Econet Wireless tops in customer service

Psychology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd.
Results of the IPC survey showed that Wireless Zimbabwe accounted for 11,2 percent of the votes.
Spar was voted the second best customer service company while African Sun was third position, after getting 6,7 percent of the votes. Tetrad came in fourth with 5,0 percent of the votes.
OK Zimbabwe was the fifth best customer service company followed by NMB with 2,6 percent of the votes.
Innscor Fast Foods and TM Supermarkets occupied sixth position after 2,4 percent of the respondents voted for them. Africom was eighth with 2,1 percent of the votes.
Two banks – MBCA and TN – were ninth with 1,9 percent of the votes. Edgars, FBC, Kingdom Bank and Meikles Hotel ultimately were ranked 10th after accounting for 1,7 percent of the votes received.
Analysis by sector reveals that most of the companies (37,5 percent) that made the top 10 best customer service companies are from the financial services sector, followed by 18,8 percent from the retail sector.
Customer service orientation is taking an ever-increasing level of importance in the present economic landscape where survival is the ultimate goal, especially emerging from protracted hyperinflation.
Generally, local observers have been complaining about the poor levels of effective customer service by the majority of local firms. This is a worrying trend in view of the fast-growing rate of the services sector.
Most organisations in the country are involved in the provision of service and an increasing number of the workforce requires interaction with the customer on a daily basis. However, the concept of good customer service is yet to be fully appreciated as an integral performance component of business.
IPC managing consultant Mr Memory Nguwi said the country suffers from what he terms “the customer services dilemma”.
“Despite Zimbabwean employees having been praised in other countries for their hard work and good work ethic, we fall short of meeting standards when it comes to customer service.
“Whenever IPC trains people in small groups or address huge numbers at industry level conferences, we have conducted an informal poll to find out how many people have experienced good customer service in the past six months.
“So far, less that 5 percent of the Zimbabwean customers have received good customer service from any service provider,” he said.
The current trend of poor customer service will have greater repercussions as the country continues to open up to competition from both the region and globally.
Last October, Zimbabwe held its inaugural National Customer Service Week, which was aimed at encouraging organisations to commit to customer service excellence.
Although relatively new in the country, organisers of the event took it as an extension of the International Customer Service Week, which was initiated by the International Customer Service Association in 1988.
The event has since become an annual event that is normally celebrated within the first full week of October which recognised globally as the week to celebrate and promote customer service excellence and to appreciate the role of customers in business growth and sustainability.