Customercentrix

It’s a new year, and as expected, businesses are re-assuring customers of their renewed commitment to serve them better. This, as you would know, includes businesses who have unresolved issues with customers from the just concluded year; but this new year statement of commitment is a trend, so, we all play along. It’s quite sad that in over 6 months of transacting with businesses of different sizes in different sectors in Nigeria, since my return, I am yet to come across excellent service. This is not to say I haven’t noticed any improvement in service delivery but, the customer-centricity factor is still lacking. Business owners brag about how sophisticated their products and services are, and even liken them to what obtains in western countries. They encourage customers to patronize Made in Nigeria products (I support this because it helps the Nigerian economy) but, I still maintain that they still don’t get it. The Nigerian business environment is different, presen...

The way you make a customer feel about you and your business or the company you work for determines if they would buy from you. We really cannot do business without the right impression. Customer courtesy is a vital component of customer experience and a determinant of customer satisfaction. It is the respect you accord customers as recognition of their value to your business. Many businesses display beautifully worded and framed service charters but act contrary because they lack the knowledge of customer courtesy and its benefit to their business or just choose to be non-chalant. Regardless of what side of the coin a business belongs to, customer experience stands a huge chance of being distasteful without customer courtesy. The common practice in non-customercentric firms is that the service charter remains the dream of management while the employees do as they please. Right from the very moment customers start seeking a business to patronize in your niche, or get attracted t...

Many businesses unknowingly communicate their ineffectiveness and point their customers to their competitors when they discuss issues that are not the customers' business with the customers. Businesses deal with a lot of issues in their business environment and their ability to manage these issues either put them ahead of their competitors (competitive advantage) or point their customers to the competitors. It is ridiculous to hear business owners shift the blame of service errors to their employees in the presence of customers; most times with the aim of saving their faces and making their employees look ineffective, they fail to realize that they are only exposing their lack of good business management practices. While small and medium scale businesses are viable sources of growth for a nation's economy, sole proprietors must know when to employ capable hands to carry out key business roles as the business grows. Most sole proprietors assume roles they know they ar...

Every business has an unwritten contract of trust with customers that patronize them. The trust contract includes such agreements like: The product or service you are rendering is what you say it is  It is of the quality you say it is It has the features you say it has It renders the benefits you say it offers It is as durable as you say it is …. Much more than the formal contracts we sign with clients, the unwritten trust contract fosters loyalty. It registers your business as a dependable brand in the sub-conscious of your customers . It makes your business the first name that comes to mind when your product or service is needed. Need we say more about the ills you bring on your business when the contract of trust is breached? Some customers might fall victim of the falsehood you have laced your business with, but sooner than you expect, the unsuspecting customer becomes aware of your falsehood and they switch to your competitors. The best advert or pr...

IS HYGIENE ASSURED IN YOUR PREFERRED FAST FOOD OUTLET? Hygiene is one factor of life that all humans need take seriously; as we all know, health is wealth. What we eat and drink, what we wear, the environment we live in and those who are responsible for the preparation and hygiene of these things all contribute to our health. Our question to customers is: Is your health assured in that fast food outlet you visit? For owners of these businesses, our question is: Are your customers' health in safe hands when they patronize you? Who is the best custodian of an adult's health if not the adult?Unfortunately, the societies we live in entrust our safeties in these outlets to the hands of governmental health officials.The best the customer gets in terms of hygiene assurance is a beautifully framed customer service charter and a clean waiting area.  Don't we all know that the major measure of hygiene is in the sourcing of products and their preparation?Why then is the back ...

Many businesses get caught up in the technicalities and frenzy of the industries they belong to till they forget how to communicate with their customers.  Customer communication doesn't just happen . It's the p roduct of a conscious effort of observation and study.   Before we go too far? When was the last time you spent a day engaging your customers to connect with them? Or if it's a large company, how conscious are your customer service employees in studying the customers. Many businesses lose relevance too soon because they let go of the little things that mean so much . Ever tried speaking like a child to connect with a customer's child at your store, ever gotten the attention of a fly teenager by speaking using the latest slang. Business is not for the rigid. Get out of the 'you -zone' because it's not about you but your customers. Stimulated? Let Customercentrix help you out! Call now: +27 847084715

Are you a business owner who feels your customers don't have a glimpse of how much you are offering them? It can be frustrating to be putting in much more than the competition and the customers don't just see it. They don't understand. Do I hear you say clearly, they just  prefer the competition to you.  L et's get this straight, do you really think you are doing your customers a favour by offering them so much? (Great quality at a cheap price) How then could they be so unappreciative when the competition won't even go half the length you go to get them satisfied? No business is doing customers a favour by offering them the world; customers are rather doing you a whole world of favours by deciding to patronize you. Buying and selling of products and services all operate under the principles of perception ; customers buy based on their perception and you sell based on your perception. Call it your calculation if you so choose, it is still your perception. You...