“WHAT NOT TO DO?”

It was neither the era nor the market of formal customer service focus when and where we grew up. Yes, I am referring to the mid & the late 70s in one of the Saudi Arabian commercial cities, called Al Khobar. The norms were typical trading markets and above that for expatriates, it was on the ambitious side to expect courtesy even.

Amongst all that, there was one textile trader though, who had a unique custom towards the children of his customers. Strange enough to the surprise that Mr. Abdullah was so, with all his customers regardless of their origin or purchase capacity. Mr. Abdullah would offer sweets & juices to all the kids coming in with their parents. There was a dedicated corner in his shop where the kids would relax and chit chat, being served and personally entertained by Mr. Abdullah, as long as their parents were attended by his staff. Mr. Abdullah would interact with the parent on the way out while settling the payment of the purchases and smiling happy & satisfied.

Customer Service Excellence starts knowing your customer beyond the choice of product or service. It is an understanding of making their job easier, it’s about addressing their convenience in your processes and service levels, it's about going an extra mile for them to feel at home and relaxed dealing with you, and it's about caring for them when they need the care in your premises.

In normal business practices, it is called the pulse of the customer that we must sense whenever we interact or exchange information with the customer. We must understand if the customer is a detractor, user, or a promoter to measure their loyalty. I still cherish those memories to the day from over 40 years and the ease with which our parents would just complete their purchasing. The bonding with had with the owner and connection is still alive in our minds and heart. For us it was just the candy or the juice, for our parents it was the ease of shopping, but for Mr. Abdullah, it was a lot more than that….

His purpose of engaging with the kids was to free the parents from the constant bugging by their kids as the place had nothing that would interest them, so why not engage them in something else and let the parents do the JOB with focus and free of disruption. How it helped him? this made it possible for the parent to complete their buying process easier, faster, and worry-free on the children's part. He made sure the customers do their JOB at the most optimum time so that other customers could come in and have the pleasure of their services.

This personal experience from 40 years, helped me understanding our purpose for our customers is to relieve them from all the unnecessary disruptions in their operations and business processes. Our purpose is ensuring that our customer is equipped and empowered with the necessary information, knowledge, and expertise to decide “WHAT NOT TO DO?”, have the Vision, Understanding, Clarity & Agility…

The only way forward in the post-COVID-19 era is that we as sellers should adopt VUCA with a positive shift. The shift from Volatility to Vision, Uncertainty to Understanding, Complexity to Clarity, and from Ambiguity to Agility or adaptability is a mandate which ensures continuity for our businesses and beyond.

Many around the world have faced immense challenges during COVID-19, apart from the ones who never accepted the pandemic and suffered the consequences otherwise. During COVID-19 businesses collapsed, industries suffered, and owners declared bankruptcy all across the globe. The situation pushed governments to adopt strict & harsh policies for the safety, survival & well being of their people. Leaders of organizations were forced to take unpleasant decisions on survival over maintaining the workforce.

However yet, there are gladiators among us who are tough to defeat. The need is to benchmark ourselves to higher toughness, the deep warrior spirit, and the optimistic zeal of survival. The Race is not yet over, Work on VUCA in your domain and be decisive on “WHAT NOT TO DO?”. Be Abdullah to create comfort for our customers and exemplify customer service excellence in whatever we do…. How nicely put in words by Nigel Sanders

“Every client you keep is one less that you need to find.”