ContentsAbstract.......................................................................................................................................................2

Executive Summary.....................................................................................................................................3

Industry Profile............................................................................................................................................4

Major Players in India.............................................................................................................................6

Company Profile..........................................................................................................................................8

Theoretical Background............................................................................................................................17

Service Blueprint...................................................................................................................................17

Service Encounters................................................................................................................................18

Customer Satisfaction............................................................................................................................18

Introduction to the Study...........................................................................................................................22

Objectives..................................................................................................................................................23

Scope of the study.....................................................................................................................................23

Limitations of the study.............................................................................................................................23

Methodology of the Research....................................................................................................................24

Data Analysis............................................................................................................................................25

Findings.....................................................................................................................................................40

Suggestions...............................................................................................................................................41

Learning from the Research.......................................................................................................................42

Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................43

APPENDIX...............................................................................................................................................44

QUESTIONNAIRE...........................................................................................................................44

Bibliography..............................................................................................................................................46

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Abstract

The project aims at analyzing the service delivery process of IL&FS Investsmart Securities Limited, Bangalore, through service blueprint of the organization. The research is done by surveying the customers and the employees of the organization. Customers of the company are the centre of this research as they are the internal customers of the organization. As such the research also takes into account the ‘gaps model’ and service encounters, and tries to formulate a satisfaction index as well. This has been done because surveying customers, especially if they are high-profile is very tough task and as such asking them a large number of questions is not feasible. So, few important parameters have been set in this regard so as to understand the customer perceptions and expectations and subsequently the maximum possible gaps existing through minimum number of questions. The study is very ambitious but it has its own limitations like geographical constraints and availability of database. In order to do the research, extensive fieldwork was undertaken. Then based on the understanding of the fieldwork, office work and interaction with the employees the existing service blueprint was drawn and then analyzed. The satisfaction index formulated has subtle similarities to SERVQUAL. The research found out that service encounters play a crucial role in customer satisfaction. It concludes that for a higher level of satisfaction lesser number of service encounters should be there. Besides, the research also found out the major gaps existing in the service delivery at IL&FS Investsmart Securities Limited. Also the existing service blueprint of the company was analyzed for the purpose of identifying those encounters which should be deleted and those encounters which should be encouraged. Finally based on the findings of the research some steps have been suggested to improve the customer satisfaction.

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Executive Summary

Organization:

The organization chosen for the purpose of research is IL&FS Investsmart Securities Limited (IISL), which is a major player in Indian capital market. It is an online trading and broking company and a major player in the market. It is presently a part of HSBC group. Its CEO is Mr. Manasije Mishra.

Title of the project:

The project chosen is “Service Delivery Process: An analysis through Service Blueprint at IL&FS Investsmart, Bangalore”.

Objective of the Project:

1. To analyze the existing service blueprint of IL&FS Investsmart Securities Limited.2. To assess the service encounters with the customers3. To suggest strategies for the improvement of the service delivery process of the company.

Background:

Service blueprint is a picture or map that accurately portrays the service system so that the different people involved in providing it can understand and deal with it objectively regardless of their roles or their individual points of view. It also serves as a tool for service improvement. As such it also involves concepts of customer satisfaction and service encounter.

Methodology:

A descriptive research involving simple random sampling was undertaken. It involved questionnaire designing on Likert scale and simple yes-no kind of questions for primary data collection. Secondary data was taken from newspapers and magazines.

Findings:

It has been found that remote encounters and telephone encounters are responsible for higher level of customer satisfaction while face-to-face encounters cause more dissatisfaction.

Suggestions:

The company should encourage those encounters which cause more satisfaction and train its onstage employees continually so that they work efficiently and keep the deficiencies to the minimum.

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Industry Profile

The industry is a part of what is broadly termed as service sector. So before moving further let us first have a look at services. Services are deeds, processes and performances, and as such are intangible. Services are produced not only by service businesses but are also integral to the offerings of many manufactured-goods producers.

It is important to note here that services and customer service are distinct concepts. For example IL&FS Investsmart provides the service of online trading and broking to the customers. But when the customers call on toll free number of the company regarding any doubt or for any help, say regarding change of his correspondence address, they are provided customer service. Customer service is the service provided in support of the company’s core product. The broad definition of services implies that intangibility is a key determinant of whether an offering is service or not. However, actually very few products are purely intangible or totally tangible. It can be said that while services are more intangible than manufactured products. This can be understood through tangibility spectrum. Other than intangibility, heterogeneity, perishability, non transfer of ownership, and inseparability are some other important features of services.

Service sector in India accounts for more than half of the GDP of India. The share of service sector in India’s GDP for the fiscal year 2008-2009 stood at 56%. This is a trend which is observed in developed economies only. Service sector growth in India witnessed a dramatic pace in 1980s and 1990s, especially so in 1990s. Between1950 to 2000 the share of services in the GDP increased by 21%, forty percent of that growth was seen in 1990s. This was primarily due to liberalization in the regulatory framework of the economy and this gave rise to innovation and increased exports from the service sector. Services or the “tertiary sector” of the economy covers a wide gamut of activities like trading, banking & finance, entertainment, real estate etc.

Genesis of Stock Market - Stock market is a market where trading of company stocks, other securities and derivatives take place. Stock exchanges are corporations or mutual organizations which are specialized in trading stocks and securities. The first security was issued publicly in Venice in the fourteenth century where the government made the first known issue of bonds. Merchants and landowners purchased these securities as investments. In and around 1750s, in England, traders of the shares of early companies would commonly meet in Jonathan’s Coffee House to trade shares and make business deals. Early share bids and offers were written on the walls of the coffee house and the trading process was highly unregulated, with insider trading forming the basis for most investment decisions. Trading clubs had been formed by early 1770s, and in 1801 a group of traders raised 20,000 pounds to build the London Stock Exchange in Capel Court. A similar process was being witnessed in America as well. By the early1790s merchants had begun trading in shares and just as in London, these early traders often met at coffee houses. In 1792, a group of 24 brokers, each of whom had paid $400 for a “trading seat” signed the Buttonwood Tree Agreement. This agreement outlined the regulations under which

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the shares could be bought and sold. These regulations formed the basis for trading rules that still exist today and led to the formation in 1817 of the New York Stock Exchange.

In the early days brokers in the stock exchanges would use the method of “open outcry” for trading. By the late 1990s, however, most of the stock exchanges across the globe had been automated. Today, the open outcry method has become a thing of past. Today computers have become very important in this regard. The order placed on internet by the clients are first processed and authorized through the stock brokers’ computer system before being automatically placed on the stock exchanges’ computer system. Today, online trading and broking has not only found acceptance but is also gaining popularity. Stock market has become an industry in itself from such humble origins. People like Warren Buffet and Allen Soros have made their fortune by doing nothing but investing in capital market.

Indian Stock Market – The Indian stock market is regulated by SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India). It was established on April 12, 1988 as a non-statutory body to promote the growth of the of the securities market and also to provide adequate investor protection. The SEBI was accorded a statutory recognition by an ordinance in the year 1992. Later the ordinance was replaced by an act.

There are twenty-four stock exchanges in India, the major among them are BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) and NSE (National Stock Exchange). The NSE and BSE are equal in size in terms of daily traded volume. Most key stocks are traded in both the exchanges. BSE is, however, older and more widely followed. Both the exchanges have switched over from open outcry to fully automated systems known as BOLT (BSE Online Trading) and NEAT (National Exchange Automated Trading).

The origin of Indian securities market can be traced back to 1875, when 22 enterprising brokers sitting under a banyan tree established the Bombay Stock Exchange as "The Native Share & Stock Brokers' Association". Its index is known as SENSEX. Presently there are around four thousand stocks listed in BSE. It is the principal stock exchange in the country accounting for nearly 70 percent of the aggregate paid-up share capital of all the listed companies and 80 percent of the aggregate market capitalization of the listed companies. The Board of Governors of BSE comprises 9 elected directors, an executive director, three government nominees, an RBI nominee and five public representatives. While India has a long history of securities trading, the markets have not always kept pace with the changing trends and requirements for this industry to keep pace with its full potential. Particular issues of concern have been lack of transparency, lack of fair and accessible and trading members, dated procedures and practices and long and uncertain settlement cycles. So some investors decided to address these issues and break the monopoly of BSE brokers. NSE, incorporated in 1992, was given recognition as a stock exchange in April 1993 and started operation in June 1994. It has been set-up as a public limited company, owned by the leading institutional investors in the country.

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Besides, there is OTCEI (Over-the-Counter Exchange of India). It was established in order to have faster transactions, greater liquidity in the market and a transparency in transactions. It was the first exchange in India to offer transparent and screen-based trading.

Also, there is MCX or Multi-Commodity Exchange where the trading in commodities takes place. It is a demutualised nationwide electronic multi commodity futures exchange set up by Financial Technologies with permanent recognition from Government of India for facilitating online trading, clearing & settlement operations for futures market across the country. The exchange started operations in November 2003.

Major Players in India ICICI Direct - it is the online trading and broking arm of the ICICI Bank. Today it is a

leading player in the market. It offers three kinds of online trading platforms to its customers. It has a very wide customer base. However, in recent times the firm had to suffer a lot owing to high and non-negotiable brokerage, and also because of some negative publicity.

ShareKhan - it is online stock trading company of SSKI Group, provider of India-based investment banking and corporate finance service. ShareKhan is one of the largest stock broking houses in the country. One of the greatest strengths of the firm is an exceptionally low brokerage charged by it. It has a very loyal customer base. It is known, particularly, for intra-day trading. They provide two kinds of online trading platform. However, they have lot of hidden rules, like one cannot trade through Sharekhan for scrips below Rs.20.

Religare - it is promoted by Ranbaxy Laboratories. It is involved in equity related services include online trading at BSE and NSE, Derivatives, commodities, IPO, Mutual fund, Investment banking and institutional broking services. Religare also provides its customers with three kinds of trading platforms.

5 Paisa stock trading - 5paisa is Online Stock Trading Company of India Infoline Securities Private Ltd., Owner of popular business portal Indiainfoline.com. Besides high quality investment advice from an experienced research team, the site offers real time stock quotes, market news and multiple tools for technical analysis. It is also known for its very low brokerage charges. However, it also has many hidden charges.

In addition to these there are other players also like Reliance Money, Motilal Oswal, India Bulls, and Karvy. The last of these was the first player to enter the online trading and broking in India but it has not been so successful as others.

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Company Profile

Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL & FS) is one of India’s leading infrastructure development and finance companies. IL&FS has a distinct mandate – catalyzing the development of infrastructure in the country. The organization has focused on the commercialization and development of infrastructure project and creation of value added financial services. From concept to execution IL&FS houses the expertise to provide the complete array of services necessary for successful project completion: visioning, documentation, finance, development, management, technology and execution. Over the years, IL&FS has broad based its share holding, which today includes Life Insurance Corporation of India, ORIX Corporation – Japan, Housing Development Corporation of India and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, State Bank of India and Central Bank of India.

IL&FS INVESTSMART SECURITIES LIMITED

IL&FS Investsmart securities limited (IISL) was created by IL&FS as an arm to take part in growing Indian capital market. However, later on the company was taken over by HSBC in the year 2007 to gain an entry into the Indian financial market.

IL&FS Investsmart securities limited (IISL) is one of India’s Leading financial services organizations. IISL, through its subsidiaries in India and Singapore, provides a wide range of investment products to its retail and institutional banking, insurance broking & distribution, mutual funds distribution and related financing services. IISL’s 2000 employees provide a complete range of investment solutions to over 138,000 customers in India through its 394 branches and 19 franchise outlets across all the states in India and has been recognized as “National Best Performing Financial Advisor – Retail” for two years in a row (06-07 & 07-08) by CNBC TV 18.

Retail Offerings

ADVISORY PRODUCTS – mutual funds, portfolio management services (PMS) IPO’s insurance advisory etc.

TRADING PRODUCTS – equity and derivatives, etc. The company no longer provides trading in commodities as according to regulation foreign financial institutions cannot take part in trading of commodities and as of now HSBC has 93.6% stake in IL&FS Investsmart.

IISL’s Institutional business thrives on the strong relationships it has built among domestic mutual funds, banks, financial institutions, insurance companies and private sector funds over the past few years. Efficient execution, quality research and high degree of compliance with stock exchange regulations and ethical business standards back IISL’s services to institutional investors.

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IL&FS Depository Services

Dematerialization and trading in the Demat mode is a safer and faster alternative to the physical existence of securities. Demat as a parallel solution offers freedom from delays, thefts, forgeries, settlement risks and paper work. This system works through Depository Participants, who offer Demat services and the securities are held in the electronic form for the investor directly by the depository. These services are regulated by National Securities Limited (NSDL).

IL&FS Investsmart DS offers Dematerialization services to individual and corporate investor. It has a team of professionals and latest technological expertise dedicated exclusively to its Demat department, apart from a national network of franchise making of services quick, convenient and efficient.

A person who has an account with IL&FS Investsmart is benefited in the following ways:

The internet can provide a new sense of control over financial future. The amount of investment information available online is truly astounding. It’s one of the best aspects of being a wired investor. For the first time in history, any individual with an internet connection can do the following activities:

Know the price of any stock any time and follow the market events in depth.

Receive a wealth of free commentary and analysis about stock markets and the global economy. At Investsmart, customers can get real time stock quotes, daily roundups of the stock market, expert commentary, and a deep community of fellow investors.

One of the greatest appeals of using an Investsmart online account is the fact that the account belongs to the customers, and is under their direct control. When they want to buy or sell stock, they no longer need to call their broker on the phone, hope that the broker is in office to place their order; possibly argue with the broker about the order; and hope that the transaction is executed immediately.

Investsmart specializes in the technique that offers the best price for the best buy and sell orders of the investors and traders. Also due to the high level of transparency with regard to display of information relating to the specific stocks and company profiles, customers get the best quote for their orders.

Online trading offers the customers greater transparency by providing them with an audit trial. This involves a complete integrated electronic chain starting from order placement to clearing and settlement and finally ending with a credit into their depository account. All these stages are subject to inspection, thus bringing in transparency into the system. Online trading integrates the customer’s bank account, their trading account and their Demat accounts, which leads to easy and paperless trading for them.

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Investsmart online customer will be able to execute the entire trading transaction, right from logging on to the site, to the execution and settlement of customer’s bank account, in a very short period. Trading on the net gives even the smallest retail investor access to information that earlier was available to the big traders only. This provides a level playing field for all investors in the securities market. This method of trading reduces the settlement risk for the investor, as in this case all short sell orders are squared off at the specified cut off time and are not allowed to be carried forward. In the case of a Demat account, customers Demat account is checked by Investsmart before executing their sell transaction. This reduces the settlement risk for the buyer, who is assured of the delivery of these securities. As the clients of Investsmart online, customers are given free access to steaming news to give them the latest financial information as it occurs. Customers can contact the Tele Trading Executives from the Tele Trading team during and after market hours. Customers can ask their problems and discuss their trading strategies and ideas accordingly with the executives. Every trade is confirmed immediately and clients will receive an on-screen confirmation following the trade with full details for their records. This avoids costly errors that would have been discovered when it is too late. Client’s bank, Depository and online account are integrated for his/her convenience. An Investsmart Online client has an option of banking with five financial banks that provide the option of online fund transfer – HSBC, HDFC, Citibank, Axis and Corporation Bank.

Investsmart Online works hard to keep customers’ personal information secure.

Product Profile of IL&FS Investsmart

IL&FS investsmart offers two types of products for clients interested in online trading. They are:

Smart Invest

Features:

This trading platform is a browser based system designed for customers who transact occasionally. It is ideal for investors who believe in the buy and hold approach towards investment in equities. It is very user friendly.Smart Invest’s capability as a browser based trading platform gives you the benefit of real time streaming data with the flexibility of trading on any internet capable system. With access to both the NSE and BSE, the customer is in the driver’s seat when routing your order to the best price on either of the exchanges. Smart Invest’s sophisticated yet easy to use point and click order entry interface allows you to react more quickly to the markets and make better decisions.

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Smart Trade

Features:

This platform can be accessed on any internet-enabled network. They can be accessed even from the work place.

Instant Loading The browser-based applet system allows access to client’s account with no wait time, unlike other system that takes a few minutes to load. Live streaming quotes-Color-coded price changes help customers to spot trends and in turn help the customer to react faster. Multiple watch - list allows the customer to create up to 10 groups of watch list with each group accommodating 15 scripts. Each watch list can be personalized by the customers according to their choice of scripts. It provides the facility of trading on both NSE and BSE via a single screen. Single order form for Cash and F&O offers the customers the convenience of transacting in various segments of the market without having to switch between multiple windows. Point and Click order entry makes order entry quick and simple with a click on the security, the same is inserted on the order form in the trade screen. Using a single keystroke (hotkey) function the customer can achieve important task very similar to a broker’s terminal. Accessing important reports is also one keystroke away. Market depth window gives an immediate “at a glance” information about the stock they are following. The view provides the best 5 bids and offers quotes and the outstanding order quantities. Back office access allows one to view segment wise ledger bills and contract notes, trades, positions, account balance, realized/unrealized profit and loss, and buying power all in real time. This account is an EXE based desktop software designed for active traders who transact frequently to capture favorable short-term price movements. The platform offers active traders the tools they need to make critical decisions with confidence. Smart Trade is designed and built from the ground up to address the needs of active traders. Smart Trade makes the most of state of the art technology to deliver power, speed and reliability. Through an easy to use interface, users are provided with the

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same tools and advantages that the professionals enjoy. Fully customizable display allows the clients to save their created trade screen layout, so the next time they access the application the created layout is not lost. Dynamic charts with indicators provides the clients with a wealth of charting capabilities and timing indicators, which allow them to go right into the action with real time daily charts, and intra- day charts. Watch price movements by minutes, days or weeks. Through EOD Charts, Smart Trade puts up to 5 years of in depth history at their command with the power to instantly back test any trading strategy they design, before risking one rupee of their trading capital. Customers can get the real time market data from both NSE and BSE, similar to what a professional broker gets. Advanced alert capabilities allow the customer to be free from watching every tick. Users can be notified once a security has reached the set parameters. Multiple securities can be monitored using the set parameters. These alerts can be triggered both visually and audibly. Tracking all their orders are made easy through the live order status screen. Further drill down into all details pertaining to an order is available in the order detail sub report. All their positions are updated automatically and instantly. The need of refresh button is avoided. It reflects their credits and debits instantly on every trade execution. No need to refresh each statement to know their latest buying limits. The feature of derivative chain provides with a list of all derivative contracts available for the selected security. To view derivative prices of a security just right click on the symbol and click on derivative chain. Lock terminal option locks the trading platform for the customers when it is left unattended and can be accessed again only on providing the proper login details. Message window docking enables the customers to receive trading messages, intraday trading calls and messages from both the exchanges flashed real time onto their screens. The company is having dedicated and trained tele-trading executives which allows the customers to trade when they are unable to trade through internet.

HSBC in India

The HSBC Group in India is represented by several entities including The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited which offers a full range of banking and financial services to its over 2 million customers in India through its 47 branches and 170 ATMs across 26 cities. HSBC is one of India’s leading financial services groups, with over 33,000 employees in its banking, investment banking and capital markets, asset management, insurance broking, two global IT development centers and 6 global resourcing operations in the country. The bank is the founding and a principal member of HSBC Group which, with over 10,000 offices in 83 countries and territories and assets of US S 2354 billion at 31 st Dec 2007, is one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organization.

Service Blueprint of IL&FS Investsmart Securities Limited The blueprint components identified at IL&FS Investsmart can be listed under the five heads as discussed earlier. These are:

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Physical evidence

It is at the very top of the blueprint. Physical evidences provide some degree of tangibility to the services. So anything associated with the process can be listed under physical evidence if it provides tangibility. Seen in this regard, even employees of the company and their attire also provide tangibility. Typically these physical evidences can be listed above each point of contact as well.

Different physical evidences associated with the services of IL&FS Investsmart are:1. Website2. Browser3. Employees4. Attire of the employees5. Demo shown to the clients6. Pamphlets7. Office

Customer Actions

The customer actions area includes the steps, choices, activities and interactions that the customer performs in the process of purchasing, consuming and evaluating the services.The possible customer actions list for the clients of IL&FS Investsmart is a very long one, which can be modified into following broad actions:

1. Visiting website 2. Seeing advertisement these three actions can be listed as one 3. Making calls one action of Seeking Information4. Take Calls5. Giving appointments to the executives6. Meeting the executives from the company7. Signing up the forms8. Submit documents9. See the demonstration10. Moving funds from savings account to trading account 11. Pay through cheque12. Withdraw funds from trading account to savings account Transaction 13. Placing order for purchase of shares 14. Selling stocks15. Calling up Relationship Managers16. Adding stocks or Deleting stocks in the scripts display17. Renewal of account by paying ASP

Thus above actions can be further narrowed down to ten actions:

1. Seeking information2. Taking Calls

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3. Giving appointments to the executive4. Meeting the executives5. Signing up the forms6. Submit the documents7. Watch the Demo8. Transactions using the login ID9. Calling up Relationship Managers10. Adding stocks or Deleting Stocks in the scripts display

Onstage Contact Employee Actions

Now, paralleling the customer actions there two areas of contact employee actions. The steps and activities that the contact employee performs that are visible to a customer are the onstage employee actions. The onstage contact employee actions identified at IL&FS Investsmart are:

1. Make Calls or send e-mails2. Take Appointments3. Meeting clients and pitch the product4. Give the demonstration- this action can be done either before the purchase by customer or

even after the purchase has been made.5. Get the forms signed up6. Collecting documents7. Process the forms8. Clear deficiencies in the form if any deficiency has been found.

Backstage Contact Employee Actions

Those contact employee actions that take place behind the scenes for the support of the onstage employees are called backstage contact employee actions. In the organization are as follows:

1. Making calls to the customers2. Attending calls of the existing customers (both internal as well as external) and

prospective customers who call up for information.3. Fixing appointments for the onstage contact employees4. Processing the forms and forward for account activation5. Inform onstage contact employees about the deficiencies in the form if found.6. Informing the customers about the deficiencies in the form (this can be clubbed with the

first action of making calls).7. Advise the customers (Relationship Managers)

So, though we have observed seven major actions, they can be considered under six major actions only.

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Support Processes

This part of the blueprint covers the internal services, steps, and interactions that take place to support the contact employees in delivering the service. In this case, we have following support processes:

1. Generate leads for the acquisition process2. Training to new employees3. Processing the forms4. Inform about the deficiencies if found to the contact employees.5. Activating the account

Now, the above mentioned list of actions can be grouped under remote encounters, phone encounters and face-to face encounters also. For example, visiting the website or placing the orders online is remote encounter while placing the same order on phone is phone encounter. Every encounter is critical from the point of view of customer satisfaction. All this can be seen in the service blueprint prepared on the basis of above discussion as seen in figure – 4 below.

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Physical Evidence

Customer

Actions

Onstage

Contact

Employee

Actions

Backstage

Contact

Employee

Actions

Support

Processes

Figure – 1 (Service Blueprint of IL&FS Investsmart, Bangalore)

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website Pamphlet employees Attire of employees office

Seek Information

Give Appointment

Add/Del Scrips

Meet Executive Sign Up the forms

Take Calls

Make Calls/Send e-mailTake Appointments

Give demonstration

Meet Clients Get the form Signed up

See the Demonstration

Submit Documents

Collect Documents

Call the Relationship Manager

Transactions

Make Calls Process the Forms & forward for activation

Take Calls/e- mails

Inform Onstage Contact Emp about deficiencies

Fix Appointments for Onstage Contact Employees

Clear Deficiencies

Process the Forms

Train Contact Employees

Inform about deficiencies

Process forms and look for Deficiencies

Advise the Client

Activate Client’s Account

Generate leads

Theoretical Background

Service BlueprintA service blueprint is a picture or map that accurately portrays the service system so that the different people involved in providing it can understand and deal with it objectively regardless of their roles or their individual points of view. If we look at IL&FS Investsmart, service blueprint assumes special significance here. Let us first look at an experience shared by some customers, which they themselves termed to be very memorable. On 16th January 2008, the share market in India witnessed a dramatic fall, which a leading national daily termed as “blood on Dalal Street”. According to the customers which were contacted, the next day (17 th Jan) many of their friends trading with other broking houses simply could not trade as their terminals were closed on that day; but these customers were able to save themselves as IL&FS did not close its terminals. Clearly, such incident create not only positive image of the company but also form an emotional bond with the customers.

The blueprint will have 5 components: Physical Evidence Customer Actions Onstage/ Visible Contact Employee Actions Backstage Employee Actions and Support Processes

Physical evidence refers to those elements of a service which provide certain degree of tangibility to it like pamphlets, websites etc. customer actions include all of the steps that customers take as part of the service delivery process. The actions of frontline contact actions that occur as part of face-to-face encounter as termed as onstage contact employee actions. This component of the blueprint is separated from the customers by the line of visibility. Everything below the line of visibility is not visible to the customers. Backstage contact employees fall below this line. Backstage contact employees fall below this line. Telephone calls made to the customers is one example of the backstage contact employee action. Service blueprints provide the employees with an overview so that they can have understanding of their work. It reinforces the customer focused approach. The line of interaction between external customer and employees illuminates the customer’s role. The line of visibility drawn promotes a conscious decision on what customers should see and which employees will be in contact with the customers, thus facilitating relational service design.

Service EncountersService encounters or the “moments of truth” create the most vivid impressions of the service when the customer interacts with the service firm (Zeithaml, 2000). Through these encounters the customers receive a snapshot of the organization’s service quality, and each encounter contributes to the customer’s overall satisfaction level and willingness to do business with the

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organization. Errors committed at early stage are very critical and they do have a cascading effect, because a failure at one point results in higher dissatisfaction at each subsequent level. First interaction is especially critical for the image of the organization, however, that does not mean that other interactions are not important. Every encounter is important as it helps in forming a composite image of the organization. The difference lies in the magnitude of importance.

Below is a simple three-stage service encounter that normally happens at IL&FS Investsmart Securities Limited till the point of customer acquisition.

Figure – 2 (Service Encounter at IISL)

Encounters can of three general types- remote encounters, phone encounters, and face-to-face encounters. Remote encounter can happen through websites or mails, that is, without any direct human contact.

Customer Satisfaction The first basic concept is that of customer expectation. Customer expectation, as Bitner & Zeithaml say, are beliefs about service delivery that function as standards or reference points against which performance is judged. Thus, for providing a good quality service it becomes critical to understand what a customer expects coming into the service experience. Not understanding the expectations of customer can put a lot of cost to the company. Besides, it will stand to lose its customers and this ultimately may even lead to extinction of the firm from the market.

The second important concept is that of customer perception. Perception can be termed as the process by which an individual selects, organizes, and interprets stimuli into a meaningful and coherent picture of the world. Now, in our case perception is the reflection of how a service has actually been received. Perceptions are always relative to the expectation.

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Sales Call

Meet the Client & Convince Him

Get the Form Signed Up

EXPECTED

CUSTOMER GAP

PERCEIVED

Figure – 3 (Customer Gap)

If there is no difference between expectation and perception than a customer is said to be satisfied, or in other words, we can say that if upon evaluation of a service the customer finds it to meet his needs and expectations then he would be satisfied. This customer gap can be better understood through table1.

One framework that has been put forward based on the qualities associated with the goods and services to differentiate between the two. These qualities are of following types -

1. Search qualities – the qualities which can be determined before the actual purchase.

2. Experience qualities – the qualities discernable only after purchase or during consumption.

3. Credence qualities – the qualities that a consumer may find impossible to evaluate even after the purchase and consumption.

Since the last two qualities dominate in the service sector, consumers employ different techniques in decision making process – information search, evaluative criteria, size and composition of the evoked set of alternatives, perceived risk, attribution of dissatisfaction etc.

One important issue in the discussion of customer satisfaction is that of quality. It has been often observed that quality and satisfaction are used interchangeably. But these two are different concepts. Satisfaction is a broader concept while service quality assessment focuses specifically on dimensions of service –

1. Reliability2. Responsiveness3. Assurance4. Empathy5. Tangibles

Customer satisfaction is influenced by specific product or service features and by perception of quality as discussed above. It is also influenced by customers’ emotional responses, their attributions and their perceptions of equity.

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Service features influence a customer to a great extent. Research suggest that customers make trade-offs among different service features depending on the type of service being evaluated and the criticality of the services.

Customer’s emotions are important factors affecting his perception of satisfaction with the services. Emotions can be stable, pre-existing, mood state or life satisfaction. A customer in good mood may ignore mistakes while the same customer, when in a foul mood may make an issue of slightest mistakes.

Attributions, i.e., the perceived causes of events also influence the satisfaction level of customers. For many services, customers at least take partial responsibility for how things turn out.

Perceptions of equity or fairness, if a customer feel that he is fairly treated like getting services, paying fair to services.

The difference between customer expectations and perceptions is known as customer gap.

Gap 1: the promotional gapThe origin of the problem lies in the company’s marketing communications.In the bid to get new customers by selling the benefits of their product or service companies can very easily create expectations in the minds of customers that will be difficult to fulfill.

Gap 2: the understanding gapAnother problem area is that the organizations do not have a proper understanding of customers’ needs and priorities. If they don’t realize what is important to customers, it is quite possible that customer will not be satisfied despite good quality of service.

Gap 3: the procedural gapDespite the organization having proper understanding of what matters most to the customers it may still fail to deliver customer satisfaction if it cannot translate customers’ expectations into appropriate operating procedures and systems.

Gap 4: the behavioral gapSometimes organizations establish clear procedures which can match with the customers’ needs and priorities but still fail to achieve a consistently high level of customer satisfaction because staff may not be sufficiently trained or disciplined to follow the proper procedures at all times.

Gap 5: the perception gapIt is possible that above mentioned gaps do not exist still some customers may be dissatisfied. This is because of the customers’ perception of the performance of organization which may differ from reality. A customer who was upset by offhand, unhelpful service sometime in the past will form an attitude that the organization is not concerned and it may take considerable time and much experience of good personal service before that perception gets changed.

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Table – 1 (Actual v Expected Service)

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Introduction to the Study

A service blueprint is a picture or map that accurately portrays the service system so that the different people involved in providing it can understand and deal with it objectively regardless of their roles or their individual points of view. Blueprinting is widely used to analyze and inform service delivery and service design.

We have seen earlier, service sector is playing a major role in the Indian economy. It is in this light that Mary Jo Bitner puts forward the argument that firms can no longer compete solely on providing superior value through their core products, but rather they must move into the realm of customer experience management, creating long-term, emotional bonds with their customers through the co-creation of memorable experiences potentially involving a constellation of goods and services. It is here that service blueprinting assumes an important role as a tool of service innovation and service improvement. Service blueprints are customer-focused, allowing firms to visualize the service processes, points of customer contact, and physical evidence associated with their services from customers’ perspective. Blueprints also illuminate and connect the underlying support processes throughout the organization that drive and support customer-focused service execution. This paper aims to create the service blueprint of the company with the help of its customers, both, internal as well as external. The focus, however, would be on the internal customers to find out whether they understand the service process and their satisfaction with the support processes. Besides, the paper will also seek customers’ experience with the onstage contact employees, that is, the role of service encounters. As such, the paper needs to consider customer satisfaction and customer gap also.

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Objectives

The major objectives of the project can be stated as follows:

1. To analyze the existing service blueprint of IL&FS Investsmart Securities Limited.2. To assess the service encounters with the customers.3. To find out the service encounters which are most satisfying for the customers and which

are most dissatisfying for the customers.4. To find out the customer gaps in the process5. To suggest strategies for the improvement of the service delivery process of the company

and as such delete those service encounters which cause dissatisfaction and encourage those encounters which satisfy the customers most.

Scope of the study

The study has been conducted on the IL&FS Investsmart’s Bangalore operations. It has taken into consideration the functioning of the online trading and broking arm of IL&FS Investsmart. For this purpose both internal and external customers of the company were surveyed. The report assumes importance because of the recessionary trend that the economy had been witnessing since last 1 and half years and because of the negative market sentiments generated in the wake of incidents related to Lehmann brothers and Satyam. How the company is still able to entice customers into investing and how that can be made more effective is one question of special interest.

Limitations of the study

This study is conducted with the aim of getting accurate information, authentic information. However, there were some constraints. The biggest challenge was, in the present market scenario, as the market crashed from 2100 points to 8000 and people had lost their money it was difficult to interact with the customer because they were not willing to participate in giving feedback also. The foremost limitation is to identify which customers to choose for the intended survey. Then again the sample size and sampling technique to be used will also be under question. One limitation was to get into touch with some of the customers because of they were premium customers and it was not easy to approach them. Also, because of the not being fluent with the local language Kannada, it became difficult to interact with many customers. One of the biggest hurdles in this project is the part of customer viewpoint mapping. Getting customers to elicit response when they might not be interested in participating in any such exercise is a very tough and cumbersome task, especially given the market conditions.

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Methodology of the Research

Marketing research covers a wide range of phenomena. The task of marketing research is to help specify and supply accurate information to reduce the uncertainty in decision making.

Here the method of research adopted is descriptive. Besides, since the customers to be surveyed are generally very high profile with which interactions have to be limited, the number of existing customers surveyed cannot be very high. So the sample size taken for research is 50. Besides, interview of the employees of the company is also taken for the research.

The geographical area was restricted to Bangalore city only.

Simple random sampling is the basic sampling technique where we select a group of subjects for study from a larger group. Each individual is chosen entirely by chance and each member of the population is equally likely to be chosen at any stage in the sampling process. For our purpose, the respondents were chosen from the customer database available to us through simple random sampling only.

The methods followed for data collection under primary sources are listed below:

Questionnaire survey of existing customers Interview of external customers Personal interview with the internal customers

Existing customer database was collected before proceeding for filling up the questionnaire.

The questionnaire designing is an important aspect of the research. For this purpose, two kinds of questions were taken- in the first type there were only two options for the customers, i.e., yes or no; for the second type a Likert scale was used. Here the customers are asked to rate the given parameters on a scale of one to five. Besides, two open-ended questions were also kept in the questionnaire.

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Data Analysis

In order to analyze the service delivery process and the role of service encounters in customer satisfaction, we conducted a survey of fifty existing customers of the company.

The respondents were asked about the first service encounter in the whole service delivery process. The question was concerned with the way the executives pitch the product. Forty-six out of fifty respondents felt that IISL executives gave them a proper explanation on the product features and they were quite convincing in their presentations. This has been shown with the help of pie-chart below (figure – 4).

YESNO

Figure – 4

The next query put forward to the respondents was concerned with their perception regarding IISL executives’ ability to understand the customer requirement. As we know, the company offers different products under one stable so it becomes imperative that the executive first listen to the customer requirements and then pitch a particular product which suits their needs. In this case forty-four respondents felt that the IISL executives did understand their needs quite well and suggested them the best product. Six customers felt that IISL executives did not understand their needs properly. They had different opinions on the matter, like few of them wanted a higher ASP but the executives pitched a lower ASP.

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YESNO

Figure - 5

As regards to the reply to their queries, ninety- four percent respondents, that is forty-seven people felt that their queries were answered to their satisfaction.

YESNO

Figure – 6

The fifth question asked to the respondents was concerned with the punctuality of IISL executives. Ninety-six percent, that is forty-eight people replied that the IISL executives were never behind the schedule. Some respondents even admired the fact that the executives generally reach few minutes prior to the schedule.

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YESNO

Figure - 7

The next query was regarding the demonstration given to the customers. This is one area of concern which emerged during the course of the study. According to eight respondents, that is sixteen percent, IISL executives, though gave a demonstration, they could have given a more detailed demonstration, see figure-8.

YESNO

Figure – 8

The respondents, however, were unanimous in their appreciation of the tips received from the company. They said that not only did they receive timely tips but also the tips were generally correct. This is shown below in figure-9.

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YESNO

Figure – 9

The respondents were asked about relationship managers (RM) assigned to them. Only five respondents replied that they were assigned an RM.

YESNO

Figure – 10

The above reply, however, cannot be used to judge the satisfaction. So the next poser was important in this regard. The next poser was regarding the satisfaction level of the customers with their respective RMs. Again four respondents out of five were quite satisfied with the work of their respective RMs.

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YESNO

Figure – 11

All the respondents said that they have access to the research reports.

To the next query, that is the utility of the toll-free number all the respondents were once again unanimous that toll-free number is very helpful and they also appreciated that this toll-free number works from any cell-phone connection. The respondents were again unanimously positive that their calls are properly answered by the executives.

YESNO

Figure – 12

Next, the respondents were asked whether they found the website useful. To this question while thirty-seven people replied in affirmative and ten in negative, three people did not reply, as seen in figure – 13 below.

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YESNO

Figure – 13

Afterwards the respondents were asked whether they are satisfied with the online trading facilities, thirty-nine were positive, while eleven people were not satisfied. Some felt that online account should also work on open-source browsers like Mozilla Firefox. This result is shown below in figure – 14.

YESNO

Figure – 14

Regarding the next query on their most satisfying experience with IISL, there were varied responses. The most prominent answers were:

a) Seamless connection of savings - trading - demat accounts.b) Interactions with the RM

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c) No hidden charges as told by the sales executive.

Now, the next query concerned with the most dissatisfying experience of the customers. To this query the most prominent reply was- time taken in opening the account exceeded beyond the promised time limit of 8-10 working days. Twenty-three respondents felt that the time taken to open the account was more than the promised duration and they should have been told of this earlier. Ten respondents felt that the ASP should not be promoted as refundable because it is very tough to get the refund, and sales executives should not use the word “refundable”.

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Figure - 15

Afterwards, the respondents were asked to rate some critical parameters on a scale of 1- 5, with the smallest digit standing for highly dissatisfied, 2 for somewhat dissatisfied, 3 for neutral, 4 for somewhat satisfied and 5 for highly satisfied. These parameters can help us to understand the role of different service encounters in the customer satisfaction.

The first query was on the calls made by the IISL employees. Here, it was found that ten respondents were highly dissatisfied while seven were somewhat dissatisfied; on the other hand twenty people were satisfied while three were highly satisfied. Ten people were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. The reason for such high level of dissatisfaction was mainly that on many days more than one call were made by different executives to the same customer for same objective.

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highly dissatisfied

dissatisfied

neutralsatisfied

highly satisfied

0

10

20

calls made

calls made

Figure – 16

Next, parameter was the behavior of the IISL executives. To this, most of the respondents (forty) replied that they were satisfied with the behaviour, while five people were highly satisfied and five respondents were neutral.

highly dissatisfied

dissatisfied

neutralsatisfied

highly satisfied

0

20

40

behavior

behavior

Figure – 17

As regards to the reply of executives to the queries of the customers, it was found that twenty-six respondents were satisfied and six were highly satisfied, but ten respondents were neutral, seven respondents were not satisfied while one respondent said that he was highly dissatisfied.

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highly dissatisfied

dissatisfied

neutralsatisfied

highly satisfied

0

20

40

reply of executive

reply of executive

Figure – 18

Then one critical parameter for the study was taken to be the perception of the customers regarding the knowledge of the executives to advice on trading. Again here it was found that the satisfaction was very high. In this case the number of respondents in the highly dissatisfied category was nil while those who were slightly dissatisfied was found to be five, those on neutral side were also just three while those who were satisfied and highly satisfied were twenty-nine and thirteen.

highly dissatisfied

dissatisfied

neutralsatisfied

highly satisfied

0

20

40

knowledge of executive

knowledge of executive

Figure – 19

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The brokerage charged by the organization is one important area of concern which might cause satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Here it was found that ten people were highly dissatisfied with the brokerage charged while the category of dissatisfied and neutral customer both contained five respondents each. Again twenty-three respondents were satisfied and seven were highly satisfied.

highly dissatisfied

dissatisfied

neutralsatisfied

highly satisfied

0

20

40

brokerage

brokerage

Figure – 20

The trading screen and the speed of the browser was an important parameter of our study as it is one service encounter that takes place almost every-day and even several times in one day despite being a remote encounter. Here, it was found that thirty-one respondents were satisfied while seventeen users were highly satisfied and two were neutral.

highly dissatisfied

dissatisfied

neutralsatisfied

highly satisfied

0

20

40

trading screen & browser speed

trading screen & browser speed

Figure – 21

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The next important parameter for the study is related to both procedural gap as well as promotional gap. The question asked was concerned with the time taken to open the trading and demat account by IISL. Here we found that thirteen customers were highly dissatisfied while seventeen respondents were dissatisfied. On the other hand, eighteen customers were satisfied while two customers were highly satisfied.

highly dissatisfied

dissatisfied

neutralsatisfied

highly satisfied

0

10

20

account opening duration

account opening duration

Figure – 22

Then, one area which creates extra number of face-to-face encounters is concerned with the deficiencies in the forms. In order to clear these deficiencies an executive has to go and meet the clients more than once, and as such it is very difficult to secure an appointment for the purpose. This pushes the activation date forward and consequently increases the chances of dissatisfaction. So the respondents were asked regarding their satisfaction level with the meetings they have with the executives prior to the activation of their account. It was observed that three respondents were highly dissatisfied and seven were dissatisfied, two respondents were neutral, twenty-nine were satisfied and nine were highly satisfied. This high level of satisfaction can be attributed to various factors like prompt and pro-active approach of the executives, as we were told by many respondents.

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highly dissatisfied

dissatisfied

neutralsatisfied

highly satisfied

0

10

20

meeting before activation

meeting before activation

Figure – 23

The last parameter is concerned with the telephone encounter. The respondents were asked about their satisfaction level with the time they have to wait on the toll-free number of the company. It was found that twenty-nine people were satisfied with the response time, nine were highly satisfied, two were neutral, seven people were dissatisfied and three were highly dissatisfied.

highly dissatisfied

dissatisfied

neutralsatisfied

highly satisfied

0

20

40

Response time

Response time

Figure – 24

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We saw the various replies that we got from different customers on different parameters. These parameters were clubbed together to get a clear understanding of the satisfaction of the customers with IISL. All the levels of scale were given different weight as follows:

Highly dissatisfied (high dis)-1, dissatisfied (dis)-2, neutral (neut)-3,satisfied-4, highly satisfied(high sat)-5. These values are shown in bracket besides the categories under a bracket.

high dis(1)

dis(2)

neut(3)

sat(4)

high sat(5)

calls made 10 7 10 20 3behavior 0 0 5 40 5knowledge of executive 0 5 3 29 13reply of executive 1 7 10 26 6brokerage 10 5 5 23 7trading screen & browser speed 0 0 2 31 17account opening duration 13 17 0 18 2meeting before activation 3 17 6 19 2Response time 3 7 2 29 9

Table – 2

Now, number of respondents in each category for every parameter was multiplied with their respective weight and then all these values for the parameter were added. This sum was divided by the number of respondents that is fifty. This way the average was calculated for each parameter, as shown below.

high dis dis neut sat

high sat Total Score

Max Score

calls made 10 14 30 80 15 149 2.98 5Behavior 0 0 15 160 25 200 4 5knowledge of executive 0 10 9 116 65 200 4 5reply of executive 1 14 30 104 30 179 3.58 5brokerage 10 10 15 92 35 162 3.24 5trading screen & browser speed 0 0 6 124 85 215 4.3 5account opening duration 13 34 0 72 10 129 2.58 5meeting before activation 3 34 18 76 10 141 2.82 5Response time 3 14 6 116 45 184 3.68 5

3.464444

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Table – 3

Now, for the study conducted each weighted average is the score for that particular parameter, while maximum possible score can be only five. Taking these values the following graph was plotted.

calls made

behavior

knowledge of executive

reply of executive

brokeragetrading screen & browser speed

account opening duration

meeting before activation

Response time

0

5

2.98 4

4

3.58

3.244.3

2.58

2.82

3.68

SCOREMAX

Figure – 25

As one can see in the above figure, the blue line signifies the score or customers’ perception while the red line shows the maximum possible score or customers’ expectation. So the area lying between the two lines shows the customer gap. Here, we can say that the difference between the score and maximum is the gap in satisfaction level. Yet, since maximum possible score is five, any score above 2.5 will signify satisfaction while values below that will satisfy dissatisfaction. Now, in the above graph we can see the least score is for the account opening duration, which is 2.58, while the score for trading screen and browser speed is 4.3, that is approaching 5, so satisfaction in this regard is very high.

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Findings

The last graph in the previous section (figure – 25) can be used to summarize the major findings of the study.

Thus, the things which have emerged during the course of the study are:

1. Some service encounters are very critical in creating higher level of satisfaction. Here it has emerged that the remote encounter which occurs more frequently, that is the online trading, is responsible for higher level of satisfaction.

2. Telephone encounters, related to toll-free number also create a higher level of satisfaction.

3. Telephone encounters that relate to customer acquisition are responsible for a lower satisfaction. This happens mainly because of the repeated calls to the same customer.

4. Customers are highly satisfied with the knowledge of the executives.5. The behaviour of the employees is satisfactory in the eyes of the customers.6. The time taken to activate the account is a source of dissatisfaction as there exists a

promotional gap. The company promises to activate the account in 10-12 working days, but in many cases this stretches to 16-18 working days.

7. Generally, the customers are satisfied with the demonstration, yet there is scope for improvement. Even, during the interaction with employees it was found that despite knowledge at times they are not able to give a very good demonstration.

8. The customers have, generally, been found to be satisfied with the reply of the executives to their query. This can be inferred from the average of the query which is 3.58 and is very close to satisfaction level.

9. It also emerged that many times application forms take 4-6 days longer to get activated despite not being in deficiency, or after deficiencies are cleared.

10. The response time of the executives has also played an important role in the satisfaction level of the customers, as is clear from the average of 3.68.

11. Eighty percent respondents were found to be satisfied with the work of their relationship manager (RM).

12. Eighty-eight percent respondents believed that the IISL executives understood their requirements quite well and were hence satisfied.

13. Brokerage charged by the company is one area where the company should work on. The satisfaction index shows the level of satisfaction in this regard to have an average of 3.24 only.

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Suggestions

The company can do well by implementing certain changes and bringing out some improvements in its operations. We saw that, most of the service encounters are basic and could not be done away with, yet certain aspects can be taken care of. As has been observed in the satisfaction index graph, the difference between the blue line and red line shows the customer gap. Those points where the gap is less, the company should try to work on in the long run as the satisfaction is higher and thus would be further enhanced. But those areas where the gap is greater, the company should look at and immediately try to bridge the gap. The company may:

1. Employees should be trained continually especially in the technical aspects of the job so that they can keep the number of deficiencies to the minimum and thereby decrease the procedural gap. This would not only fasten the process of account activation but also improve customer satisfaction.

2. This training will subsequently further reduce the number of face-to-face service encounters, the number of which is already low. This would place more importance on remote encounter and telephone encounters where the satisfaction level is good.

3. Mock demonstration should be conducted by the employees in the office itself by the onstage contact employees among themselves and they should try to assess their weakness and strengths in the presentation.

4. Account activation duration should be decreased from the present level of 16-18 working days to the promised duration of 10-12 working days. This will bring down the promotional gap.

5. Brokerage charged by the company should also be brought down to compete with other players, as the customers feel that major players like ShareKhan and Religare are charging lower brokerage in different plans, especially in intra-day trading.

6. Company should draw a new blueprint, which would clearly identify the contact employees who make calls for customer acquisition. Besides it will portray the service system so that the different people involved in the process can understand and deal with it objectively regardless of their roles or their individual points of view.

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Learning from the Research

During the course of this study service blueprinting was learned which is a very important concept in service design and delivery. Besides working in the field instilled confidence and knowledge of financial market. Moreover working in team and professional attitude are two important attributes that was developed during the course of this study. The work environment was such that one not only gets to learn the sales part, which was the core work area, but also helped develop an aptitude for understanding ups and down of the equities market.

It can be said that learning was not limited to academic field rather was also practical.

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Conclusion

This project was an opportunity for the application of concepts of marketing in the real-time. As such, the research was conducted to apply the concepts learned before the beginning of this internship. These concepts were not limited to domain area, rather the research required application of several disciplines like marketing research, quantitative techniques, information systems, finance and above all marketing of services. The fieldwork undertaken was challenging and one could easily observe the group dynamics at work.

Marketing of services assumes special importance in the current economic scenario not only because of the share of services in Indian GDP but also because of the fact that as an economy develops its share in GDP increases, and as such this is applicable across the world.

The research was an opportunity to understand the service delivery process of a major financial institution of the country. Then the concept of service blueprint was used to understand customer needs and as a tool of service improvement. Through the service blueprint, all the service encounters were analyzed and classified as most satisfying and dissatisfying service encounters. Questionnaire designing was an important issue because through it not only customer gap had to be understood but also, the service encounters which could be satisfying or dissatisfying to the customers had to be understood. For this SERVQUAL was taken as the model.

Finally the research has come out with suggestions which could be implemented by the company in order to enhance its service quality.

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APPENDIX

QUESTIONNAIREName:

Age : Below 25___ 25 – 35___ 35- 45___ above 45___

Occupation: Company:

1. How long have you been associated with IL&FS Investsmart Securities Limited (IISL)?a) 0-1 years b) 1- 5 years c) more than 5 years

2. Are the IISL executives able to properly explain the product?a) Yes b) No

3. Are the IISL executives able to understand your requirements?a) Yes b) No

4. Are the IISL executives able to reply to your queries to your satisfaction?a) Yes b) No

5. Do the IISL executives meet you at the scheduled appointments?a) Yes b) No

6. Did the executive give you a proper demo?a) Yes b) No

7. Do you receive timely tips from IISL?a) Yes b) No

8. Do you have relationship manager (RM) assigned to you?a) Yes b) No

9. Are you satisfied with your RM’s work?a) Yes b) No

10. Do you have access to research reports?a) Yes b)No

11. Do you find the toll free number to be useful?a) Yes b)No

12. Your calls are replied to in proper manner by the executive?a) Yes b) No

13. Do you find the website useful?a) Yes b) No

14. Are you satisfied with your online trading facilities?

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a) Yes b)No 15. What was your most satisfying experience with IISL?

16. Which aspect of the service provided by IISL that left you dissatisfied?

17. Rank the below mentioned parameters on 1 to 5, the least being for dissatisfaction and higher digits for satisfaction.

Dissatisfied Neutral Satisfied High Low Somewhat High

Calls made by IISL employees 1 2 3 4 5 The behavior of the employees 1 2 3 4 5 The employees reply to your queries 1 2 3 4 5 The employee’s knowledge to advise you about the trading.

1 2 3 4 5

The brokerage charged 1 2 3 4 5 Online trading screen & speed of the browser

1 2 3 4 5

Time taken to open your trading account by IISL

1 2 3 4 5

Number of times IISL executives meet before activation of account

1 2 3 4 5

Time taken to answer on your toll free number

1 2 3 4 5

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