Proton MD Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir

The treatment of customers at Proton showrooms has left a lot to be desired and that’s a fact which Proton MD, Dato' Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir does not dispute. When he took on the ‘hot seat’ at the national car company, things were already starting to go into decline, the effect of years of complacency, even arrogance, which left Proton in poor shape for the much more competitive environment today. Add to that a flawed product plan which saw three hatchbacks being launched one after another when this is a sedan market and it’s not surprising that the company went into the red. Even Proton dealers wanted to give up dealerships which they once begged to have, claiming that they were losing money because sales were poor (and therefore Proton should compensate them!).

As the state of affairs worsened, the complaints from customers and owners increased. Quality issues also made things more serious and eroded customer confidence. It must have been frustrating for the Proton MD who was also wondering what lay ahead as the owners, Khazanah, seemed to be keen on ‘marrying off’ Proton to VW or some other suitor. But regardless of what lay ahead in terms of company ownership, he still had a company to set right and getting the ‘right products at the right price’ into the market was crucial to regain market share in its largest market, not to mention getting back to No. 1 position.

Apart from the products, he also realised – and no one had to bring it to his attention either – that customer care needed to be improved not just a bit but practically needed to be completely overhauled. The CSI (Customer Satisfaction Index) was dismal and if earlier managements had spent more on ‘carrots’ than ‘rotans’, things had to change and if people were unwilling to change their unacceptable ways, they were not needed in Proton (and no VSS either!). That’s the blunt message from the MD himself and he is serious.

To show how serious he is, he has decided to provide customers and owners a direct channel of communication which leads to his office. Whatever customers have to say – especially when they are unhappy with their experience in a showroom – they can soon send an e-mail which only he or his assistant will open. There will also be a direct number for them to call and it will have a human answering at the other end, not an impersonal voice message (during normal working hours, of course). There’s no guarantee that it will always be Dato' Syed Zainal Abidin at the other end but time-permitting, he intends to take some calls.

“In each showroom, there will be a small poster which will have my picture on it as well as my direct e-mail address and phone number. We haven’t finalised the wording yet but basically, the intent is for customers who are not happy with how they have been treated in the showroom to know they can contact me personally,” he told journalists at a dialogue with the media yesterday.

“Of course, if the customers also want to just tell me that they are satisfied and happy with their experience, I will be delighted to hear from them too!” he added.

Salespersons are expected to provide a high standard of service that satisfies customers (file picture)

“No longer will they have to go through other channels and they can be assured that if what they say is true, stern action will be taken,” he warned. “Furthermore, we will be recording the number of complaints and what type of complaints they are; if they don’t decrease or stop after the warnings, then something must be very wrong or they don’t care… in which case the dealer might be terminated.”

He’s was not joking about that either and said that if somehow it is ‘difficult’ to terminate the dealer, then he is willing to ‘starve’ the dealer by not supplying cars. “No cars allocated… that can hurt a dealer so they should understand that Proton means business,” he said.

However, Dato' Syed Zainal Abidin is not going to place himself on the ‘firing line’ alone, so to speak – adjacent to his poster will also be a similar ‘wanted poster’ of the owner of the outlet or the one directly responsible for managing it. It will also have contact details and the idea is that customers will know who they are as they should be accountable for what goes on at the outlet. He said that if they are identifiable, then they would be more conscious of meeting angry customers at the pasar malam or shopping centre so they would not want to be caught in an embarrassing situation.

“If there is a problem with the product, it is a manufacturing issue and I will do whatever it takes to fix it. But if it is something to do with the salesman, then I expect the dealer to fix it. If his salesman does not provide the level of service our customers expect and mislead customers or disregards them and won’t change, we don’t need such people selling our cars. We cannot have such people continuing to damage the image of the brand,” he said with much conviction.

Regular surveys aside, there are also ‘monitors’ who go to Proton outlets periodically to assess service levels. Some of them could even be relatives of the Proton MD and in fact, he said that he once asked his brother to go to an outlet which had been the subject of many complaints and sure enough, his brother reported back that no one bothered to attend to him even after 25 minutes. Needless to say, the person in charge was asked to explain.

The flagship Proton showroom in the Klang Valley

This exercise ought to keep every Proton employee and representative of Proton on their toes and giving the best service at all times because they just never know that one day, if they upset a customer enough, the MD will get to hear about it personally. There will be no manager to cover up for them or to make complaint letters ‘disappear’.

Dato' Syed Zainal Abidin revealed that the sales network is still ‘slightly oversized’ and there are half a dozen outlets that should be closed down but for now, with things picking up, that matter is not a major issue. However, the dealers know about it so they are all eager to show they are worthy of representing Proton. Even those who had said they want to be paid to close down now don’t talk that way when they are getting lots of Persona and BLM orders.

The direct line to the MD will be available in the very near future but it is advisable that customers with any problems use Proton i-Care first to voice their complaints or get assistance. It has been conceived as a one-stop customer management centre and there is assurance that every communication from the public is recorded and looked into. Only if a customer feels that this avenue has not provided satisfactory answers or does not even respond, then the customer should use the ‘hotline’ to the MD’s office.

It’s really refreshing to see a MD so willing to ‘walk the talk’, as the saying goes, and if he succeeds in achieving his objectives, he can make Proton a company that Malaysians will be proud of and give their support to – as it should always have been.