Esteemed Magazines July-Aug 2015 | Page 12

With these two incidents I began to wonder how it is that: one, small entrepreneurs seek to be given jobs that they do not have the capacity to handle; and two how they manage to get by with lousy customer service and orientation. Truth be told, I was satisfied that both jobs were finished not to the quality I would have wanted but at least my money did not disappear. Bottomline, I did get services for my money. Question is if I would give reference to the two craftsmen to a friend or business partner or even want to engage them again. In this entrepreneurial generation, the grandest failure emanates not from the product or service, but from the customer orientation of those delivering the service or selling the product. Majority of the business people are more interested in securing the deal that has a lot of money and they are willing to cut as many corners as possible to retain maximum profit and not necessarily deliver on their word. As an entrepreneur, there is need to always remember that without process, your business can get by, without large overheads and a large team, yes it can still stay afloat, but without customers, you cannot start, sustain or grow. Customers are the core of any business in the market place. Great businesses have loyal customers, mediocre businesses have satisfied customers, malnutritioned businesses have customers! So what kind of diet should you be on to move from malnutritioned to great business? Hold your name above everything else. Mention the word ‘apple’ and you are likely to get one of two responses; “the expensive fruit” or “the expensive gadgets”. Just reading through a lot of material, I have gathered overtime that Apple (the company) revenues and profits thrive through their loyal customers. Once you go apple, there is no turning back and their clientele know that and they are willing to pay the price. I am yet to meet an iPhone, iPad, MacBook or Macintosh desktop user who has something against the brand. Your name as a business is your face. It is what existing customers remember every time, it is what potential customers see for the first time and it is what you are every day. It is imperative that it is good if you are going to grow your client base and ultimately your revenue base. Maintain a hard-to-leave customer retention policy. The difference between a policy and a program is that a program implies a timed lifespan, it will come to an end. Policy on the other hand suggests that it is part of the core for the existence of the business. Loyal customers do not stay because they have no other option. They stay because you are the best and they would rather be inconvenienced in other areas but have you serve them in that one area. Loyalty is not forced. It is willfully pledged. The place I have seen this exemplified best is in barbershops. Most men are very particular how they are shaved and once they find a barber who applies the razor the way they like, even if they go on a Saturday afternoon and found a queue of 100 , they will be glad to wait or go home and come back the next day just to be shaved by that barber. Now that is 12 | Esteemed Magazine July -August 2015 loyalty because the service rendered cannot be got elsewhere. Have a working feedback system. This is a system that allows you to effectively receive feedback from the clients, follow up on resolution/ actions taken from your end and resolving the issue with the customer. The system should also enable you have frequent communication with your customer e.g. reminding them it is time for an upgrade, or cleaning, or change etc. Don’t promise. Don’t compromise. Commit and Over Deliver. If you commit to do a certain job, chances are that the customer expects at minimum, his expectations to be met. I give you my car to wash, I expect a clean car. Picking a job that you do not have the capacity for simply points to greed and selfishness. You can’t promise a clean car in one hour if you only have one sprayer and one member of staff and 30 cars waiting in queue to be washed. It is a sad day when a customer says, you didn’t do the job I wanted and the first words that com