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and search for any ripe mazhanje. We all agreed voluntarily except Alfred who joined in reluctantly.
The four of us rushed to the bush because we could easily connect with the bush life given our strong rural backgrounds unlike Alfred who is from an affluent urban family.
There were lots of mazhanje on the ground and we competed with each other munching these wild fruits. Even Alfred ate some of the fruits. He seemed to enjoy the taste of mazhanje.
To some of us it was time for connecting with our past. I have never witnessed my friends talking excitedly about the importance of wild fruits during hunting expeditions, or when they were cutting firewood in the bush or when herding cattle.
On our way back to the dam Alfred sarcastically commented, “Guys I tested 12 of your so called ‘beautiful mazhanje’. Whatever that means, however, there is one striking feature about your fruit of ‘knowledge’. It has no consistency in taste whatsoever. The other one is soft and sweet, the other one is hard and sour, and so on. I think it is hard for me to actually describe the taste of mazhanje.”
Many companies in Zimbabwe behave like mazhanje fruits. At times their products and services are very good and at times not so good. Their service levels are subject to change on a daily basis, so are their quotations for jobs.
Without any doubt, consistency is borne out of high work ethics, sacrifice and total commitment to work.
There is so much effort and attention to detail required before a company can achieve a certain levels of consistency in their product or service delivery.
There are very few companies which offer consistent products and services throughout the world. Coca Cola, Pepsi, KFC, Microsoft and MacDonald’s are some of the few companies which offer almost consistent products across the globe. The taste of Coca Cola appears to be consistent throughout the world.
What is consistency?
Consistency is defined in four ways as follows:
It is the degree of density, firmness and viscosity. For instance the liquid has consistency of cream.
It is the steadfast adherence to the same principles, course and form, for example, there is constituency in the pattern of behaviour.
It can be defined as agreement, harmony, or compatibility, especially correspondence or uniformity among parts of a complex thing: consistency of colours throughout the house.
The condition of covering or holding together and retaining form; solidity or firmness.
(http:/dictionary.reference.com/browse/consistency.)
Why is consistency important?
Some of the importance of consistency in performance is building corporate credibility, building a network of corporate advocates, promotes referrals, and promoting continuous repeat sales.
Builds corporate credibility
Consistency in service delivery or product offering builds credibility for your product. Many consumers find it difficult to trust a lot of producers or service companies because their value proposition will be continuously manipulated to suit their own ends.
For instance many funeral assurance companies (from 1990s to 2000s) were known for short changing their customers during the time of bereavement by either asking for additional money for petrol, or reducing the mileage covered under the policy to 30km from their mortuary or giving customers a basic coffin when the stated benefit is a casket. Though these unscrupulous assurers got short term profits by changing goalposts, they made long term losses by losing their reputation and credibility.
Promotes Referrals
Many people can volunteer to sell your products and services to other people if they are confident that their referral will enhance their good standing in the society than not. During referral times the would-be customer buys the person who refers the product not the actual product itself.
In Zimbabwe there are so many companies and sole proprietors who drag your reputation to the mud if you refer people to them. Nevertheless referrals are the cheapest way of getting customers in your books. Referrals are done by satisfied customers who could have been satisfied with customers once or twice.
Building a network of corporate advocates
Most companies struggle to sell their products in Zimbabwe because of absence of customers who are willing to give testimonies about their products and services. If many people are satisfied with your products and services such that they are willing to choose your product ahead of competitors very often and refer as many people as possible to your products.
The company stands to benefit from free advocacy which in turn increases its turnover without corresponding increase in its advertising budgets. It is every company’s dream to have so many people working for your company who are not on your payroll.
Why is consistency difficult to achieve?
Most companies fail to meet all the dimensions of consistency in their value proposition. They configure some of their products elements to meet different social, religious and weather conditions across the whole world without compromising on other value deliverables. Another reason for failing to achieve consistency is poor corporate culture.
Diversity of customers across the globe
Henry Ford manufactured a black Ford (model T) for “great multitude” in 1908. This worked very well for the first years but as time progressed it was evidenced that some customers preferred other colours to black.
Though there is need to be consistent at times, however, cultural differences may force companies to change recipes, colours and other services deliverables to suit different cultures and social setups.
Different weather conditions across the globe
Most vehicles are designed according to geographical regions and this explains why some Japanese imports are not compatible with the South African assembled cars even if the model is the same.
Some cars are manufactured for extremely cold countries and some for hot countries. In other countries motorists drive on the left lane while some motorists drive on the right. This affects the design of the car.
This explains why it is difficult to manufacture a car with identical engine parts for the whole world. Though there are differences in cultures and weather, successful companies still maintain consistency in other value propositions such as durability, performance, comfort, quality and after sales service.
Lack of good corporate culture
Most companies and businesspeople are not bothered about protecting their brands or their names. They are tempted to make short term gains at the expense of their corporate brands.
In addition sticking to consistency can result in short term looses which are difficult to stomach for most entrepreneurs. Furthermore, consistency is only attained by companies that invest heavily in research and development, training and record keeping.
We all have the ability to carry out our tasks consistently in a way which will enhance the image of our companies or ourselves, if only we keep reminding ourselves that “kupa kuturika”. Let’s reward our customers with good consistent service and we will definitely be rewarded in our future lives.
The writer is a managing consultant at CLC Training International. E-mail [email protected]
leeroy
Online Reporter