Good customer service: Key to the kingdom of successful business giants

What you need to know:

Research shows that brands that have an emotional connection with their customers are more profitable.

Last week some Kenyan companies embraced Customer Service Week by showing appreciation to their customers through personalised messages and emails.

But others, such as car dealer Ryce East Africa, chose the opportunity to do more. It announced the upgrading of its service centre in Mombasa in a bid to improve customer experience.

The company’s investment in that extra level of service is likely to deliver an ample pay off in repeat purchases by its customers, according to research conducted by US research firm, Carson Research.

The research was based on the level of service a customer received and their likelihood of making a repeat purchase.

It found that when a customer received service beyond expectation, their likelihood of making a repeat purchase increased by 12 per cent, when they received no unpleasant surprises, it increased by 22 per cent, when they had a friendly interaction with an employee, it increased by 25 per cent, and when they received good service, it increased by 32 per cent.

“On the other hand, dissatisfied customers are less likely to buy again, more likely to occupy management’s time and resources and pass their negative feelings on to other customers and convince those customers not to buy from you. When customers are unhappy, your business suffers,” reported the author of the research.

The evidence is strong that good customer service develops emotional bonds between a brand and its customer that can put it ahead of its competition.

“In competitive situations, the firm that can develop the strongest emotional bond with customers tends to be the one that races ahead of others,” said Sunny Bindra, a prominent management consultant in Kenya and author of Crown Your Customer.

“Customers demand to be served properly, courteously and efficiently or they stop buying. That is precisely the emotion that could make a business a fortune.”

In Kenya, however, there is often a lack of emotional connection between customer and brand due to poor customer service.

For example, the insurance industry, which is experiencing slow growth, has the poorest customer service in Kenya, according to a survey conducted by KPMG East Africa this year.

In the first quarter of the year, the industry reported a slowdown in its year on year growth to 9.6 per cent, compared to 16.4 per cent the previous year, much of which was due to consumers’ unwillingness to buy insurance because they felt that insurers were not listening to them.

“The next generation customer wants a relationship manager who understands their needs interests and offers services that support, enhance and protect their pursuits,” said James Norman, KPMG’s East Africa market lead.

In such an industry, a slight improvement in customer service by a company can prove to be a game-changer for it in the market place.

Said Sunny Bindra: “Businesses are sitting on a goldmine in Kenya, whatever the industry. They do not have to look farther in order to find a way of being unique. Superb customer service is the feature that the country is crying out for.

If a business can provide it, it will win over an army of customers. If it can provide it, its products will in all probability be able to command a hefty price premium.

If it can provide it, it will have found the keys to the kingdom: the kingdom in which the customer reigns supreme, and in which the business owner is in full charge of the treasury coffers.”

-African Laughter