The Service HAWK

28/03/2022

Calling all PY based enterprises:

13/12/2021

02/11/2021

Business leadership 101:
Leaders are responsible for creating the service ambiance, employees only radiate it to the clients!

10/10/2021

(As published on the Botswana Guardian-October 8 2021)

COMPLAINTS MANAGEMENT: WHY CUSTOMERS MAY CHOOSE NOT TO COMPLAIN?

Research has shown that of the customers who register complaints, between 54% and 70% will do business again with the same company if their complaints are resolved. The figure rises to 95% if the customer feels that their complaint was resolved promptly (Albrecht & Zemke 1985)

This is a very good indicator and prompts that companies engage in good customer complaints procedures as they have a direct impact on their client base. Just on one complaint a company may keep or lose a client depending on how they handle the complaint.
Although customers are highly encouraged to register complaints, we have cases where clients may choose not to register their dissatisfaction at all. In today’s brief edition we look at some of the common reason why clients may choose NOT to complain:

(1)They do not know how to register a complaint: Many customers would naturally not know the company’s complaints procedures. This basically puts them in a bad space to start the process lest they are caught off guard on the grounds that they did not engage the right procedures. Companies are encouraged to be as much transparent as possible to display in their lobbies their complaints procedures so that clients can easily see them. In one of my visits around, I saw the complaints process framed in an old setting and basically hidden in a dark corner.

(2)They believe complaining will be useless because the company doesn’t care about them or their complaints: Most clients feel this way more especially for big enterprises that have many clients. The feeling here is that the company has many clients and therefore their contribution as individual clients is not recognised. Companies are encouraged to engage in good customer experience management practices and focus on building client loyalty so that clients experience a personalised service.

(3)They believe it is not worth their time or trouble: The client feels here why bother? Customers will prefer just walking out and seeking the same service next door. Most of the clients who fall in this category are busy clients who feel they do not have time to complain.

(4)Customers fear retribution or victimisation: Customers may feel that they may be targets of victimisation if they complain. Some will feel that they no longer be welcome at the same business or they make some staff lose their jobs. Customers have to be taught of the value that is realised out of complaining so that these myths are taken care of.

In short it becomes a priceless exercise for any business to emphasise that complaints are a critical part of their business. Clients have to be encouraged to complain and engage the right channels so that problems can be addressed for good customer service to prevail.

Phirinyane Moreri
Independent Service Consultant
Client Max Services (Pty) Ltd
[email protected]

04/10/2021

Monday Motivation

13/09/2021

(As originally published on the Botswana Guardian-10 Sept 2021)

WHY CUSTOMERS MAY BECOME DIFFICULT TO DEAL WITH?

In one of our previous articles, we looked at strategies for handling difficult customers. But from another point of view, some clients felt this was not a complete engagement as we did not address the elephant in the room. The elephant in the room is, why do customers become difficult to deal with? It becomes important to deal with this question so that we use this as mitigating factors to avoid clients becoming difficult in the first place.

In this edition we look at some of the possible cases that will make customers difficult to handle. A lot of narratives have been advanced but we will look at a few and provide insights:

(1)Dissatisfaction with the company’s systems and procedures: One observation is that service providers do not always engage the client and make them aware of the systems and procedures while assisting them. They only use the systems and procedures as a last resort to their defence when there is a complaint. In most cases our clients are not aware of these procedures .Companies should make their policies transparent and available to clients. In fact customer centricity guides that clients should be put at the forefront when drafting and implementing service procedures.

(2)Being given wrong or inaccurate information: This is the most common factors that lead to difficult clients. In most cases information on products and services and turnaround times should be made as accurate as possible. If the service provider is not sure about the information, it is better to verify first before giving out any information. The result is that if a client turns around and finds that this information was not true, they will in most cases throw tantrums and prove difficult to handle. It then becomes critical to provide verified information and realistic turnaround times to avoid such cases.

(3)Limited company resources: Resources such as staffing are critical for the provision of good customer service. In some cases some companies may operate with skeletal staff because of a variety of issues. This then makes service provision very difficult. The recent case of Covid 19 provides a perfect example. Two or more front officers may be on isolation at the same time and there will be long queues. This will mean that clients have to be in the queue for a long time and this makes them agitated. Companies should make a provision for such cases in their operations. It’s also important to engage the clients and make them aware of the staffing challenges at periodic intervals when they are waiting on the queue.

(4)Bad past client experiences: If a client has had a bad experience with the organisation before and it was not properly handled and closed, such clients will always carry the experience whenever they visit the company. This may make them difficult to handle. It then becomes important to ensure that customer complaints are well handled and closed timely to avoid such cases.

Phirinyane Moreri
Independent Service Consultant
Client Max Services (Pty) Ltd
[email protected]

07/09/2021

Happy Tuesday!

23/08/2021

22/08/2021

(As published on the Botswana Guardian-Friday 20 August 2021)

POLICY & PROCEDURE-THE MISSING BLOCK IN START UPS?

Internal control is a critical function in any business. The primary purpose of internal control is to safeguard a company and its objectives. Internal control helps to protect assets, ensure compliance and adherence to regulations and rules.

One basic strategy of building up a robust internal control structure is to set up policy and procedure in the business. Business policies and procedure will guide operations and ensure that what is done is according to what has been agreed and laid down in our operations manual. Deviance from policy should accordingly attract relevant correctional procedures at all levels so that compliance is maintained.

Now I had a very interesting discussion with another entrepreneur this past week. His observation was that in most cases, we set up businesses and leave out policies from this infant stage. Our businesses then grow in staffing, capacity, turnover and eventually outgrow our operations .At this time it then becomes difficult to rope in business procedures. You will find that in most cases we have to rope in consultants to help us derive and implement business strategy including policies. The common defence is that at that earlier stage, these policies and procedures were not needed because the business was still small and in fact all critical decision making was centered on the business owner.Infact the entrepreneur at this stage is mostly consumed in crafting and executing their dream.

The bone of contention now becomes are policies important for business at its early stages? What are the pros of setting up good business models at start up stage? Ideally to better digest this, it will be easier to discuss common procedural breaches that exist in the early stages of startups, in fact two will suffice.

The first one involves recruitment and staffing. At early stages of the business, we all appreciate that finances are pretty much difficult. The common practice here is that recruitment and HR procedures are often compromised. The business will generally employ resources basing on what they can afford. Friends and relatives are often roped in to help under no contractual agreements. Equally, staff contracts and role objectives will generally be overlooked.HR conflicts often arise as the business grows and without policy, managing these is very difficult and the business is often at risk.

The second one is controls around cash and finances. Because most startups are personally funded, most entrepreneurs make the mistake that they can use the business finances easily for their own personal needs. There is normally no controls guarding cash handling and the owner’s personal expenditures. Often banking and cash records are hardly kept. The risk here is that it becomes difficult to assess comprehensively the business financial position and growth. Even when financial assistance is required, it’s hard to ascertain how much and funding justification becomes hard.

There are various other breaches that can be tabled but the prime objective of this writing is to stress that robust policy and procedure are very important at the early stages of startups. It now becomes paramount that business modelling is explored and policies set up. Implementing this will surely reduce the rate of startup failures to take off or crumbling at growth stages.

Phirinyane Moreri
Independent Service Consultant
Client Max Services
[email protected]

08/08/2021

This three part article was written during my mandatory 10 days Covid Isolation.I wish to thank everyone who took care and supported me during this difficult period.

NET PROMOTER SCORE (NPS): WHY CUSTOMERS SELL OR DE-CAMPAIGN YOUR BUSINESS? (PART 1!)

The basics of customer service guide that when a client is not satisfied about the service they received, they should complain. Likewise if they were served well, they should openly appreciate. Unfortunately this does not always hold. Most clients will leave unhappy and then go to vent on social media. Today’s social media age has made this very easy for clients , I have seen many tweets and face book posts of clients lamenting on bad service received. The other side of the coin is, there are few who will post about excellent service.

Now the question is do both this clients who growl and de campaign us and those who positively advocate for the company make any difference on our brand image? Do we have to manage both this clients? To do this we have to employ one principle called the Net Promoter Score (NPS).In this two part writing we will look at the basics of NPS, its definition and then proceed to an in-depth exercise of segmenting the clients into Promoters, Passives and Detractors. We will also look at how the NPS is calculated and its applications.

The NPS is a metric used in customer experience procedures to measure customer satisfaction and loyalty. This metric was first developed by Baine and Company in 2003 and is now used by many organisations around the world. The basics of NPS revolve around one question: How likely are you to recommend our company/ product/service to a friend/relative /colleague. A client will then give a rating from 0(lowest) to 10(highest) depending on their perception of the company. Using these ratings clients will either be categorised into 3 groups: Detractors, Passives and Promoters.

Promoters will score ratings of 9 and 10.These are loyal and enthusiastic clients who are satisfied with our products or service and will spread a good word about us. Passives are scores of 7 or 8.Such are happy but will not fall in the promoters’ category. The last category is detractors who form a lot that score us 0 to 6.This forms unhappy clients who will in most cases de-campaign us
Now that we have the basics, in the next installment we will look at how to calculate the NPS and its applications as well as how to apply this principle in a business set up.

Phirinyane Moreri
Client Max Services
Independent Service Consultant