Welcome Note
Welcome to Mabedlana Group news section. This section will be used to
discuss all topical issues that are related corporate governance, risk
management, financial management, compliance, fraud prevention, company
direction, human capital management. Most importantly, we will use this section
to discuss issues that Mabedlana Group is very
passionate about, that is small business development and service delivery
improvement at the local government sector.
Link between Risk Management and Customer
Experience
The current topic being discussed is “The link
between risk management and customer experience”. Is there a link at all?
Before I go into a detailed discussion about the
possible link between risk management and customer experience, allow me to
provide you with a very basic definition of risk management. Risk management is
a process of identifying, analyzing and assessing potential risks facing the
organization and designing mitigating controls to manage the impact of those
risks. On the other hand, customer experience relates to how the customer feels
about the treatment received before, during and after the process of acquiring
goods and services from a supplier.
Let us now go back to why a business exists. A
business exists to render a service or supply goods of some sort to its
customers, and when more customers buy goods and services, the business will
make more money. I am sure this sounds like common sense to you. In the context
of managing customers, a risk could be anything that impacts negatively on
acquiring more customers or retaining those that the business already has. In
order to effectively manage the customer retention risk, the business will need
to constantly review its processes and ensure that its customers always enjoy
dealing with it.
It is very interesting how many businesses lose
customers or chase away potential customers by employing customer facing
employees that do not enjoy dealing with customers. This for me, indicates that
businesses do not take the risk of losing customers seriously. In most cases
one unhappy customer is not taken seriously, and an assumption is made that he
or she will simply keep quite. A book that I am currently reading talks about
the 3/11 rule which says “if a customer is happy with your service, he will
tell 3 people about it, but if he is unhappy he will tell 11 to 12 people about
it before he keeps quite”. Therefore, if you fail to respond properly to
customer complaints that is the risk that you are taking. Now in these tough
economic times are you willing to take that risk?
For big businesses and monopolies, it is easy to
take the risk of ignoring customers. One thing that is often forgotten is that
one small customer may one day become a CEO or MD of a company or the Head of a
government department that your business may want to have as business client. I
have worked for a number of companies before and when I resigned, the sales
divisions never bothered to enquire if I would remain their customer and offer
me options. Instead, I realized that I was the one expected to search around
for information. Why am I bringing this up and how does it relate to the topic
at hand? I am bringing this up because I strongly believe that companies need
to re-visit their risk management strategies and ensure that they address key
issues that cripple they organizations.
As I write this article I am in a lodge in
Vryheid, Northern KZN. When I checked in my car was very dirty and the first
thing I wanted to do the following day was to find the nearest car wash, but
guess what, when I woke the following day my car had been washed and looking
very nice…and I call that superior customer experience. These guys have just
made sure that next time I am in Vryheid I think about them.
As a risk professional who has worked for a
number of companies, I know for a fact that the risk management processes of
organizations remain very theoretical and the risk divisions fail to engage in
activities that will assist the organizations to achieve their strategic
objectives. I therefore challenge you as you read this article to ask yourself
the following questions:
·
As an
employee who might not be customer-facing, when you visit your companies
distribution outlet do you receive a service that you are proud of? If not what
do you do about it?
·
When your
relatives and friends complain to you about the bad service they receive from
your company, how do you respond?
·
Do you
believe that your company handles the customer complaints effectively?
·
Do you
believe that your suggestions as to how to improve customer experience are
taken seriously by the relevant department? If not, what have you done about it?
There is saying that goes “The customer is always
right”. I do believe in this saying and my interpretation thereof is simply “whether
you like it or not the customer is the one that pays your salary”, therefore
even if you feel that the customer is wrong, remain calm deal with the issue
politely and to the best of your ability. Most importantly, do sincerely admit
when you are wrong, for most customers, me included, there is nothing as
irritating as a sales person who does not want to admit that they are wrong. In
most cases, all customers want is for the company to admit the mistake, and if
this does not happen a small incident can explode unnecessarily. Now the
question I want to leave you with is the following: “Do you have the right
people in your customer facing divisions?” if this is not the case, then you
are not taking risk management seriously.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
This article was written by Bheki
Zungu, Managing Member of Mabedlana
Group Consulting and Khasanathi Group Distribution.
Feel free to contact him if you wish to explore this topic further.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
Mabedlana Group is in the process of recording an audio CD for its Small Business
Series, which tackles the topic “Growing Your Business Through Excellent Customer
Experience”. Even though this is targeted to small business owners, it will be
very much relevant to all persons who deal with customers directly and those
who are tasked with growing the customer base. This will be e free CD and if you
want your company to have a copy do send a request to info@mabedlanagroup.co.za
