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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Passion in a pair of shoes

M. Gautham Machaiah


Purchasing a pair of men’s shoes is not the most exciting of shopping experiences. Or so I thought until I walked into Ruosh, a retail store at Indiranagar, Bangalore.

I had wanted to buy a pair of smart boots for sometime and my search through upscale brands had drawn a blank. That is when the brightly lit Roush showroom caught my eye. Being extremely brand conscious, buying an unknown label was the last thing in mind when I strolled into the store out of plain curiosity.

At the door I was greeted by a young girl not with the standard sales pitch, “What are you looking for sir?, but with a rather unusual request, “Sir, if you have the time can I please tell you about our shoes?”

“Look at her passion,” I murmured to myself. I guess I had spoken a bit too soon. The girl pointed to a panel where the logo of the store was mounted and said, “Our store is called Ruosh, which in Sanskrit means passion. A lot of passion goes into the making of our shoes.”

As she took me through the store excitedly showing off various designs of shoes as if they were personally hand crafted by her, I smelt the distinct whiff of passion in the air. My unintended attempt to puncture her enthusiasm with my remark, “But I have never heard of this brand…” proved futile when the girl and her colleague put up a spirited defense.

“Ruosh is a Bangalore based company which supplies shoes to international brands like Tommy Hilfiger and Louis Phillipe. We have now decided to come out with our own chain of retain stores across the country and serve our customers directly,” they echoed as they went into a zealous speech on the company’s background, future plans and orientation to customers.

“Are you the promoters of the company? For how long have you been running this place?” I asked just to add to the conversation and was surprised to learn they were only the sales representatives. How often do we come across such passion and commitment?

No, this was not just another sales spiel, but an important management lesson worthy of emulation by large corporations usually filled with soulless employees.

This experience transported me back to a book I had read sometime ago, ‘The Art of the Start’ by Guy Kawasaki, which speaks of creating a mantra for the organisation. A mantra is a guideline for the employees as against a tagline which is aimed at the customers.

For instance, Nike’s mantra is “Authentic Athletic Performance,” while its tagline is “Just do it.” Thus, every employee in Nike from the receptionist to the CEO is aware that the purpose of his existence in the company is to create “Authentic Athletic Performance”.

Now, contrast this with the mission statement of Coca-Cola: “The Coco-Cola Company exists to benefit and refresh everyone it touches.” Would this not have been more powerful had the company adopted a simple mantra like “Refresh the world”?

The author gives another example of March of Dimes, whose mission statement is: “March of Dimes researchers, volunteers, educators, outreach workers and advocates work together to give all babies a fighting chance against the threats to their health, prematurity, birth defects and low birth weight.” Compare this with the hypothetical mantra Guy Kawasaki has evolved: “Save babies.” Which of these have a greater impact?

This is exactly what Ruosh did. Knowingly or unknowingly it created a mantra called passion, which then got ingrained in every employee from the topmost to the lowest level. This is why their shoes are not a mere product, but as a work of passion.

In the end of the day, I bought their shoes because I loved them. But I loved their passion more.

12 comments:

Swati said...

Awesome..........want to know which locations you are coming up. Are you looking to expand in Pune, Mumbai as well?

Swati said...

Awesome........are you coming up in Mumbai and Pune as well?

Dhwan said...

Ditto Experience!!
It very difficult to personify, Passion as a quality. Ruosh pulled it off in an excellent way.

Unknown said...

I want to be big shes supplier speciaaly for branded companies

Sajid Saiyed said...

It's Ruosh not Roush :)

Unknown said...

true ... see my experience..

About a different customer experience.
"Roush the ultimate and loveable after sales experience that never experienced from anywhere and even not imagined even...Made custom shoes for my foot...hats off....."

I bought a pair of shoes from Roush store, Indiranagar and felt discomfort within a week time. I returned the shoes and was informed that will get a call back(It happened in 2 days). The representatives Pratima and Abhishek(designer architect) carefully listened analysed the problem and came to my place with a pair of another shoes for trying but didnt work. After they have done a scan of my foot and realised that my left foot is quite bigger than the right one and promised me will make a show according to my foot diamentiones(I cannot beleive this as I am not expected or even dream about it.) As promised today I got my new pair with feel really comfortable to me. I never expected this kind if treatment from Roush. A great thanks to Pratima and Abhishek again for a wonderful customer experience. thanks a lot.... really appreciated... best of luk for future endeavours...

Unknown said...

see my experience with Roush

About a different customer experience.
"Roush the ultimate and loveable after sales experience that never experienced from anywhere and even not imagined even...Made custom shoes for my foot...hats off....."

I bought a pair of shoes from Roush store, Indiranagar and felt discomfort within a week time. I returned the shoes and was informed that will get a call back(It happened in 2 days). The representatives Pratima and Abhishek(designer architect) carefully listened analysed the problem and came to my place with a pair of another shoes for trying but didnt work. After they have done a scan of my foot and realised that my left foot is quite bigger than the right one and promised me will make a show according to my foot diamentiones(I cannot beleive this as I am not expected or even dream about it.) As promised today I got my new pair with feel really comfortable to me. I never expected this kind if treatment from Roush. A great thanks to Pratima and Abhishek again for a wonderful customer experience. thanks a lot.... really appreciated... best of luk for future endeavours...

Unknown said...

Work is passion

Unknown said...

Very difficult to get a service from Ruosh, regards Rajesh G, 9743697755

Anonymous said...

Hi, it's because of your blog that I did my purchase with Ruosh in fact 3 pairs. But soon found out the difference between dictionary meaning and reality. I was facing a huge discomfort for my one of the shoes with my normal size. Ruosh took 23 days to call and series of false promises from Pune store. Completely let down from Ruosh. To be fair its the way issue is handled made a huge disappointment. Customer service head said shoes are not defected, they agree that size is correct but if you face discomfort its your problem. Passion it is to cheat people I guess. I'll never go back to Ruosh. Regards Vinay.

Unknown said...

Worst shopping experience ever..Thanks to ruosh and its employees.
Buy Ruosh and take home humiliation...My suggestion is that never shop from them since they have no respect towards the customer.

Unknown said...

Gautam,

I am surprised that you have a good word for Ruosh. My son purchased a shoe from their Koramangala outlet and the shoe tore within 5 months at the toes. I referred this matter to the outlet and they had the audacity to inform me that the tear is because of wear-n-tear. I do not know how many of us will accept a shoe costing Rs.4,800.00 to last only 5 months.

Ruosh also does not have a customers care center wherein these experiences can be expressed. The outlet decides what the nature of complaint is and the customer has no recourse to the cheated experience.

This is precisely why i presume India does not produce world class products!
Companies like Ruosh ensure we operate in the realms of mediocrity.