HUL Managers with customers( Just like ITC)

Hindustan Unilever sees its future in a small phone booth called ‘voices from the street’. An oddity in the company’s sprawling campus in Andheri, Mumbai, all that the glassy booth has is a telephone, a headset, a table, a chair and standing room for about four.

Except rarely are four people seen in it together. One is more likely. One HUL manager listening to consumers rave, rant, request, inquire, suggest about HUL products. Sometimes, the manager even responds.

Each of the 981 HUL managers has to spend 15 minutes in the booth a week. The company documents the time spent and considers it during appraisals. And it starts with their CEO Nitin Paranjpe , who likes to drop in when he has 15 minutes. “There is no substitute for personal involvement,” says Paranjpe. Many of these conversations lead to decisions. For example, usage instructions were put on the Dove Serum packaging after a consumer told Paranjpe as much in ‘voices’.

Instead of seeing everything through the prism of a brand, HUL is looking at everything through the prism of the consumer.

At least twice a month, Paranjpe visits dealers, retailers and consumers. “Otherwise, you are relying on second- and third-hand information, which can get diluted, intentionally or unintentionally,” he says. In the Dove Serum case, Paranjpe heard a consumer on its careline on why this new product should come with usage instructions. Paranjpe articulated this to HUL’s eight-member management committee, which meets every 15 days to discuss consumer learnings. Immediately, a team with managers from packaging, marketing and supply chain was set up. And the next batch of Dove Serum had usage instructions.

Paranjpe is looking to percolate this culture of listening and acting down the line, partly by institutionalising it, partly by personalising it. Consumer connect and feedback are now factors in appraisals. For example, a manager has to visit 20 outlets and talk to 100 consumers before launching a product. And once a fortnight, Paranjpe discusses market and workplace issues with trainees and young managers over lunch.