Using people management concepts to build a loyal customer base – The ALSO Model.

By Fostine Opiyo Odhiambo – HR Practitioner – Kenya.

Most business owners are considering HR Practitioners as workforce-oriented more than business oriented. They believe that HR professional needs to handle only HR-related functions. Have you ever thought of using HR Practitioners' wealth of experience in improving your business using good HR practices, concepts, and models and applying humanity in human resources to help you build a loyal customer base?

You can have a greater business plan or concept, you can have enough money to roll out your service or product, and you can have the right staff who can deliver the plan but have you ever thought of using HR models in developing and retaining your customers’ base?

Your employees need appreciation same to your customers. Employees are put on performance improvement programs the same as your products or service needs that to be on product or service improvement program. Seeking a better employee will require various interventions to get the right candidate same as seeking a loyal customer. What about the exit? End it well with your staff and appreciate me later. This applies same when handling your customers' exit. Handle your customers well at exit whether you are winding the business or whether your product is providing a one-stop solution in everything, remember to end the exit well. Just as you end with your employee. Business changes, concept changes, innovation, and technology are increasing and people are inquiring about who is who and which is which in terms of a product or service. The customer you have today will be your future customer. The employee you are separating from today will be your future customer or partner.

When a question about a greater product is inquired whether through word of mouth or in social media will your product be ranked top or bottom?

My wealth of work experience in human resource management has been an exciting one. I have accumulated expertise in improving businesses through people management and extended the HR good practice, Concepts, and Models to our customers by applying humanity in human resources. Actually, those I have interacted with they have recognized my high skills in customer management, Marketing, and Negotiation skills.

As a professional HR practitioner, sometimes I go beyond the daily HR functions and extend my expertise to improve business through people management. Moving from the workforce to managing customers as a resource for business/organization success. Contributing to the key management-level meeting on improving business motivates me. I believe that when you are designing a product or a service let it be fit, greater, and better for use by your own staff. Set standards that your own staff can happily associate with and market beyond the work environment. Your employees are your number one customer.

If you have a school and your staff cannot take their children to your school there is a problem. If you bake, bread and your customers opt for other brands there is a problem. If you are manufacturing building materials and your staff cannot buy from your products then there is a problem. If you are offering, financial solutions and your staff cannot benefit or enjoy the loan facility from your products then there is a problem. When designing a product or service ask yourself, will my employees be my first customers before I extended to other customers? Creating a loyal customer base start with making your employees own the product or services you offer to your clients. Considering employees as the first client.

 Lesson 2: Use People Management Concepts to Create a Loyal Customer Base.

Learning how to use people management concepts to achieve competitive advantage in global organizations is a necessity for improving businesses. My accumulated work experience has ignited another belief in me in using people management concepts to build a loyal customer base.  

Building a loyal customer base by using people management concepts will require four key areas that include - Appreciation, Learning, Soul searching, and Observing.

Appreciation

 Most HR gurus have taught us the power of appreciating your workforce and recognizing their efforts privately, publicly, either individually or collectively. Appreciating your workforce ignites a positive vibe that enables the workforce to work better, and feel engaged and honored. This concept can be used in building a loyal customer base.

One day I asked my CEO if it is possible to appreciate our customers. The response was not welcoming, he said ‘We have provided a solution to our customers and that is the best appreciation’ This statement did not go well with me I just thought of this response from the people's perspective – we have provided the agreed salary for the workforce so let them work. Even if customers are happy with your solutions, you still need to go beyond the solution. Appreciate customer loyalty.

What do I mean?

Understand the incident/ event that led this customer to your business/organization. Know your customer beyond accepting his/her payment (get to know if your product is providing the intended solution and any area that may require improvement).

Know your customers by name and how they want to be served and by whom – sometimes customers find confidence in being served by a particular employee allow this to happen but build the customer confidence to trust your entire workforce due to an increase in workforce mobility. When your customers have confidence in your workforce and not a particular employee then know that the customer is likely to be loyal to your products and services. When your customer is loyal to a particular employee in case that employee exit from your organization and goes to a competitor, he/she may go with the customer.

Appreciate Customers' feedback, take them positively, and adjust accordingly. Some feedback may be due to miscommunication learn to correct such by clarifying to the customer. Some may be due to the mistake from your employee, accept and correct to avoid future pitfalls. Summarily, pay attention to the feedback and appreciate this too as it shows that the customer is still willing to be served with you if you readjust in the area of concern.

Appreciate your customer from all angles. For considering using your product or service, to provide feedback on his or her experience, to recommend another client, and even to comment on your service or product.

Learning

If you want to improve your product or services learn from your customers. Create a conversation with your customers and let them speak as you listen and pick key learning areas. In my career, I have developed the skill to develop a conversation with the workforce of all cadres, management, and non-management. In the conversations, I have come up with great ideas that have helped me to transform the ways I manage people. Remember that solutions to manage your staff are with the staff and solutions to increase your revenue are with the customers. Learn from your customers and provide a solution for them.

Learning from your customers will require much patience; sometimes the customers may try to deviate from your key objective of starting your business or organization, or even be contrary to your values. Remember that patience is the solution. As you listen, be tactical and learn from the majority not individuals.

Benchmarking experiences and not businesses is another way I have used to improve customer loyalty. Learn about the experience of a customer from another competitor. What they liked and disliked. I am very great at getting information about competitors, especially on how they handle their employees. Why I like doing this, because it enables me to learn what my competitors are doing better I need to think about the best way to exceed and again to learn what they are not doing right to alert me not to fall into the same trap. As you go for benchmarking. Concentrate on benchmarking experiences to build your loyal customer base. Your employees are your first customer learn from them. When you extend to external customers use the concept of people management to learn from them.

Soul Searching

Reorganize your customers well. Know your repeat customer, first-time customers, occasional clients, customers because of referral and from what source, customers because of social media, and from which media. Many tech solutions can help you sort your customers.

Customize your customers and build their loyalty levels gradually. How you will handle your first-time customer is different from how you are handling a long-time customer. How you will handle first-time customer experience will differ from how you will handle long-time customers. Same as in handling the workforce, the HR policies may be existing but employees’ personalities and levels of understanding may differ. Handle your employees individually with fairness. If you can handle your employees' issues case-by-case or scenario by scenario the better. The same concept is applicable when handling your soul-searched customers. Not all customers will share the same perception so learn to handle them individually. In cases of collective solution learn to be honest and patient when handling customers' concerns.

Soul-searching your customers will help you to identify the areas that will require changes. Sometimes you may not need to redesign the entire service or product but you can just upgrade an additional feature on your product or service to a particular customer to enhance loyalty.

Observation:

 Observation is a greater tool in people management. Observing customers' behaviors, observing their conversations and comments, observing their satisfaction levels as well as dissatisfaction levels.

I usually say to my team that they need to develop a 360-degree observation index. This is an observation beyond physical eyesight. It is the observation from the heart and mind. It is the mentality of me-in-them and them-in-me.

The way a customer walks into your shop, the way he or she leaves. This includes even customers inquiring about a product or service online or even those who are window shopping in shops. Observe.

To develop a 360-degree observation skill have the mentality of me-in-them and them-in-me. This means letting their experience and feelings be part of your next decision or action. To learn this concept well, try to block your ears for two hours so that you cannot hear anything and experience the challenge of the deaf or cover your mouth in that you cannot speak for two hours only or even cover your eyes and be in darkness for only two hours and have the feeling of the blind. With this, you will actually feel the challenge of people with special needs and if you get an opportunity to go back to your normalcy in product/service design or improvement then you will have an inclusive solution.

Observation will help you to be more empathetic in your approach. Before you respond to your customer, ask yourself if you were the customer how would you react or behave?

In my career as an HR professional, observation has been a key tool to help me understand the workforce well. This has helped me to know how to handle various scenarios with ease. The more you observe the more you will understand the trends. For example, you will know why employee X is not in good mood today just as customer Y. Observation is a greater tool to create a loyal customer base. It helps you to adopt a winning approach.

When you have responded to customers' complaints, continue to observe how their behavior is influencing your business and their loyalty. Observe their comments. Act on additional feedback and continue to observe.

Observation as a tool actually has relations with the other three areas discussed. Because of observation, you can appreciate your customer. Observation is also a way of learning. When soul-searching your customers you will observe your team's behavior and customer trends.

Conclusion:

Improving businesses through people management is possible when you embrace the concept of using HR models in developing your loyal customer base. Employees are your first customers. Treat them well so that when you go to tap the revenue from external customers your workforce can sell your product or service easily. The ALSO Model which entails Appreciating, Learning, Soul searching, and Observation is another alternative way of developing a loyal customer base.

When using the HR Model, Concepts and practices in managing your customers to create a loyal customer base. Remember following;

• Go beyond the provision of your solution by appreciating your customers.
•  Know your customers wholesomely by understanding why they walked into your shop or preferred your product or service.
• Appreciate customer feedback and pay attention to the feedback whether they are positive or negative.
• Learn from your customers, create a conversation, and learn the concept of benchmarking experiences to enable you to exceed the area your competitor is doing better and to avoid being trapped in their messes.
• Customize your customers by soul-searching them according to their needs. Handle customers individually. When you need to handle multiple customers at a go, let patience and honesty guide you. Never lie to your customers and tell them the truth.
• Observation is a tool. Develop a 360–degree observation index. This is an observation beyond physical eyesight. It is the observation from the heart and mind. It is the mentality of me-in-them and them-in-me.

In the next lesson, we will look at the aspect of molding your suppliers as part of improving business through people management.

Always remember the ALSO Model – Appreciating, Learning, Soul-searching, and Observing to create a loyal customer base.

Reach out to me at:

Mobile: +254 724 224913 Email: [email protected] OR [email protected]

Website: www.joafrica.com

 For: Human Resource Management Services; Business Improvement, HR Strategy Development, Strategic Workforce Planning, Employee Engagement Services, Gaining the Full Potential of your workforce, Women and Leadership topics, Workforce Happiness, and their well-being just reach out.

The Future is Full of Potential! A Potential of Happy Minds

Notes:

Additional notes from Black Box Thinking and my accumulated engagement and passion for improving business by using HR Models, Concepts, and Practice. Human Resource Management as a Pillar in Improving Businesses.

Let us meet in the next lesson. Thanks for your support.