Damn! I was really feeling the blues! This skeleton I had titled: Why customers like me leave a service provider?
The answer to this question is a short one. Customers like me who expect nothing but good service leave because of certain individuals that receive bonuses at the end of the year. Incidentally these individuals also have spacious offices and depending on their ranking they may even have interior decorated bathrooms with gold plated accessories. If you haven’t guessed who these individuals are, they are none other than managers/directors/executives of orgnisations/institutions.
These individuals more often than not are behind the scenes and as such we don’t get to interact with them a lot. However from the service we get from the frontline staff, we can actually determine the effectiveness of their behind the scene work. For example, if a customer can be told: “Opps! We forgot to carry-out your instructions and now that you have reminded us we will execute them but don’t think it won’t cost you” spells ineffectiveness on the part of those individuals. The sad thing about this ineffectiveness is when staff actually knows that even if a customer were to complain not even a mere cup of tea will be offered. And, they use that knowledge to make one appreciate that they are in fact in control and they can cause as much inconvenience as they can if and when they want to.
The question then is: can one really blame them (frontline staff)? Of course not! They are not liable for they have been socialised to believe that knowledge is power; they have the knowledge about the effectiveness of their managers and the power to humble me if I insist on getting a good service and a proper apology in the event that they fail to provide me with the service I am paying for.
The only liable individuals are those in management. They are liable because they have not taken the pains to make their staff aware that there is a correlation between their getting paid and customer satisfaction. Therefore, they have failed to convey the importance of looking after the cents. That is, they have forgotten to state the obvious; cents grow into Maloti/Rands; Maloti/Rands grow into hundreds; hundreds into thousands; thousands into millions, etc. In addition, they have failed to point out that a cent can make a difference to profitability or loss, just like a single vote can make a difference to winning an election.
In nutshell, I blame management because I understand that nature does not allow vacuum and if they, as the leadership are not willing to exercise their powers, someone in their institution will do. And when they do, chances are that they will use that power as carte blanche to inconvenience, frustrate, … and possibly annoy me the customer.
In light of the above, I hope then that the management of a certain blue bank will understand why I shall hold it liable when I leave. I therefore urge it to reconsider providing a simply better and faster service. I also urge it to accept the challenge of restoring my trust with it by providing me with an assurance that never again will I have to endure poor service. To win this challenge, terms and conditions apply.
