Evolve Insights

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on January 12th 2016 Lucy Kiruthu Do you ever visit a hospital, a restaurant or a supermarket or call an airline, a bank or an internet services provider and choose not to give them your valuable feedback? Why do we often withhold such important feedback? A few customers that I spoke to indicated that the number one reason they do not give feedback is because they suspect it will not be valued. “Will anything really change as a result of my feedback?” One customer retorted. Despite customer feedback being a key business driver most service providers are indifferent about it. Indeed most frontline staff can confirm that nothing often changes as a result of customer feedback. Most managers seem to have a hate/love relationship with customer feedback. This makes it extremely difficult for businesses to benefit fully from valuable customer feedback. Many organizations operate in the dark. Most feedback…

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on January 5th 2016 Lucy Kiruthu Happy New Year! Does 2016 provide us with an opportunity to get better? Possibly yes. Every New Year is a new opportunity. The beginning of a new one particularly provides us with an opportunity to reflect deeply on the past year. During such reflections, we are able to identify what we did extremely well, what we need to improve and most importantly what we learnt along the way. The customer experience is at the centre of our businesses’ existence and survival. At every opportunity a Smart Company must yearn to make their customers’ experiences better. Smart Companies know that the customer experience is critical in retaining the customers and even in attracting new ones. They as such pay attention to the overall customer experience. They serve their customers in a way that makes them feel important, appreciated, respected, cared for, happy etc.  For…

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on Dec 29th 2015 Lucy Kiruthu Many retailers are smiling all the way to the bank like they often do same time every year.  Retailers such as supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, bookstores, general shops, petrol stations and many others are having their best season. This is because many Kenyans often go on some sort of shopping frenzy during this time of the year. For many, it is time to celebrate with family, friends, colleagues, customers, partners and the like and this celebration involves some transaction. The process of transacting can either be a delight or a pain to the customer. Most of the delight and the pain of the shopping experience is evident. The delight adds to the joyous moments of the celebrations whether Christmas, New Year or back to school.  No doubt that all the transactions done during these celebrations leave a dent in many pockets. This is possibly…

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on Dec 22nd 2015 Lucy Kiruthu Every Christmastime I like to write about joy and I do not tire because the world would be very dull without an ounce of joy. Christmas is in a few days, for many it will bring with it considerable joy. For others the joyous moments will be a missed opportunity and yet for others there may be no reason to celebrate.  The kind of joy that I have a keen interest in is however different. It does not need to wait till Christmastime. It is a special kind of joy; the joy of service. This joy that results when we serve one another every day, at home, in the office, in school, in our neighbourhoods, for our country and just about everywhere.  This service may be as a result of duty or it may be voluntary. Dictionary.com defines the word service in 29…

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on Dec 15th 2015 Lucy Kiruthu I have been reading Bossidy and Charan book titled Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done. As I have read it together with other material on the subject of execution, I have realized just how much organizations are struggling with putting strategy or plans into action. On the contrary, considerable amount of time is being spent putting together very good strategies most of which are never implemented. Why is execution so difficult? Why is it such a daunting task for executives to lead their organizations into doing what they have planned to do? Most organizations want their customers to be satisfied, they want them to come back and spend more, they want them to tell others about their good experiences and so on. All these are indeed very good intentions, but good intentions are not adequate if they are not followed by action.…

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on Dec 8th 2015 Lucy Kiruthu I recall with nostalgia the trips to Uchumi AgahKhan walk and a ride back to Buruburu on Matatu number 23 with a whole month shopping neatly stacked in brown bags. That is as far back as I can remember shopping at Uchumi. I really liked it because I would always find everything on my shopping list. More than a decade and a half later, so much has changed. Uchumi has gone in and out of receivership and then back to empty shelves and is once again trying to rise up.  The main question is – will Uchumi win back its once loyal customers? Just like the new CEO of Uchumi Supermarkets I am a very optimistic person. I believe anything is possible. There is a possibility that Uchumi could get back to its feet. Winning back lost customers though is not an easy…

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on Dec 1st 2015 Lucy Kiruthu It is 10 years since Google launched Google analytics the most widely used website statistics service. Every click of the mouse is an opportunity for Google to harvest data from millions of internet users.  Just imagine how massive such data is and more importantly how useful it can be to a business.  The more I take a keen interest in data, the more I realize just how important customer data is to the customer experience. It is just amazing how many smart organizations are using data both small and big to attract and retain their customers as well as make important business decisions. Why are some businesses not using data to improve their customer experiences? Why would a bank not be aware of its peak hours and plan accordingly? Why does a supermarket not stock enough milk on the day it is expected…

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on Nov 24th 2015 Lucy Kiruthu For those whose financial year is ending in December, the planning period is almost coming to the end. A key activity of this planning process has been the approval of the 2016 budgets. The process of getting this done is daunting. I recall having to put in so many hours to get the figures for the department I was heading in tandem with the sort of projected financial statements that the finance team needed when I was in mainstream corporate Kenya. In the midst of all the financial planning, it is very easy to forget to put plans in place that address customer retention and loyalty. Customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention do not just happen. They require putting in place a plan that addresses a key player in the organization’s income statement.  Such planning ahead requires a good understanding of the customer from…

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on Nov 17th 2015 Lucy Kiruthu Most frontline staff that have attended my training session have one thing in common, they want to learn how to deal with the rude customer. One of the things I always quickly point out to them is that only a few customers are rude.  In addition, most are rude possibly because they are dissatisfied though they must not be rude. I have witnessed interactions where the customer was rude and in almost all instances the rudeness was ignited by the staff.  Does a customer need to be rude to get better service or to pass across a point? I abhor rudeness; in fact I do not even understand it. Why would anyone be rude? I think people who are often rude need some sort of help. Possibly they need to see a psychotherapist or better still they need to leave their rudeness in…

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on Nov 10th 2015 Lucy Kiruthu The customer experience continues to receive overwhelming spotlight from across business circles. Most executives globally are today interested in the customer experience more than ever before. They recognize that the customer is not only contributing to the top line but is also crucial for the long-term survival of the business.  In addition, such executives know too well that the customer has a choice and if growing expectations are not met, customer attrition maybe evident. This new era of the Customer experience can simply be described by VUCA the term coined by the US army to mean a Volatility, Ambiguity, Complexity and Uncertainty. Customer expectations keep changing; they are vague and are indeed hard to comprehend. What one customer wants is not what another one wants. As a result many organizations across the globe have learnt to be agile and many are treating each…