Recently, a feeling of laziness attracted me to Facebook. I moved to 'Facebook' instead of 'Bookfacing'. I was scrolling down when I saw an advertisement for a delicious and well-decorated dish of snails. The price was worth it, and I sent an order and got a prompt reply, asking me to make payment before the order was formally booked. I replied that I would prefer to pay on delivery, but she insisted that she would not start preparing the snail dish until the cash was credited to her account. I asked her why she couldn't trust me to pay on delivery, but she wanted me to trust her by paying before delivery. He replied that he had never disappointed anyone before! The question why customers should trust vendors but vendors should not trust customers has been of great concern to me, and it reminded me of an article I wrote for BusinessDay on October 22, 2013. It is as follows:
A while ago, I did a month-long series (4/6/03-24/6/03) on how customers are treated or abused in Nigeria. I started with this exchange between a customer and a staff member: Customer: 'The customer is always right.' Employee: 'Yes, but we are the ones to determine whether you are a customer or not!' That staff may have never heard of the dual laws of customer relations. 1: The customer is always right. 2: Even if it's wrong, remember rule number 1. Strategically speaking, it is in the organization's best interest to win the customer, even if it means turning the competition in its favor. This is because, whenever the customer loses the competition, the organization has lost that customer, who then becomes 'militant' instead of 'motivated' and spreads negative things everywhere.
I was reminded of this because of the recently celebrated Customer Service Week. Some organizations sent happy-customer-week SMS, but my only concern is that one of the banks that sent me the text will definitely debit my account for the cost of the SMS! There was that bank that paid me N5 as interest on savings account and then charged N10 for SMS alerts on the interest. The result was that the savings balance was continuously decreasing (instead of increasing) until I petitioned the MD!
“The question of why customers should trust sellers but sellers should not trust customers has been of great concern to me.”
However, one issue that remains to be discussed is why customers are expected to trust vendors and not the other way around. This is my recent experience with my supplier from Harvard Business Review. Last month, the staff came out with the September edition, presented an invoice for 1 year and demanded payment. I replied that based on my past experiences, they would provide more concrete guarantees that they would meet their obligations. The only assurance he gave was that 'we will not fail this time.' Later he came with the October edition and again demanded my cheque, otherwise he would take the previous edition, and I obliged him. When we did that transaction about 4 years ago, the company had failed to meet its obligations. In 2012, they also breached the contract and most of my calls and messages were ignored. Last year's transaction was completed around June this year.
Now the issue is that the company which I have continuously patronized for the last 3 years, which has failed me twice and whose employees know my residential and office addresses, is not willing to leave just one copy of its journal with me. But they want me to pay them in advance for 12 copies. They don't trust that I will pay them, but they want me to trust them, despite two previous disappointments. It's the same with landlords, airlines, bus operators and merchants. They want us to pay upfront, but they don't trust us to pay later. And when they fail – as they usually do – they treat it as normal and expect customers to understand it! Flights departed up to 6 hours behind schedule, with only their untrained stewardesses cautioning customers about smoking and phone calls, but saying little about their own failures! We go to banks and deposit our hard-earned money without any hassle. However, when we want to withdraw money, it becomes complicated and often frustrating!
Trust is important in CRM, but it must be mutual. Organizations must also trust their customers, except those who have betrayed their trust. Treating every customer as a 'criminal in waiting' has an adverse effect on the value that organizations can derive from those customers, especially savvy, enlightened ones. I think the FCCPC should intervene in this matter!
Ike Muo, PhD, Department of Business Administration, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye. 08033026625
