The other day I ordered a delivery. I ordered it early in enough in the moring and thought by midmorning I should have taken delivery. Hours came and went and nothing happened. Calls to the supplier were met with deafening silence.
Eventually they turned up, after 5pm. Long stories about failing phone battery and having to walk all the way from Nansana ensued.
The icing on the cake? Could I pay him extra because he would have to take a boda boda to beat the curfew?
The reality of the corona crisis is that nothing is going to be the same again.
For eons us poor customers have suffered terrible customer service from our suppliers.
Forget about going the extra mile, just the basics of courtesy, cleanliness and timeliness are alien to our businesses, and then they complain that the economy is doing badly!
After the lockdown with cash at a premium, we will not tolerate just anything for our kamoney, which has survived corona. Here below are a fast and ready list on customer service that may alleviate the plight of us the long suffering clients, while keeping your till ringing.
1.Mean what you say, say what you mean
Nothing is as annoying as buying a good or service and it doesnt work as advertised. There are a few of us who will give you an earful for doing us wrong, but there is also a big a number who will not say anything and you will never see them again -- nor their friends or relatives.
It is a cliche in business that it is cheaper, and therefore more profitable, hanging on to existing clients than getting new ones. Believe it.
Competition is real if you have a client he is yours until he finds a better provider, why allolw him to have his head turned?
2. We dont owe you anythinig
So you opened your shop at 6 in the morning after being open till 11 pm the previous night. You have a flooding problem, anti the rain so we should bare with you wading through the aisles, you will mop later. That we should have waited for you to come, since you were held up somewhere and couldnt open shop at the usual time.
Because what? Because you are the only one doing what you do? Because you have been a round a long time we should only buy from you? Because .... Sorry it doesn't work like that.
In a world of infinite choices, things to do and places to be, we want convenience not have to do mathematical probabilities.
We dont owe you anything, after all we are paying.
3.You are not alone
The beautiful ones are not yet born. You may be the flavour of the month now but that may not be for very long. You need to invest in you and your business. My favourite businessman, I have said before is Charlie Lubega. When he took over Ange Noire Discotheque he was literally the only game in town. But regardless he made a concious and visible effort to regularly upgrade his venue, be it improve the music, the deco, the cleanliness. And all this he did when there wasnt any real competition on the horizon.
He effectivley raised the barrier to entry,
sending many a discotheque to their graves before they had gained traction. Ange Noire was the gold standard. Is it any surprise it is the last man standing?
Thats how you need to be thinking about your business. Essentially take the long view, invest in improving the customer experience and we will repay your with our loyalty and our kamoney left over from corvid.
4.Around noon doesnt cut it
The story of the money who turns up for a meeting at noon. When reminded that it was scheduled for 11 am he retorted. "It is around that time!"
Keeping time is not a mzungu thing. Keeping time, is the courtesy you extend to your partner. It says you value their time and you will not waste it. It says you are grateful and grateful to be given the opportunity to meet . Keeping time says you are reliable and can be trusted with lesser things like money and responsibility.
And if you can't make the appointment call ahead, preferably before the alloted hour to say you are running late.
5. Talk to us
Related to the last point we understand things don't always go accordning to plan and you cannot deliver as expected. We will be chaffed but give you the benefit of doubt if you keep us abreast of progress. We would rather you underpromise and overdeliver than the reverse.
I dont know anyone who likes excuses. Just get the job done. But if you can't, let us know in good time, because we too are managing the expectations of our clients and significant others.
6. The extra mile
Those are the basics and when you have ticked them off, you can't rest on your laurels. You dont want contented customers, you want customers who will champion your cause. And the truth is it doesnt take very much to keep your customers singing your praises. Technology can help.
Now with more and more people using debit cards and mobile money, your customers need not be nameless individuals who stream in and out of your shop. You have their name, their phone numbers and record of how regular they are to your shop and what they tend to buy.All this data can create an intimacy that can be capitalised on.
It bogles the mind that not more supermarkets have loyalty cards. Which offer bonunses or discounts for repeat customers. Eben the shops that have them are too mechanical, leaving the task to the machine adn not introducing a human touch to the process.
Imagine theplesant suprise it would be if a call to regualr customer who is in the habit of buying curry powder oncec amonth is made around the time they normally do. I know a regular client of a supermarket who now swears by them because they offeredt o deliver her shopping during the lock down. A service they do not normally do, but because she had accumulated a ton of bonus points they would go the extra mile for her.
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