Evolve Insights

Quality of Managers Key to Quality of Service

As it appeared in the daily nation of August 11th 2015 by Lucy Kiruthu We may know of organizations that proactively develop their managers to enhance their managerial skills and to make them better leaders. These organizations invest time and money on specific leadership and managerial skills and more often than not they get a return on their investment. Improvements in productivity, in performance, in staff engagement, in innovation, in customer satisfaction etc are realized as a result of the high quality managers. Unfortunately though, investments in developing managers across the organization are not commonplace. Many other organizations spend little or no effort to raise the competence levels of their management team and yet expect them to perform well.  It is no wonder that management practices of the 19th century that focused on basic delivering of a good or a service are still widely witnessed in many of our organizations today. Any student of business has…
Dr. Lucy Kiruthu
October 31, 2015
Evolve Insights

Why we should not wait till the last minute.

As it appeared in the daily nation of August 4th 2015 by Lucy Kiruthu The Kidero grass phenomenon got many of us talking on social media. I am certain that the grass was not in readiness for the Pope’s visit nor was it to beautify Nairobi for its esteemed everyday residents. Many recounted that the grass was under so much pressure to turn green in just three days, in readiness for the Obama homecoming. Why was the grass not planted in good time? Many of us that made fun of the Kidero grass are not much different. We postpone certain tasks till the last minute. We delay writing our term papers till the last week of the semester. Despite having the instructions from week 1, many students prefer staying up all night a few days to the due day. We go shopping on the day the guests are visiting and we arrive for meetings late or…
Dr. Lucy Kiruthu
October 31, 2015
Evolve Insights

Lack of Customers is scary to a business

As it appeared in the daily nation of July 28th 2015 by Lucy Kiruthu Assume you are in a new neighbourhood. You go into an unfamiliar hotel and notice that it is deserted. It is lunch time and you are the only guest and it seems there is not much activity, would you stay for lunch? Possibly not. I would not. Even if the hotel staff tried to beg you to stay you might not be comfortable. Like many customers we like to interact with familiar business or at least businesses frequented by other customers.  To a business too, lack of customers can be frightening, it is possibly the scariest business occurrence. Without enough customers, business have difficulties making ends meets. It becomes unsustainable to run a business because customers bring in the much needed revenues to finance the operations. Most businesses keep track of their customers. They know their most important customers. The founders never…
Dr. Lucy Kiruthu
October 31, 2015
Evolve Insights

Why I Choose Kenya

As it appeared in the daily nation of July 21st 2015 by Lucy Kiruthu This week many investors and visitors from around the world will be in Nairobi for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2015 (GES2015). Many of us keen on business are aware about this global event.  Some of these investors and visitors will be visiting Kenya for the first time while others have been here previously.  It has been reported that all the five-star hotels in Nairobi are fully booked. In addition to staying at the hotels and attending the summit it is likely that some of those coming for the Summit will visit other places in Kenya. More importantly they will interact with many Kenyans from all walks of life from housekeeping staff, to waiters, to security officers, to drivers, to airport staff, to entrepreneurs, to company executives and the political class. What is their experience going to be like? Many upgrades have been…
Dr. Lucy Kiruthu
October 31, 2015
Evolve Insights

Customer Service in Higher Education

As it appeared in the daily nation of July 14th 2015 by Lucy Kiruthu Are there some customer service principles that institutions of higher education in Kenya can apply to improve the student experience? Like some of you, I went through the Kenyan public university system for my undergraduate studies. As government sponsored students, we had very few expectations if any.  I do not recall expecting a course outline, particular course text or even information on recommended textbooks. In addition, we did not expect that lecturers would alert us when unavailable for class. What I recall is that we would call off the class ourselves after a lengthy wait. All we expected was to complete our studies within 4 years. A few years after this experience I had an entirely different experience in the USA when going through a Masters program. There was a well outlined course outline with clear learning outcomes and course details. In…
Dr. Lucy Kiruthu
October 31, 2015
Evolve Insights

Join the Fight against Counterfeit Products

As it appeared in the daily nation of July 7th 2015 by Lucy Kiruthu Have you ever felt cheated? You possibly bought an item that you thought was the real deal only to later figure out that it was a poor quality counterfeit. Counterfeits have been a global problem for years and their threat in Kenya is evident. A counterfeit or a fake product is an imitation that is made with the intent of fraudulently passing off as a genuine product. The spread of counterfeit products across the globe has put the consumers at risk and at the mercy of the rogue retailers, distributors and manufacturers. It has also put many companies in unfair competition with poor quality counterfeits that are not easy to differentiate from genuine products.  I believe that quite often Kenyan customers knowingly or unknowingly buy a wide range of counterfeits. I recall once buying a tracksuit that I thought was a genuine…
Dr. Lucy Kiruthu
October 31, 2015
Evolve Insights

Striving for Excellence in Service

As it appeared in the daily nation of June 30th 2015 Lucy Kiruthu Many of us are thrilled when we watch a great football game or the Olympics or the Marathon or the Super bowl. We observe with awe as the sports men and women put their best foot forward. A few days ago we celebrated our national women's volleyball team after they beat Algeria to win the African Nations Championship.  The coach at an interview on NTV said that they were very well prepared physically and mentally. The same could be said of an excellent student, a distinguished staff, a great manager or successful business. Like winning, excellence is never an accident, it is intentional. It is always as a result of putting a little more effort time and again. More than three decades ago, Tom Peters and Robert Waterman published the book “In Search of Excellence”. In the book, they shared insights on eight characteristics of…
Dr. Lucy Kiruthu
July 3, 2015
Evolve Insights

Of Pharmacies and Customer Service

As it appeared in the daily nation of June 23rd 2015 Lucy Kiruthu Once in a while, I run errands refilling my mom’s prescriptions. I often wish some Pharmacies would do home delivery or even allow a re-order on phone, on email or online for collection at a convenient location. I have had varied experiences with different pharmacies some located at hospitals, others at malls, others at the Nairobi Central Business District and even some upcountry. What has been evident is that there is nothing outstanding about the level of customer interaction at most pharmacies. Worse still is that none of the pharmacies I have ever interacted with has a system of capturing the prescriptions for ease of reordering. Reordering is not the only concern; many of the front line staff at the pharmacies seem uninterested. Why do they not show any sign of empathy? Do they understand that most of their customers or patients are…
Dr. Lucy Kiruthu
July 3, 2015
Evolve Insights

The New Era of Customer Development

As it appeared in the daily nation of June 16th 2015 Lucy Kiruthu I once took up a sales role. Like many in sales, I was expected to close deals and bring in the business.  However, unlike many sales people, I had the luxury of picking a title which I was most comfortable with. The title I choose was rather unusual; I opted for Customer Development Director. Initially there was the proposal to consider Business Development but I did not find it fitting and neither did sales and marketing director interest me. But what exactly is customer development? Could it be akin to conversion, to sales or even to business development? Recently, I came across Steve Blank a key proponent of customer development. Steve a serial entrepreneur in Silicon Valley and an entrepreneurship professor at Stanford University looks at customer development as the process that start-ups should adopt in building their business. He proposes the lean…
Dr. Lucy Kiruthu
July 3, 2015
Evolve Insights

What Makes Customers Loyal?

As it appeared in the daily nation of June 9th  2015 Lucy Kiruthu Is getting customers a hard task? What about keeping them? What makes customers want to come back? What makes them want to tell others about you?  These are questions that many in business ponder. Loyal customers are often seen to have two tendencies; they come back and they bring others with them.  Businesses that pride themselves with many loyal customers find it easier to do business. On the contrary, businesses that keep losing customers have to work much harder to get new customers to replace those that leave.  As customers what is it that makes us loyal to some businesses and not to others. Today, I share with you 4 insights that I believe drive customer loyalty across different businesses. Deliver Value First, customers become loyal when they see value in the products and services they use.  As customers we find it worthwhile…
Dr. Lucy Kiruthu
July 3, 2015