Customer service must become routine

EVERY first week in October, businesses and institutions in the country fall over one another to impress their customers.

They come up with various unique services and activities to market Customer Service Week as the world unites to celebrate the important role consumers play in the sustenance of the world economy.

The Customer Service Week traces its roots to the International Customer Service Association based in the United States of America (USA).

The week was first designated by the association in the first week of October 1984 in an effort to put more emphasis on the need to treat customers well.

In 1992, President George W. Bush of the USA gave it a national recognition when he said: “A business will do a better job of providing high-quality goods and services by listening to its employees and by empowering them with opportunities to make a difference.”

Since then, the week has become an important date on the calendar of businesses across the world.

Here in Ghana, it is fair to say that the banks and the telecommunication companies, in particular, lead in the celebration.

It is marked with special activities, centred on celebrating the customer and the employee.

Top management also often use the opportunity to play service roles to customers in a bid to position themselves and their organisations as being ‘customer-centred’.

On rare occasions, shops and other institutions introduce discounts and other reward programmes and honour their customers.

This year will not be different, as the celebration of the week started in earnest from October 3.

For us at the Graphic Business, the big question, though, is: What happens after the first week of October when customers have been celebrated?

It is instructive to note that customer service is not an event but a lifestyle that businesses must ingrain in their DNA and live it on a daily basis.

We believe that as challenges erupt and competition also heats ups, it is the unique things that companies do for their clients and employees that will make them stand out and continue to be successful.

That is, special services to customers should not be occasional but daily for customers and employees to continuously have a reason to stick with particular businesses.

For instance, directors and managers serving customers should not be a rare occurrence but something that is done frequently to enable the customers to feel loved.

The Graphic Business believes that doing that does not only give an institution a unique appeal but also affords it the rare opportunity to interact with customers through which their concerns will be properly taken into consideration and addressed.

This gives management a clear view of how to formulate policies to make the business customer-centred.

Therefore, as we mark this year’s Customer Service Week, we at the Graphic Business implores businesses to make the offering of unique and tailored services a part of their daily activities, instead of an occasional thing reserved for the first week of October.

We also call on the umbrella bodies of businesses, including the Association of Ghana Industries, the Ghana Association of Bankers, the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications and the Ghana Union of Traders Association, to create avenues for their members’ customers to air their concerns.

Similar avenues should be created by sector regulators to encourage customers to air their concerns for redress.

Together, let us celebrate the customer, for without him or her, there will be no business for management, directors and shareholders to talk of profit and dividend.

The Graphic Business wishes customers and businesses alike a Happy 2022 Customer Service Week.