Don’t crack the service, crack the egg

“You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.” – Henry Ford

Easter has always been the first big internationally celebrated holiday on the Christians calendar. Such holidays are synonymous with big spenders, while businesses cash in on the spending.

However, as organisations prepare to take time off, this is the best time to show customers the service excellence that they pride in.

Since this is the first biggest holiday of the year, most customers are well prepared for it and they will be having disposable income to spend on food and beverages, travelling, tourism, weddings, parties, among other big spending sprees.

As marketing people, we always emphasise that successful businesses invest in their customer happiness. A happy customer is more rewarding to the business compared to a dissatisfied one. When a customer has a negative experience with a brand, they are likely to dump it and take along some customers with them to another competitive brand. This action will definitely hurt the brand’s bottom line and kill its quality of service.

No need to egg-nore customers

Whenever there is a holiday approaching most shops are characterised by long winding queues. In Zimbabwe most supermarkets experience this rise in shoppers and to make it worse their payment platforms give them a torrid time as they will either be going offline or the dropping of networks. Customers that are not so patient avoid long queues and hunt for shops that offer better shopping experience such as those that offer virtual shopping options and home delivery.

These virtual shops must make sure that their applications and systems are top notch as customers will not want to deal with companies that have slow running websites, abandoned social media sites and most out-of-stock commodities. Just this week, I sent a very important enquiry to Zimra regarding duty payment through their website and on their Twitter handle. I expected a swift response but never got a response at all. Nobody acknowledged receipt of my enquiry, neither did they respond! I ended up wondering if there is anyone managing those two platforms.

As customers we do not enjoy calling busy call centres where we are put on hold forever because it costs money. I felt ignored and my level of customer satisfaction with the organisation’s service dropped significantly. Answering customers’ questions must be a priority. Thus, organisations must seriously manage their online platforms and attend to their customers as soon as possible.

Be empathetic

Businesses are in business to give their customers value at a profit. They should wear their customers shoes regularly. Time and again a business must see itself in the eyes of its customers for it helps it in perceptual development and service delivery. What customers experience now in their Easter shopping journey with an organisation service provision and products is an indication of what to expect in the next big holiday. If the experience is not so good, organisations must make critical decisions that will make sure that a brand is not cracked and a repeat of poor customer experience will never recur.

Weather the storm

Holidays pose a challenge to systems, processes and service providers and this is caused by the increase in consumer traffic. It puts a lot of pressure and if not managed well, it will result in a blackout of anticipated excellent customer service. To avoid major breakdowns, organisations can weather storms like that by investing and using online systems that are managed by competent virtual assistants These assistants should be available 24hours in order to assist customers on any enquiries that may arise during the course of the Easter holiday break.

High Demand

Not all industries will experience a high demand of their products and services during this season but for those that enjoy a surge in demand, it is their time to make the most out of it. For instance, in Zimbabwe, most people travel and this normally results in an increased demand for motor industry services and products. The services required is mostly personalised like the mechanical skills and replacements vehicle parts in the event of breakdowns or mechanical faults. In spite of increased pressure, service providers must be able to balance between quick service and personalised support. Thus, organisations must have some of their personnel on standby to offer the much-needed customer support as soon as it is requested. After all a happy customer saves on marketing costs.

Cresencia Marjorie Chiremba is a marketing enthusiast with a strong passion for customer service. For comments, suggestions and training, she can be reached on or on 0712 979 461.