customer service

This is Africa!

Taura Khuluma Say it!!, , , , , , , , 1 Comment

It’s been a month!, some times it has felt like a whole year and other times I have been left trying to catch my breath at being here. And on many occasions I have been told “chill out Taf, this is Africa!”. It’s funny how much of the africaness of Africa I had forgotten and the frustrations I have felt trying to change things to my suit my expectation especially with business contacts! So today to mark my one month in Africa I will share with you some “This is Africa” moments I have had so far, I hope I can remember them all!

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I suppose nothing about being in Africa screams it out as loud as remnants of colonialism and I stepped right back to Cecil J Rhodes’ days when I stopped at the Bulawayo Club. The nastiness of colonialism ain’t there any more, at least not visibly so. Just walking into the place made me go “WOW”, the wood panelled walls and resistance to modern norms was just amazing to see but the most peculiar thing about the Bulawayo Club is not the 1800s feel of the place but the fact that until 8 months ago women were not allowed in the bar! All women had to sit on the chairs outside the bar while their men drank from inside. Now if your history on Cecil J Rhodes is sound you might be able to understand why women weren’t allowed in a bar where gentlemen enjoyed each others company. That’s just my own conclusion! As of now women can enter the bar but must abide by a strict dress code, most of which sounds to me like no feminine sexuality allowed, still.

Because of business commitments in both Bulawayo and Harare I have done a fair bit of commuting on Air Zimbabwe between the cities. First of all, well done to AirZim for recognising that charging what people can afford puts bums on seats! Ever since the airline introduced the $61 one way ticket, flying is now a real option for many people. But, a big but! It is not OK to operate on the pretext that you can always apologise for being unprepared or under prepared? On every occasion that I have used the airline, 6 times in 30 days, they apologise for being late! How about making it an objective of everyone on a shift that you do everything possible so that you do not apologise for being let yet again. It is not OK to say sorry, not if you say it all the time!. There is an apologist mentality that allows for inadequate performance which must stop, SHAPE UP and do things right!

My imprisonment at the Holiday Inn came to an end a week ago, I was desperate to leave, nearly 4 weeks in hotels is no fun for anybody not least me with all my habits! I like what I like and after a week I had figure out I didnt like the long corridors of the hotel or the lack of choice in food, buffet every night is just laziness on the part of the chef or chefs! And at $26 at a time it’s daylight robbery. But its not just the Holiday Inn where things are inexplicably expensive, its everywhere! Now at the risk of sounding far removed from everyone’s reality here, beware, it’s my reality. Remember, I like what I like, so I went into a supermarket with a list of stuff to buy so I could make something to eat and this is what I found – 500G Mushrooms – $5.00, 500G Cucumber – $4.00, 12 Eggs – $2.50, 500G Butter – $6.50 (imported $12.00), 125G Cheese $3.55 and a non stick pan to make it all in $42.00. That has got to be the most expensive omelette you an make! Oh and the Plastic spatula to turn the omelette with $6.95! I have left a whole bunch of other stuff that added to my $195 trip to TM on my first day in my flat. Now I know regular families will not buy what I bought but still in a country where the average wage is $300, I am amazed the supermarkets sell anything at all. Even the less luxurious stuff is expensive but should it be?

Somewhere on this blog I once complained about timekeeping but that was just me on flying visits here. I have had to learn to tell time the Zimbabwean way. 3 minutes here is not three minutes at all whether it is social or business. 3 minutes ranges from 15 minutes to whatever minutes and even then you will still have to remind your appointment that you have been waiting for them since they said 3 minutes but it’s now 45 minutes. And, the will still say ” I am 3 minutes away!” When I make an issue about time, all I get is ” T.I.A – This is Africa”. But why do we accept it?

My last T.I.A moment was when I went to get satellite TV from DSTv. Forget phoning your provider, agreeing an installation time, they turn up with everything and when they leave you are connected. So I walk into their office and they sell me the set top box and they take my money for it but then tell me that for the subscription I must go to one of 7 banks and make a deposit then bring the deposit slip back to the office so that they could activate me. What about installation? “Well” say the least helpful front person ever “here is a list of 3rd party electricians that can do that for you if you have a satellite dish, if you don’t have a dish you should ask if the electiricans have dishes! But I have already paid for this other stuff and I am connected! The lady says “Well sir that’s how we do things here!” and I say “Fuck off this is rubbish, you are lucky no one can afford to give you competition otherwise you would be out of business!” I am the politest person in the world but they had pushed me too far. What did I pay for? I walked out dreading that I would not be able to watch the TV channels I had paid for but luckily I had a dish connected and didn’t need the engineers. But why do we put up with it?

Because this is Africa and I should stop trying to change this world because I will have a cardiac like the dear old English lady who has adopted me keeps telling me!

Maybe I am being naive!

Taura Khuluma Say it!!, , , , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

Over the last two weeks I have encountered different types of services, private and public and on all occasions I have been left wondering, “what is the reason behind this never ending relationship between customer service and the ball point pen in Zimbabwe?”. In almost all instances there is always a computer at every service desk! Sometimes both the pen and the computer are used to record the same event, meaning I have to wait twice as long to be served without any real improvement to my experience of that service.

Am I expecting too much, does anyone else not see that, for time and age that we are living in at this very moment, we are not equipped to be effective and efficient? One colleague reminded me that my problem is I have diaspora expectations, I should accept that things are different here but what is the real difficult in producing customer service provisions that exceed current levels? Surely it is not because investing in information technology is expensive, the technology is already there!. Could it be a lack of training or is it management myopia holding back the development of better service provision quality?

Here are two examples of why I am complaining, at my previous hotel, I had some dirty laundry washed, my details and the list of items to be washed where added onto my room information on the hotel’s computer system, later as I came to collect laundry I was asked to pay cash, even though this was midway through my stay, I produced the money to pay. Payment details were added onto my room information and a receipt book with ball point pen attached was produced to duplicate the very same information for which I was given a copy but only after a 20 minute wait. Upon checking out I was given a 4 page folio copy printed by the system detailing every single thing I had done that week including the laundry business! why do I need it again or why did I have to wait for all that 20 minutes in the first instance when I could have just got the information on checking out?!

The same goes to my mobile phone provider who made me wait in three queues to be saved at 3 desks in order to change my micro sim to a nano sim! on all three occasions I was asked to repeat the same information for which three different colour hand written receipts were produced while the information was simultaneously added onto the information technology system! After 45 minutes waiting for this elaborate process to be completed I got to the payment station and I was told the cashier didn’t have change for $20 so now I had to find that in order to pay! Life is way too short for this BS!

But all is not lost, as I discovered at Harare Airport where I arrived to check in for my flight to Bulawayo, my first with the airline for 14 years!, with nothing but an emailed e-ticket on my iphone. You can forgive the nervous ball of anxiety in my stomach as I got to the check-in desk but the helpful gentleman checked me in with a smile and without asking any further question or even an ID!

Isn’t it a scary world when anything related to AirZim is an example of best practise! Ahh, its supplier of handling services at the airport should get the applause instead, well done to the NHS for not using a ball point pen! (No!, it stands for National Handling Services, not that other NHS!). As for AirZim, we left on time, well 20 minutes late is no reason to complain when the national airline is the service provider on any trip!

I am sure some will have a counter point and an explantion or rationale for all my complaints, maybe I am just being naive but, come on!
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Defining customers service in Africa; route towards improvement in customer service

Taura Khuluma Say it!!, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Being a regular visitor to Africa in the last 11 months I have experienced varying degrees of customer service quality and concluded that getting “good” quality customer service is still a far fetched dream in almost all service encounters.

A few other travelling colleagues have been discussing how we could drive Africa towards universal good customers service as some research has identified Africa as a future destination for western companies looking to outsource customer service functions to African countries. There are several implications to finding a solution to customer service delivery in Africa, first of which is creating better experiences for customers and improving customer retention. Secondly if Africa is to realise the potential expressed in the above research referred then we need to have a marketable product by ensuring that every customer encounter with service delivery is positive, because you never know who your next customer might be.

It is my opinion that the process of improving African customer service provision must start with developing a clear understanding of how customer service is perceived in the Africa context. The lack of resources, imbalance between demand and supplier in many service encounters means that the supplier usually has an upper hand in most encounters thus removing the obligation on their part to be good to the customer who is dependent on them. This is in total contrast to environments where supply outstrips demand and so companies’ service provision is obliged to treat the customer as “king” in order to retain their custom. This reality of the service encounter in Africa reduces the customers’ bargaining power and potential to switch to an alternative source for either product or service. In the end the African customer feels obliged to accept sub standard customer service as a means to an end.

African private enterprise has substantially better service delivery than public service especially government services like passport offices, registration of births and deaths, medical service and any other essential services that a customer might expect from the government. Perhaps customer service personnel in public service offices do not even regard the people they serve as customers, which then removes the need for “good” customer service. Private enterprise on the other hand recognises the relationship it has with the people they service but greater demand than supplier reduces the impetus to provide “good” customer service.

My conclusion is that there is need for cultural re-orientation to get the customer to demand “good” customer service and service providers from both public and private sectors to view customers as opportunities to create relationships that will continue positively beyond each service encounter. This change will require leadership in both private and public sectors, training and adoption of clearly defined performance parameters supported by systematic evaluation. But the starting point must be a review and analysis of prevailing perceptions of “good” customer service to the provider and customer in Africa.

Accessibility and options for businesses and customers

Taura Khuluma Say it!!, , , , , Leave a comment

Improvements in communications technology has seen the expansion of means by which organisations can give their customers accessibility to their services. For many organisations the strategic choice to be accessible on multiple channels is probably an internally driven strategy but for an increasing number of orgainisations the drivers come from external pressure in the competitive environment. But, what are the benefits and disadvantages of operating a multiple access channel strategy for organisations? Are the cost implications justifed by performance in terms of revenue and is there still a place for 1 access chanel businesses in the “smart communications” world?