African entrepreneurs and practitioners are to be helped to build more profitable and lasting customer relationships. Adaptation is collaborating with the Institute of Customer Management in Accra, Ghana in a new initiative to help local practitioners review and improve how they manage their relationships with customers.

According to Adaptation’s chairman, Prof. Colin Coulson-Thomas “While newspaper headlines highlight Africa’s problems many of its emerging businesses, and its 900 million consumers, represent a frontier of opportunity for ambitious businesses. If they are to prosper and become competitive internationally local professionals and entrepreneurs need to engage with customers in ways that deliver service, value and mutually beneficial outcomes.”

“Value creation starts with the aspirations and needs of customers. Suppliers need to engage with customers to ensure their requirements are understood and addressed. Increasingly, this means working with them rather than selling to them. It means helping them to understand their needs and available options, and making it easier for them to buy and receive appropriate after sales support. It can mean learning with customers and developing bespoke solutions.”

“Effective customer management, and supporting those in the front line who are responsible for managing the relationship with customers, is a critical success requirement. The approaches of customer management teams that succeed in building long term and profitable relationships with customers are very different from those of teams that struggle and fail. To raise their game, ambitious practitioners need to understand what the high performers do differently.”

While the new collaboration is aiming to address a variety of development needs, its initial focus will upon two groups: entrepreneurs and those who are in or seeking managerial roles; and those who wish to become customer management professionals. Subject to local demand, courses at certificate level will be offered at convenient times during the day, while diploma candidates will be able to study their course modules in evening and weekend streams.

The Institute of Customer Management is based in Accra, Ghana. Its mission is to inspire excellence in customer management. The Institute is collaborating with UK based Adaptation Ltd which helps people and organisations adapt to changing aspirations, requirements and conditions. Details of the company’s support activities can be found on http://www.adaptation.ltd.uk

The new customer management initiative will draw upon a series of briefings that examine different aspects of customer management and recent projects to support those with responsibility for building mutually beneficial and lasting relationships with customers. The 28 briefings in ‘Close to the Customer’ series and related bespoke benchmarking reports can be ordered from http://www.policypublications.com

Over 2,000 companies have participated in Prof. Coulson-Thomas’ research programme which examines what the most successful people, teams and companies do differently in areas such as building relationships with customers. Reports setting out identified critical success factors and his book Winning Companies; Winning People which summarises the findings about what high performers do differently can also be obtained from: http://www.policypublications.com

Professor Colin Coulson-Thomas, Chairman of Adaptation is an experienced consultant, author of ‘Winning Companies; Winning People’, and consultant editor of the ‘Close to the Customer’ series of briefings on customer management. He has reviewed the processes and practices of over 100 companies, helped over 100 boards to improve board and/or corporate performance, and spoken at over 200 national, international and corporate conferences in 35 countries. He can be contacted via http://www.coulson-thomas.com

Economic recession presents suppliers with a golden opportunity to build closer relationships with their customers according to Prof Colin Coulson-Thomas. He told a gathering of customer service practitioners in Oman that: “Successful companies work with customers to find better ways of helping them to cope with tough times.”

The professor believes “Economic hardship brings latent qualities to the surface. While the self-centred worry about how they will be impacted, caring companies distinguish themselves by enabling their customers to confront the challenges and opportunities of economic hardship. A friend in need really is a friend indeed.”

For Coulson-Thomas “How people behave in a down turn is an acid test. Customers are not fools. They see how suppliers react and whether ‘customer focus’ is rhetoric or reality. They are also becoming more demanding. As people travel they become aware of standards in other parts of the world, and their expectations rise. Increasingly customers seek respect and want to be treated as individuals rather than as ‘targets’.”

Coulson-Thomas showed how pioneering companies use a new generation of tools to support people in the front line. “They enable customer facing staff to quickly respond to the distinct requirements of individual customers. Built in checks ensure bespoke responses do not cause quality, commercial or regulatory problems. Staff are liberated to do what they feel is best for a particular client. ”

The professor emphasizes that “Employees, managers and directors need to understand that customers are the source of value, corporate revenues and their salaries. Where and whenever there are competitors people may take their custom elsewhere. In many cases they can simply go on-line and buy over the internet. Customers can no longer be taken for granted.”

It may not be too late to change. Coulson-Thomas finds: “Customer disappointment, frustration and dissatisfaction can represent an opportunity rather than a problem for organizations that are committed to raising their customer service standards. Improved customer service might enable them to differentiate themselves from competitors and win customers from them.”

It may not be necessary to improve every aspect of customer service at once. Coulson-Thomas suggests: “One should start by endeavoring to better understand what represents value to customers and addressing areas that will have the greatest, quickest and most visible impact upon customers. People can be equipped to emulate the approaches of high performers and successfully tackle difficult challenges.”

Coulson-Thomas’ experience is that “A new approach that transforms customer relationships while making it easier for people to do their jobs is usually welcomed. Most employees do not wake up each morning eager to rush to work in order to frustrate customers. Once improvements occur they are likely to themselves become more fulfilled. Helping others can be both satisfying and rewarding.”

Mutually beneficial relationships with customers require a customer focused approach. The professor’s research reveals that “In place of the ‘hard sell’ successful companies devote much effort to helping customers understand their requirements and making it very easy for them to obtain what they need. In tough times when margins are thin a customer’s survival can depend upon a quick and bespoke response.”

The professor emphasizes that “Excellence in customer service in one context may be unacceptable in another. Requirements can vary from business to business, and not all customers may require the same level of service. A person’s expectations in a supermarket when doing a weekly shop may vary from those in a boutique when searching for a special present for a loved one. Customer expectations and requirements need to be understood before they can be addressed.”

Coulson-Thomas feels: “There is little excuse for badly trained, indifferently supported or inadequately paid staff. People should be fairly rewarded and properly equipped to do what is expected of them. Smart companies recognize that a smaller number of better trained, equipped and supported staff may be preferable to a larger number of less capable ones. In some cases it may be possible to ‘segment the market’ and offer different levels of service to different categories of customers.”

The right tools can help users to raise their game. Coulson-Thomas reports “Initial steps can trigger an upwards spiral of improvement as positive customer reaction to noticeable progress spurs further initiatives. Both commercial success and greater personal fulfillment for front line staff can result. Working with customers sometimes leads to new service offerings for which they may be prepared to pay a premium.”

Tools can also protect a supplier against naïve and simplistic responses. The professor warns: “Delighting every customer by gold plating all aspects of service may cost too much and lead to corporate insolvency when greedy customers take unfair advantage of corporate generosity. Built in checks ensure outcomes are mutually beneficial.”

Coulson-Thomas suggests companies keep their feet on the ground. “There may be good and bad customers, those which are highly profitable and those which may be more trouble than they are worth. The customers to retain are the profitable ones, and the first steps to improvement should be in the areas of greatest positive impact.”

Over 2,000 companies have participated in the professor’s research programme which examines what the most successful people, teams and companies do differently in areas such as building relationships with customers. Reports setting out identified critical success factors and his book Winning Companies; Winning People can be obtained from: http://www.policypublications.com

The two day ‘Excellence in Customer Service’ event in Oman took place in the Safeer Ballroom of the Zakher Mall in Al Khuwair, Muscat. Organized by Eventscom with the support of the Times of Oman, it allowed delegates to share the findings of recent projects to build more mutually beneficial relationships with customers.

Professor Colin Coulson-Thomas is an experienced consultant and author of ‘Winning Companies: Winning People’. He has reviewed the processes and practices of over 100 companies, helped over 100 boards to improve board and/or corporate performance, and spoken at over 200 national, international and corporate conferences in 35 countries. He can be contacted via http://www.colincoulson-thomas.com