Customer Service and its Effect on Business
Customers are the most important recipe in a business and looking after them is essential to your success.
Without the customers (clients to some), there can be no business. Customers are necessary for a business to grow.
This might sound very drastic but customers can make or break your business and it is very important for your employees to understand this principle. Now what does this principle really mean:
- The traffic you encountered on your way to work shouldn’t affect your work
- The crazy hangover that’s causing that horrible headache, shouldn’t affect your work. Etc
Basically, your personal life shouldn’t interfere with your professional life. Not that your problems don’t matter, you just can’t allow it ruin the work. If the business thrives, you get paid on time, you’re able to grow with the company etc.
Now in Lagos, customer service is not necessarily a “thing.” In the sense that everyone is here hustling and trying to make do and they could care less whether the customer is happy or not. That being said, things are changing and slowly we are starting to see the evolution of service in various industries.
Take for example, Cafe neo. They have done a pretty good job training their workers. You walk into almost any location (I’ve visited almost all so I know) and they greet you with a smile , some even ask about your day or remember your name from the last time you were there. E for effort really. We understand that it’s not easy to keep a smile on your face everyday as life may be throwing lemons at you, but at your work place you are required to be on your best behaviour. This is coming from someone who has worked in the service industry for about 5 years now and understands the value of keeping customers happy.
MAX is taking things to a whole new level. Training champions to be exactly what that name stands for and rewarding their efforts. Excelling in all round service. Getting your deliveries to you in time and keeping you happy and calling again. At MAX, our customers are important to us. Our customers here include: our merchants as well as the people we deliver to. This service extends to marketing side of things. Speaking to customers via social media networks, email etc. It’s important to never forget that you are always creating an impression and one wrong move can leave a sour taste for a while.
As a business, it’s inevitable that you’ll receive a few bad complaints but what’s important is how you handle them. Once your customer is happy with your work, it almost always comes with loyalty. This is especially true for Nigerians. We love to talk and we spread information so quickly. If Aunty Bunmi receives bad service from her nail salon just one time, she’ll tell Aunty Tola and Sade during their next coffee date and might even forget all the other good days she’s had at the salon. From there, Aunty Tola and Sade will now decide not to go there to do their nails and will find somewhere else to go or be really skeptical about coming to your salon. What’s happened here? You’ve automatically lost 1 customer and 2 potential customers.
The concept of customer service seems so small and unimportant yet it’s the opposite of that. MAX makes sure to consistently deliver above and beyond your expectations. Happy customers = Happy MAX!
