Evolve Insights

As it appeared in the daily nation of March 24th 2015 Lucy Kiruthu Like many customers the fact that I often have a choice gives me freedom. I am free to choose what supermarket to go to, which restaurant to go to, where to bank. There are a few times that we may have no choice. We may be invited to a certain restaurant or a certain item may only be available at a certain shop or only a particular airline goes to a certain destination. Such instances where customers have no choice are rare. The marketplace in Kenya has grown substantially in the last 2 decades. Industries providing either products or services or both have expanded with many players providing a choice to Kenyans. The banking sector for example is headed towards maturity. The competition is becoming stiffer with many players reaching out to the same pool of customers. Many Kenyans today have multiple bank…

As it appeared in the daily nation of March 17th 2015 Who has ever mystery shopped their business whether in person, on phone, on email or via a mystery customer? An article that appeared in the November 2011 Harvard Business Review outlined how office depot’s former president for North America Kevin Peters used mystery shopping to spark a turnaround in the company. In a faded pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and a baseball cap Peters visited 70 branches to experience Office Depot in the same way customers did. As an undercover customer, Peters is said to have had unbelievable observations. The article says that at one store he watched an employee argue with a customer. At another store he watched a manager smoke a cigar less bothered that customers walked out empty handed, at that point he could not remain undercover. The company which serves consumers and businesses in 57 countries across the globe has more…

As it appeared in the daily nation of March 10th 2015 As a customer, I often wish there was another competing organization that provides electricity. I would have a choice and possibly power supply would be 100% assured.  Other customers wish there was another pay TV showing super sport because they believe they might pay a little less than they currently pay. As customers we get devastated when we have no choice. Fortunately though, in most cases we have a choice. We have hotels, supermarkets, banks, petrol stations, hospitals, garages, saloons, schools etc next to each other. Some may or may not consider each other as competitors based on who their target market is.  Those that have the same target are without doubt in competition. They are competing for the customers’ attention and money. A customer’s purchase decision is influenced by so many different factors. Some customers look at product or service quality; others look at…

As it appeared in the daily nation of March 3rd 2015 Lucy Kiruthu I recall as a young professional listening to the then KCB Managing Director Terry Davidson walk us through the KCB story at a leadership forum a decade ago. Davidson was talking about the transformation that was happening in the bank. One of my key takeouts was that there was a sense of urgency. This was not because Davidson and his Deputy Martin Odour were following Dr Kotter’s 8 step Change management process whose first step is to create a sense of urgency. Not exactly, the bank was then in dire need of change for survival. These memories were evoked during last week’s announcement of the bank’s 2014 results. There is no doubt that the bank like many other organizations has made considerable progress and is up to this day still evolving. Leading change means taking charge of the change process and coming out…

As it appeared in the daily nation of February 24th 2015 Lucy Kiruthu How often do Customer Service news make it to the headlines? For example; thousands of customers not happy with the continued power outages or students hold a press conference to complain about long wait for exam results or customers boycott hotel following numerous complaints about the quality of food or bank launches state of the art customer contact centre to respond to increased social media requests or it now only takes a maximum of 2 minutes to check out at the store down from an average of 15minutes last year. Despite such stories not getting regular business news numerous changes continue to happen in the world of customer service.   Today’s customer is different in many ways. He is more informed about product quality, about pricing and even about his rights. Many customers today will compare prices online, send email requests to multiple…

As it appeared in the daily nation of February 17th 2015 Lucy Kiruthu More than 50 years ago, discussions around strategy started. Many organizations have gone through the strategic planning cycles and others have strategic management in action guiding their everyday activities. The benefits of having a strategy have been applauded by many managers. In Kenya, strategies have informed overall corporate direction as well as the customer service courses of action in leading organizations. This has been most evident in the last decade and is considered by many as a source of competitive advantage. Many Medium Enterprises (MEs) however still wrestle with the need to be strategic in their customer service approach.  Many have left it to chance and although a few have succeeded many may struggle with customer retention and attraction into the future. Being strategic is different things to different people but at the core of strategic customer service are better customer experiences and…

As it appeared in the daily nation of February 10th 2015 Lucy Kiruthu A recruiter once said that I had overused the word customer on my CV. Interestingly this made me the best candidate for a customer service role 10 years ago. The use of the word only reflected who I had become; a customer service champion.  This status has not changed much, 5 years into management consultancy and training my world revolves around my customers. Today, the realization that my customer is my employer is closer home than ever before. Does everyone realize how important customers are to their company? Irrespective of the industry, the customer remains core to any organization’s existence. Teams in sales and marketing bring in new customers and retain existing ones. Finance teams seek to maintain a healthy income statement whose top line is the revenue collected from customers. Human resources practitioners aim to develop staff who serve the customers. Those…

As it appeared in the daily nation of February 3rd 2015 Lucy Kiruthu When Dave Corroll the Canadian musician sung the widely talked about protest song “United Breaks Guitars 1” he possibly never imaged that it would get to the current over 14 million views on YouTube.  It does not matter that Dave sang a second and even a third version of the song soon after, his first release was the greatest hit in the customer service arena. The song has attracted lots of interest and it gave Dave the much needed attention from United Airlines. In the process, Dave become a customer service crusader and by the time he was done being mad at United as he says in his third song, he hoped that United would change. He pointed out to the fact that there were many other customers who did not write a song but shared their frustration elsewhere. The song “United Breaks…

As it appeared in the daily nation of January 27th 2015 Lucy Kiruthu Should sales own the customer experience or should it be marketing? Better still, why should customer service not fully own the customer experience? Why not operations, or information Technology, the CEO or even the customer? Does anyone have control over the customer experience or has the customer experience become like a hot potato being tossed from department to department and from person to person sometimes even landing on the customer’s lap.  Who must own the customer experience? For years, organizations have talked about being customer focused or customer centric in the boardroom. Many sales managers have put their full weight behind these conversations. In addition, organizations have in recent years invested heavily in customer care centres, customer service training, customer relationship management and customer feedback systems among other efforts to improve their customer experience. Today, most chief executive officers, sales and marketing directors,…

Every day we have numerous interactions with our customers and our colleagues. These interactions can have either a positive or negative impact. Today I share 5 lessons that make a difference when we interact with one another. Be Respectful Jackie Robinson once said “I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me... All I ask is that you respect me as a human being” Every human being craves for respect; respecting oneself and others is a basic necessity in life. Being respectful is an important aspect in maintaining good interpersonal relationships and it means many different things. It means showing consideration for others, listening to what they have to say, having regard for their space, time and opinions, being sensitive, being courteous and being polite among others. Being respectful shows that we care about how others people feel. When we respect each other we lessen the conflicts and enjoy more harmonious interactions. When we respect ourselves…