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Written on: 16. 02. 2009 [15:24]
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Gecko
Hendrik
Topic creator
registered since: 12.02.2009
Posts: 33
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What does it mean in Namibian "I will give you a call"  I am still waiting for... say all of them. It is unbelievable how some businesses function, if at all. Most have no idea what client service is, and most have no idea what service is.
I would take this moment to lay down some basic rules of service.
Always be courteous, after all your client is paying your salary.
Always be true to your word, No one likes empty promises.
Keep to your standards, never work or allow your work go below your standards, never set your standards to high.
Yes the client is always right but you have the right to set the rules. 
never try to do more than you can cope with, remember your standard?
Now remember it is easy to say "but that is the treatment we get if we request services from everyone else", this is true. One can see the catch 22 here? But it takes one small gesture of courtesy that will ensure the sale.
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Written on: 20. 02. 2009 [17:15]
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gjensen
Gerard Jensen
registered since: 02.01.2009
Posts: 39
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Gecko wrote:
What does it mean in Namibian "I will give you a call" I am still waiting for... say all of them. It is unbelievable how some businesses function, if at all. Most have no idea what client service is, and most have no idea what service is.
You're right. Yet if you'd limit this just to Namibia, you'd be dead wrong. Lack of service is a pandemic, and quite honestly I get the hunch that these days everyone seems to be more concerned about "stakeholder interests" than in delivering what they should deliver: good service to customers.
Yet it's easier to sell a "sales initiative" and "refocussing on core business ideas" blurb than to simply ensure that everyone does what he or she is supposed to do - so in effect these companies have lost their focus on their customers and just sit there like rabbits waiting for that big shareholder-snake to bite them - despite the fact that they actually have all the potential they need to evade that frightening situation with a quick and determined move.
But as I said: no purely Namibian problem. Try to get support from HP, Dell or Microsoft these days, and you catch my drift... :-/
Gecko wrote:
I would take this moment to lay down some basic rules of service.
Always be courteous, after all your client is paying your salary.
Always be true to your word, No one likes empty promises.
Keep to your standards, never work or allow your work go below your standards, never set your standards to high.
Yes the client is always right but you have the right to set the rules.
never try to do more than you can cope with, remember your standard?
Current commitments of companies look different "increase prodits by x% next year", "reduce expenditure by y% next year", "increase dividends by z% next year"... is it just me that notices that there is no "client" or "customer" mentioned anywhere?
And what happens then can be witnessed all around the world by now: you can only maximise profits up to a certain point. Beyond that, your business simply folds like a house of cards. Economics, first semester. Not that anyone would remeber, of course...
Deliver good service, rock solid products and maintain a loyal customer base? Uh. That's doesn't spell "exponential growth" anywhere, does it? So for most companies these days (run by people that should be called "Profit-men" but not "Business-men") that's simply not "cool" enough. And for banks that got used to the large speculative bubbles over the last couple of years, the idea of a simple, honest and truly working company is simply so "odd" these days, it irritates them. So instead of realising that this means honest and steady income for them for years to come instead of high-risk money to be made (or lost - just watch US banks fold right now) in large sums, they simply throw red tape at you. After all, it's not the current management that will profit from these kind of "customers", it's only going to be some future generation of management that will.
And that's definately uncool. Go write a more spectacular business plan, will you? Yeah, right...
Gecko wrote:
Now remember it is easy to say "but that is the treatment we get if we request services from everyone else", this is true. One can see the catch 22 here? But it takes one small gesture of courtesy that will ensure the sale.
What you mention here is just the excuse that these folks throw at you - it's not the problem. It's also not just a small gesture of courtesy we talk about here, it's a general re-thinking of current business values. Including a complete re-write of business practices, which usually means someone will have to move his butt and dive into a lot of administrative stuff to get that off the ground. Which is why it rarely happens.
Then again... great potential for companies that offer "business process re-engineering", I guess... which gives me a neat little (yet actually not so new) business idea.... 
Gerard
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The services we do not get.
