Every year, the first full week in October is recognised as Customer Service Week. Customer Service Week is an international celebration of the importance of customer service, business customers and the people who serve and support business customers on a daily basis. Though all workers are working for the needs of the customers, the customer relation officers, front-desk officers, receptionists, cashiers, tellers, sales officers, and those that deal directly with customers are the interface of corporate organisations; they are the face of business and should be celebrated as well as the customers. Zappos founder, Tony Hseish, believes that “customer service should not be just a department; it should be the entire company”.
The comemoration of Customer Service Week began in 1987 in the United States of America (USA). The high point of the celebration of customers and the lovely people that work for them came in 1992 when the US Congress proclaimed Customer Service Week a nationally recognised event. It is now a globally celebrated event! Customers are part of the factors that make up a business. Others are: the promoter or entrepreneur; the good, product or service; the supporting staff; finance; technology; and the business premises which may be physical or virtual. Customers are seen as the most important of all the factors and this is due to the following:
(1) Customers provide the money made by businesses. Money is the life-wire of business. A customer is an individual, group of individuals or business that purchases another company’s goods, products or services. Customers are important because they drive revenues. Without them, businesses can neither survive nor thrive. Customers are, first and foremost, the lifeblood of every company without which there would be no business. Businesses must use every effort to attract and retain customers since they are the source of the income required for their survival and expansion. Businesses depend on customers more than customers depend on them! According to Stew Leonard, “Rule number one: The customer is always right. Rule number two: If the customer is wrong, please refer to rule number one.” Businesses which are able to satisfy their customers, retain them and win more customers, are those that become unicorn.
(2) Businesses are set-up because there is a market gap between customers’ demand and businesses’ supply. A gap in the market is an opportunity to offer something that customers want but that businesses are not currently providing or are supplying inadequately. The term “gap” refers to the difference between supply and demand for that offering. For example, Blockbuster started a video rental business through its brick and mortar offices. Netflix filled a market gap with its DVD mail-order rental business, competing with Blockbuster Video. Netflix went a space ahead by establishing an internet market. By 2010, Netflix streaming eventually bankrupted Blockbuster. Customers’ satisfaction is the most essential requirement of a successful business.
(3) Experience shows that customer-driven or customer-centric marketing find business easier than product-driven marketing. Customer-driven marketing seeks consumer engagement, while product-driven marketing seeks product sales and acquisition. Customer-driven marketing is concerned with what customers need, how they need it and the price they can afford. Product-driven marketing is about the quality of the product, how raw materials are obtained, the production process and how products are viewed by the customers (marketing mix). Market segregation which differentiates the market, for example, between basic goods and luxurious goods, is a customer-driven marketing. Customer-driven marketing is the best way to market different types of products in the modern world. It is more impactful, creative, and relevant to the customer than any other form of marketing. Facebook, Costco and Sephora are examples of product-driven marketing companies while Justrite, Amazon and Apple are examples of customer-driven marketing.
(4) Customers drive a business by dictating what they want and do not want. Most businesses that realised, on time, to produce what the customers need, and do not believe in aggressively marketing what they have to the customers, are having a field day. Market-driven companies build the right features into their products because they know exactly what their customers need, when and how they need it. They not only do extensive market research but they drive into the research and validate it with key customers that they have good relationship with. According to Jeff Bezos, “At Amazon, we innovate by starting with the customer and working backward. That becomes the touchstone for how we invent.”
(5) Some businesses cannot produce without listening to the customers. These businesses include pharmaceuticals, real estate, auto and fashion. While some businesses like banking and finance, and oil and gas depend on the quality of their products to survive, and some like insurance and tax offices depend on government laws to survive, pharmaceutical, auto, real estate, furniture and fashion companies must listen to customers and produce what the customers need. Some pharmaceutical industries like Pfizer, May & Baker, Emzor and Bayer, spend huge amounts of money on research and development of their products to meet customer’s needs. Real estate developers and auto manufacturers must listen to feedback from the customers in order to improve their products.
Customer service is a key aspect of any customer relationship management strategy. Loyal customers are the focus of all businesses and businesses thrive as much as possible to retain their invaluable customers. This is why customers are kings in their own way and they deserve to be revered.
