The Lion King | 23
Customer Service
Don’t tell me
how great you
are, show me!
By Omotola Balogun
T
he affordability of social me-
dia integrated gadgets has
increased the penetration
and adoption of social media
across the globe and this has
greatly affected the pace at
which information spreads. Now,
anyone, anywhere can get first-
hand news as it breaks, online,
real-time.
This has also made it easy for cus-
tomers to quickly take to social
media to show their frustration
at poor customer service which
can easily go viral on the social
media space creating serious
reputational risk and damage for
brands and brand managers.
In this era, one remote, poorly
treated customer can undo years
of hard work put into building a
great brand and this has raised
the need for a 360-degree view
to customer service manage-
ment.
A 360 degree Customer Service
or Relationship Management
(CRM) is typically defined as
providing everyone in the organi-
zation with a consistent view of
the customer. It is being customer
centric while approaching the
customer’s needs and wants at
every customer service touch
point.
Being customer-centric means
viewing the customer, as not just
an account holder but under-
standing the customer’s point of
view and respecting the cus-
tomer’s interest. You fix problems,
handle complaints, and remem-
ber individual customer prefer-
ences.
Good customer service is all
about bringing customers into
the business and sending them
away happy; happy enough to
give positive feedback about
your business to others, who
may then try your product or
service for themselves and in
turn, become repeat custom-
ers. These are the customers, the
ones that stay through the rainy
days, never forgetting the excel-
lent experience they previously
enjoyed.
Unlike products, customers
have memories. This means that
the business a customer brings
tomorrow, either as a repeat
customer or as a reference from
others, is based largely on their
memory of how well they were
treated today. By being individu-
ally customer focused, Custom-
ers can be offered a consistently
great and relevant experience.
A 360 degree customer service
management basically urges
us to treat the customer right,
reminding us that customer ser-
vice is a human activity requiring
empathy.
A good customer experience will
lead to repeat business because
people are most interested in
a hassle-free experience. The
customer does not want to hear
how great you are; the customer
wants to see how great you
are! By removing the barriers to
resolution of customers’ service
and support issues, we not only
make it easy for our Customers to
feel that ‘Wow Moment’, we also
make our customers loyal.
If you expect to win
in today’s competitive
environment where
organic growth has
become priority number
one, you have to have a
customer focus.”
- Meg Inglefield
