The 7 P’s of House-Maids in India

Its 6’ish in the morning, the door bell rings. You would believe, that would make the lady of the house  angry about the early morning wake up call, instead, she springs up with a smile and a sense of relief, “Aah she’s here”: “the House Maid”.

House maids have been a part of our lives forever. They are hired to do chores around the house like doing the dishes, laundry, mopping, sweeping, dusting so on and so forth. My marketing brain wants to analyze everything, find thoughtful insights and present them as interesting facts.  

Broadly they fall into the service industry. Imagine the sense of trust that they need to develop with their clients (mostly the lady of the house) that they allow them inside their house and trust them with their possessions. So let’s apply the 7P’s of service marketing to analyze how these house maids have managed to become such an important part of every household.

PRODUCT: The quality of their service is judged by various factors like: 

• Preciseness: how well they do the dishes, how well they can get out stubborn spots, how well they can get to those dingy corners and the list is endless
• Punctuality: If they are not punctual they can upset the whole household and we don’t want anyone late to work, do we?
• Trust: Since they work inside the premises of the house, it is very important that they develop trust and not indulge in petty crimes, which will later effect their ummm lets say brand image.

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PRICE: They often bundle up their services and charge according to the package. The price range is 20-30% higher in bigger cities. Let’s not get judgmental since the cost of living is also higher in bigger cities.

PLACE: There are regulated and the unregulated sectors at play here. The regulated sector includes agencies that send maids to various households. But my inquisitive mind is always after the ones that are out there for themselves. They often walk to their client’s house to work, so they choose areas and timings to match the needs of their clients and also and make sure that it is within walking distance; and that’s how they do channel management. Now days they even carry mobile phones so that they can be easily accessed by their clients.

PROMOTIONS: Well, they do not have the luxury of having fancy discounts on T.V. commercials; reporters don’t go after them to publish their success stories in newspapers. They use “Networking”, to get those jobs and do their advertising for them. Word of mouth is what helps them to fill the need gaps.

PEOPLE: They do not have any assistants for back-up, but again their network comes handy when they need a little back-up. Their motivation for working is mostly the end of the month salary, the bonuses during festivals, some used-up sarees or old unused articles around the house. They blend in to the family and in most families they become part of the family by their dedication and commitment.

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE: You will usually find them dressed in a neat cotton saree (Indian Garment), or sometimes little fancier ones that they get from generous clients. They maintain a clean and hygienic look as in some houses they even cook meals.

PROCESS: They customize their activities according to their client’s needs. The best example of process flexibility tailored to client requirements. Their work processes are most of the time defined by their clients.

Well, keeping the 7 P’s aside, house maids in India are a legacy, not only do they help around in the household chores, they are often the stress busters for housewives to vent out their anxieties, worries and happiness too. Some of them work with families so long that they are fondly called by the children of the house as “Amma”, “Tai”, “Mausi” in the native languages. Not all of them prove their competence, not all of them provide excellent services and not to forget the amount of gossip and information they carry around. They might be aware of relationship status updates even before Facebook publishes them. J