Mrs Patricia Sappor, a respected banking executives and the first woman to lead the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Ghana, has launched her third book, 'Creating a Unique Client Experience: How Leaders Build Client-Centric Organizations and Inspire True Loyalty', together with the SAPPOR framework, a practical model for building a lasting service culture.
The virtual launch was moderated by Robert Dzato, Chief Executive Officer of CIB Ghana, and chaired by Albert Essien, Board Chairman of Development Bank Ghana and former Group Chief Executive Officer of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated. It drew chief executives, board chairs, entrepreneurs and clergy, with the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Johnson Pandit Asiama, among the dignitaries acknowledged. Tony Elumelu, Chairman of Heirs Holdings and former Group Chairman of UBA, was represented by high-ranking customer-experience executives from UBA Group and Heirs Insurance Group.
Drawing on more than three decades of banking and leadership experience, the book reinforces that customer-centricity must extend beyond courtesy and frontline service to encompass policies, processes, systems, technology and human interactions that shape the customer experience. It positions client experience as a responsibility of organisational leadership rather than a function to be delegated solely to customer service departments.
Mr Essien described the book as a playbook that addresses an important source of competitive advantage. "Products can be copied in weeks. Prices can be undercut overnight. But there is one thing no competitor can copy, and that is the way an institution makes its people feel," he said. He added that the book provides leaders with guidance on moving customer service "from a poster on the wall to behaviour in the hallway, from a department to a DNA."
Bishop Sappor said her motivation for writing the book was informed by both her professional experience and personal observations of poor service delivery in some institutions. She recalled an experience at a medical facility about eight years ago where vulnerable patients received care without empathy, and a conversation with a finance executive who questioned why a profitable company should invest in customer experience. "Over the years, I have come to appreciate that the customer is the oxygen that keeps an organisation alive. Without customers, there is no business, no institution and, ultimately, no reason for an organisation to exist. Yet, customer experience is often treated as a departmental responsibility rather than a fundamental leadership obligation," she said.
"Client experience is not a luxury. It is indeed a divine necessity. It goes beyond being courteous or putting on a smile. It is about creating systems, processes, policies and cultures that make people feel valued, respected and consistently served," she added.
She challenged leaders to examine whether customers need personal connections to receive timely service and recommended ways technology can be leveraged to anticipate customer needs. "As leaders, we must therefore take ownership of the experience our organisations deliver. We must ask ourselves these difficult questions: Do people have to know a 'big man' before they can receive the service they deserve? Are our systems designed around the convenience of the institution or the needs of the customer? Are we using technology to make service more accessible, responsive and humane?" she remarked. She commended leaders across various sectors in Ghana for their efforts in raising the bar of excellence, citing SSNIT's online medical support for pensioners and the simplicity of the ECG mobile app for recharging electricity as examples.
Embedded in the book is the SAPPOR Framework, which outlines six steps organisations can adopt: Set the vision; Assess the current state; Promote awareness and standards; People, processes and technology alignment; Observe, measure, own and reward performance; and Reinvent continuously. The model is intended to provide organisations with a structured approach to assessing their existing service culture, aligning internal systems and measuring performance while continuously improving the customer experience.
Reviewers described the framework as Bishop Sappor’s signature contribution and called the publication "the blueprint that we need for customer centricity." Dr Ellen Hagan, Chief Executive of L'AINE Services Limited and co-founder of Legacy Girls' College, formally launched the book and framework, stating: "In the race to become more technologically advanced, let us never become less human."
The book is available for orders through WhatsApp on 0559897115 and at the Dominion Bookshop at Action Chapel International on Spintex Road, as well as online through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords and Apple Books.