Not long ago, while going through my Instagram feed, I stumbled upon an advertisement for beautiful, locally manufactured men’s shoes. The price was within reach. So, I decided to send an enquiry. The link redirected to the company’s WhatsApp. It has been over one month since I sent the enquiry and believe it or not, I have never received a response to date. That’s just one instance. On another occasion, I was looking for Kiswahili novels for my home library. My fluency in the language has been diminishing lately and something needed to be done. I went over to the website of a leading bookshop to check what they had in store. I couldn’t see much. The options were limited. Again, I contacted the customer service via their WhatsApp to find out more about their Kiswahili book collection. Lo and behold, no reply two months since the first contact.
What’s happening?
You get the drift. I have had several negative encounters like the ones described above. Most likely I’m not alone in this world of frustrations. I believe, you too, you’ve had your fair share of disappointments. Clearly, customer service experience, at least in Kenya, can be said to be largely broken. After going through the ordeals, you may wonder, silently, why some organizations or individuals are in business. It’s perplexing, to say the least.
Indeed, most businesses are still struggling with delivering an excellent customer experience. Each has its service philosophy. Of course, no one is perfect. But some semblance of effort would be encouraging. The probable causes are as varied as the number of organizations in existence. However, a few quickly come to mind. Let’s look at the top three possible factors, in turn, briefly.
1. Low employee motivation
Motivation is the oil that drives all our actions. When staff members have low morale, the impact on customer experience is usually adversely profound. They project the negative feelings and dissatisfactions onto the customers. In the process, they cause repulsion. Perhaps, the only reason that they are at work is merely to survive. But exceptional productivity requires a fully motivated employee. Consequently, they turn to human robots devoid of any empathy and do the bare minimum just to keep their jobs. If you are having problems with customer complaints, start by checking levels of employee motivation. Often, trouble starts there. A happy employee will likely serve wholeheartedly unless they are having a bad day.
2. Lack of proper training
Most organizations and businesses overlook the aspect of proper training in customer service. Like any other professional skill, there is a fundamental need to learn and practice customer service skills. It is of relevance that organizations cultivate policies and procedures or guidelines for addressing customers across all departments. Now, if an employee is left to their own devices, and given human nature, a lot of things can go wrong. Consider, for example, handling angry or difficult clients. Situations quickly morph into smackdowns. Such scenarios usually require one to be adept at conflict management and resolution. Undeniably, without tutoring, the business is bound to have unpalatable customer experiences.
3. Hiring the Wrong Fit
Third and lastly on our shortlist is: hiring wrong staff who don’t fit into a people role that is typical of a customer service position. Largely people-oriented jobs often require a tempered personality. Put succinctly, human relations positions are not for everybody. Other than customer service, we have careers like medicine, teaching, public relations, sales, marketing, and public administration, just to mention a few. People who have anger management issues, lack self-composure, and are cold-hearted cannot perform very well in this role.
There are high chances are that you have encountered executives who fall in any of the above three categories. Obviously, there are other contributing factors, but we can’t exhaust all of them. Even so, these are some of the leading causes of poor customer service anywhere in the world. And as an SME, you need to beware. Getting customers to build a successful business is hard work. Thus, it's quite saddening to see some organizations waste great opportunities. Enough said. Now, what can you do about it?
A competitive edge
Given how low the levels of customer satisfaction have sunk overall, something needs to be done. Shrewd businesses have repurposed customer service as a competitive edge. Consistently maintaining high standards of service for thousands or even millions of clients every single time is no mean feat. It takes a great, well thought out strategy and excellent tactical execution to achieve remarkably high CX performance.
1. Conduct a customer service audit
The first point of action would be to conduct a comprehensive audit of your company’s customer service practices. This would help in determining the current state of customer experience and from it, identifying the gaps that need to be addressed. The topmost activity would be carrying out a customer satisfaction survey. Thereafter, triangulate the findings with another survey done by the staff to establish their pain points in delivering optimal customer experience.
2. Craft a customer service strategy
Knowing the gaps, you can now prepare a responsive customer service strategy that will not only improve contentment but the bottom-line indicators. Different formats exist but whichever way you decide to approach it, at least include the following: your vision and mission for customer service, goals and objectives, customer service framework & policy/standards, implementation plan, and performance evaluation procedures.
3. Roll out your freshly minted CX plan
With the plan in hand, you can now roll out your customer experience improvement initiatives. Begin by training the entire staff about the new CX plan. Contrary to the popular belief, customer service pervades the entire organization with the CX department being the principal coordinating unit. All staff must operate on the same wavelength and provide adequate control for the executives to perform their duties diligently. Eventually, the agreed standards of customer service are applied consistently to the satisfaction of the clientele. And staying on this path will move you closer to achieving unprecedented success in all dimensions.
Final Thoughts
I’d like to believe that most employees just don’t wake up to ruin an otherwise great day. Poor customer service is, in many cases, an ‘inside job’. This is to say that, how employees are treated by their supervisors plays a key role in the choice of their day-to-day attitude and behaviour. Leaders in any organization or business indirectly contribute to a larger extent the customer relations. The relationship between the top-tier management and the bottom-tier structure ought to be intimate yet professional. Through such a connection, value is appreciated, thus mirrored towards the customer’s experience. The work/business atmosphere should be a space where employees look up to spending valuable time and not just any other survival camp.
Poor customer experience can result in loss of customers and ultimately, a slump in profits. Remember, we are living in the age of ‘wokeness’. Slip-ups by organizations are not taken lightly. Incidences of negative experiences can go viral on various social media platforms within a relatively short time. Once the dust settles, you have a damaged reputation. Before you know it, your business is having a difficult time attracting clients. Certainly, myriad options exist, and a customer won’t hesitate to move to the next available business. Although exceptions may apply to monopolies in incredibly unique circumstances. Regardless, it’s a great practice for all shades of organizations. And as a budding SME, you can take advantage of the lacklustre nature of the customer service landscape in Kenya to shine and grow tremendously.
Stephen Osomba currently serves as the Lead Partner, Communication & Marketing at SMD Consulting Associates where he helps SME clients deliver value by adjusting the solutions to each company's mission, product, strategy, and industry.