Ashly Dhani
An institution’s brand is partly represented by the actions and behaviour of its workforce when they face off with their customers.
These actions and behaviours contribute to the customer experience and can either build its brand or destroy it completely.
Now that the lockdown is in full force, few organisations are operational and in most cases with skeletal staff. The few that are open to the public are under a lot of pressure as they battle to serve more customers with just a few employees. It is always difficult to deal with large groups of people at once especially the mass market.
# Stay home, together we can fight Covid-19 war!
Employees are humans like any of us and they are likely to get emotional when the pressure becomes insurmountable. Moreover, emotions are contagious but great employees can separate themselves from the rest by being able to perform graciously even under pressure.
This is because they know they carry the power of the brand through their actions and behaviour.
Since most basic commodities are in short supply customers are not really worried about the brand of the product. Their worry is about getting the product at affordable prices but the available staff should still be able to be the brand name torch-bearers and be consistent in the execution of duties.
Every employee across every department of the organisation has a role to play in keeping the reputation and brand of the organisation alive.
Great social media campaigns or strong public relations building are not enough in brand image and reputation if there is no employee engagement.
If one wants the truth about the organisation they must hear it from the employees. Employees are the most trusted source of truth, thus, management must inspire them to be real brand ambassadors.
The power of the brand is strengthened when the target customers get satisfaction from the products or services on offer plus a great customer experience from the organisation’s employees. Employees must never make customers feel insecure as this will hurt brand perception.
Due to excess pressure of work, some employees become disengaged and their actions and behaviour may negatively affect the organisation on future business potential. Such type of employees may not be very good at handling pressure such that they feel disgruntled and unsatisfied in their jobs when the heat turns on.
There is always a domino effect caused by this disengagement behaviour. For instance, these employees have low satisfaction with everything about their job, this dissatisfaction can be shared amongst other employees and if taken in can eventually lead to low customer service.
Low customer service has a negative effect on how they will serve customers and in most cases the customers will experience poor customer service.
Employees should, therefore, ask themselves these two pertinent questions: (1) Do our actions and behaviour uphold the tenets of the organisation we are serving? (2) Do these actions have an effect on the brand and reputation of the organisation?
Some might say there is less competition because most companies are not trading, therefore, they are not worried about retaining customers as they will always have a captive customer base.
They may be guaranteed of customers because of the timing but if these customers are mistreated, they will definitely cause legal problems and this may taint the organisation’s reputation.
Every organisation should, in fact, pay homage to their customers because they are the reason why they are in existence and be able to offer their employees jobs. Mutual respect with customers can help organisations in fostering friendship with the customers instead of creating enmity.
Professionalism at all times not only makes executing duties easier but it also conveys that the organisation’s mission has strong moral values and beliefs. Partnerships and doors of opportunities are likely to open if there is great customer service attached to great brands.
Instead of spending energy over pricing goods and taking advantage of the situation, organisations should be making strides by placing their customers on a pedestal and engaging with them in matters of mutual concern. This helps in brand building and positive image creation.
There is absolutely no need to fly blind with bad apples tarnishing the organisation’s image and brand. Quality management programmes are a necessary evil that will help them assess the kind of service experienced by their customers from their lieutenants on duty.
These programmes, if executed well, will direct them precisely to the pain points which will determine the training and coaching needs required by their members.
In this era of many communication channels the voice of any organisation’s brands should not be too difficult to hear, neither should the organisation be too deaf to hear the voices of their customers.
Social media has proven to be the cheapest of them all with numerous benefits in terms of cost, wider reach and interactivity.
It is regrettable that most customers who experience bad customer service from big organisations do not know where to reach the relevant authorities but their bad experiences always leave dents on the reputation of the brand.
One thing they should know is that bad experiences shared on social media have monumental effect on the organisation and its employees because they have the potential to reach far and wide.
A Nielsen study showed that 84 percent of people trust recommendations from friends, family and colleagues over other forms of marketing. It is, therefore, ideal to use employees as brand advocates because they are the true story tellers of their organisation’s brands.
Employees should bear in mind that they are the custodians of the organisation’s brand and reputation. No amount of situation should make them lose focus to protect and uphold the power in their organisation’s brands.
Remember, the captive customer base will always stick with them during rainy days.
Cresencia Marjorie Chiremba is a marketing enthusiast with a strong passion for customer service. For comments and suggestions, she can be reached on [email protected] or on 0712 979 461
Online Reporter