Among them is Jaguar Land Rover, the business comprising the two iconic British brands. It also has an industrial joint venture with Fiat in India. With over 8 million Tata vehicles plying the roads in India, Tata Motors is the country's market leader in commercial vehicles and among the top in passenger vehicles. It is also the world's fifth largest truck manufacturer and fourth largest bus manufacturer. Tata cars, buses, and trucks are marketed in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, South East Asia, South America, the CIS, and Russia.
