Evolve Insights

Millennials and the Customer Experience

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on May 24th 2016 Are you a millennial, working with millennials or marketing to millennials? If you are not a millennial then you are certainly working with them. Soon the millennials will be the majority at the workplace if not already. The millennial generation also often referred to as generation Y (Gen Y) is a growing customer group and more importantly forms the majority of current day frontline staff.  Many smart companies are aware of the intrigues of this generation. Generation theory creators Neil Howe and William Strauss define millennials as those individuals born between 1982 and 2004 though other sources extend the years to 1976. Therefore, the millennials are in their thirties, twenties and teens and will soon be in their 40s. Many companies across the globe are designing products and service offerings and using marketing tactics that are attractive to the millennials but some are not. The…
Dr. Lucy Kiruthu
June 1, 2016
Evolve Insights

Great Lessons We Can Learn from Safaricom on Customer Focus

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on May 17th 2016 I recall the first time I acquired a Safaricom line. I was preparing for my return having been out of the country for a little while in the early 2000s.  I requested my sister to see if it was possible to get my 1990s Kencell line back and it was then that she introduced me to Safaricom. She simply said “nowadays we do not use Kencell, we use Safaricom”. I trust my sister and with those few words she acquired a 0723 line for me. I become a Safaricom customer and have since remained loyal. As Safaricom shared the full year results last week, I reflected on personal experience with the brand.  Looking back the last 12 years there a lot we can learn from Safaricom on customer focus. As the number of customers grew, it became a nightmare for many to access the 100…
Dr. Lucy Kiruthu
June 1, 2016
Evolve Insights

Supremacy of Social Media in the New Era 

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on May 10th 2016 The voice of the customer on social media continues to get louder. As a result, social media has become a powerful tool that customers and companies alike can use to their advantage. A few days ago, I waited at the airport for pick up for more than an hour and a half. There was no information from the ground staff on the reason for the delay but every so often I would get an automated text message showing a new guest number but no indication of new pick up time.  After the long wait with no apology from the ground staff or the driver, I decided to tweet Super Shuttle all in effort to share with them some valuable feedback. I was not too sure they would respond, after all this was my first interaction with the brand and I was in a foreign country.…
Dr. Lucy Kiruthu
June 1, 2016
Evolve Insights

Choice of retail stores growing astronomically

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on May 3rd 2016 Growing up we had to travel quite a distance to purchase every day requirements. Today, at every corner of the street whether in the urban areas or the rural areas is a kiosk from which to buy basic requirements. In addition, convenience stores and large retail stores have mushroomed in the last decade making shopping easier than ever before.  If you walk around the Nairobi Central Business District (CBD) and even many of our other towns you will notice retail shops that sell similar items located right next to each other. You may also have noticed that malls are today a stone throw away from each other. Customer have a vast variety of retail shops to choose from.  The proximity of similar retail shops means that customers can easily compare prices, quality and variety before making a purchase. Additionally, customers can walk away from retail…
Dr. Lucy Kiruthu
June 1, 2016
Evolve Insights

Culture of Service Excellence Remains Elusive

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on April 26th 2016 “That is how it has always been here” “We have always done it that way” When we hear these words we need to realize that they paint the culture of the organization.  Culture as used in business encompasses shared values, beliefs, attitudes, behaviours and practices that characterize an organization. Culture has a major impact on business success and every business leader must be interested in understanding his or her organization’s culture and its impact on business success. Many organizations have gone through culture change initiatives however a culture of service excellence remains elusive to most. In the book “The Culture Engine” renowned management gurus Ken Blanchard and Chris Edmonds point out that culture drives everything that happens in an organization day to day and that culture can steer a company up or down.  The values, the attitudes, the behaviours seen in an organization are a…
Dr. Lucy Kiruthu
June 1, 2016
Evolve Insights

Do Health Care Facilities Care about Patient Experience?

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on April 19th 2016 Some of the most customer unfriendly places I have visited are health care facilities. Starting with doctors’ clinics to laboratory and imaging services providers to hospitals. The staff and medical professionals in most such facilities seem to care less about patient experience. On one hand doctors keep customers waiting and use medical jargon while on the other hand reception staff keep customers in the dark and even ignore simple hellos and goodbyes. I am certain that most of us have a story to share. Whilst there are a few facilities that are doing exceptionally well, the health care sector could be said to be lagging behind in building a reputation based on outstanding customer experiences. We all know that the top priority of a patient is to get well. In fact we all dislike being guests of medical facilities. Using inpatient services is nowhere close…
Dr. Lucy Kiruthu
June 1, 2016
Evolve Insights

Customer Trust is Built in Years but Lost in an Instant

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on April 12th 2016 As customers there are those service providers we trust dearly. We take their word as the gospel truth and believe they have our best interest at heart. This trust has been built over time, interaction after interaction the trust is cemented and the relation strengthened. We become advocates of such organizations and fight off unbelief from others. We keep going back and even introduce our family, our friends and our colleagues. We trust them because of past experiences and also what we have heard from others. This trust however can be broken in an instant. Many long serving customers have left companies that they once upon a time believed in but who they no longer can trust. Though there are some who go back after reassurance there are those whose trust is broken beyond repair. Such customers promise themselves never to eat at a certain…
Dr. Lucy Kiruthu
June 1, 2016