THE KABALAGALA MAN

There is this gentleman who sells kabalagala – the small pan fired delicacies often made using ripe bananas and flour, by the roadside. That would not be anything to write home about except that this young man is often neatly turned out in a tie and often in a suit.

His kabalagala is polythene rapped in packs of five, which cost a convenient sh1000. He is respectful, always has change and he is joy to buy from, especially when you are stuck in traffic.

Unfortunately I havent talked to him at any length about his business but I notice every time I pass by he is doing brisk business from his box which I estimate contains more than 500 kabalagala when full.

Last year’s lockdown must have put the brakes on his progress but I see he is back at his slot serving with a smile.

We have said before in this column that for most of our businessmen its not about the economy failing them, but because they just have bad customer service...

Contrast the young man above with the lady who serves out of a restaurant I frequent. I have happened upon her sleeping at her station and often have to be prompted for service when she is awake. On occasion she doesn’t have change and when you leave your change with her , the impression is that you might as well say good bye to it. She is in business because she has a captive market, but she could do so much better if she improved her body language around her clients.

Or the other day I go to get my second Covid jab and the health center is a mess with no order, people milling around you could not tell who had come for the first or second jab and therefore who should be given priority. I jumped the queue --- there was no line to speak of,  on account of my graying pate. But it was no thanks to the young nurse who was standing on the verandah a bowl of fruit in her hand, chomping away at here fene. I had mistaken her for a fellow vaccinate. Wen I asked what the procedure is she said I should just seat  and somebody would come around to attend to me.

Yeah right. I ignored her and headed for a more elderly doctor who seemed to be actively trying to get us vaccinated. Now if she had been more helpful I may have found it in my stone cold heart to fork out a tip on my way out. A shilling saved is a shilling made.  

"It is easier and cheaper to grow the business off your existing customer base than to go out looking for others. Poor customer service means this can not happen and your business is more invested in roping in new hapless clients who would rather not do business with you if they had known how you behave...

I am sure there is a study somewhere that has n ailed down how much business lose due to poor customer service but I am guessing it must be a  huge number. I am willing to bet people would more than double their revenues if they brushed up on the way they treat their clients.

And I am probably understating it.

Imagine you have a clean place of business, so on first impressions you are ahead of the game. Despite constant entreaties since childhood not to judge a book by the cover we all do. Then your front line workers if they are in clean uniform, ready with a smile and seeming dedicated to meeting your every need you are making significant strides.

This is probably a good argument for treating your staff better. You treat the well they treat your clients well and they keep coming back.

Taking it a bit further what if this same front line workers are schooled in every aspect of the business, so for instance they know why six inch nails should be used for the job you want not the four inch ones you had ordered, they move from just pushing things down your throat to being consultants. Have you ever been to a restaurant and somehow haven’t decided what to eat but the waitresses can recommend something for you and tell you why? Pure bliss.

And then the actually delivery of the service has to be live up to the foreplay. If there is a delay come back and inform us of progress. There is nothing that makes me want to pull out my hair in frustration than a waiter who after a lot of clapping and whistling – I have found that “Gwe!” works best, than they turn up at your table and tell you what you have ordered is not available, 30 minutes later.

In brand building there are four basic components that need to be addressed; awareness, if no one knows your brand its not a brand and then associations, when people think of your brand do their think of dependability and quality or shoddiness and crap. Then the experience people enjoy or suffer interacting with your brand. If you can tick off positive attributes on those first three then the fourth, loyalty will follow.

What good customer service does for you is improve the association attributed  to your brand and the customer experience. Funny thing is if this a good, by word of mouth awareness increases and loyalty follows.

Last week an AfriArena study showed that Uganda is doing badly in attracting start up capital.  According to the report in 2020 Uganda only managed to attract $11.3m (about sh40b) compared to neighbours Kenya who did $305m. Even smaller economy Rwanda bit us to the post accounting for $11.6m in startup capital to the continent.

UI am sure there are many high sounding reasons for this state of affairs, but i am willing to bet that because of our poor customer service we are unable to scale up or show the ability to scale up our businesses to the point that they are attractive for outside investment. That is a saddening thought.