The case of the CEO of a Fitness company overreacting to a customer who demanded a refund or better service in Lagos remains a case study for customer experience management in Nigeria.
The CEO obviously take it personally, it is clear that most organization and CEO’s in Nigeria has not come to terms with the power of customers at this digital age. more so, most CEO’s only want to hear about the Naira and kobo coming to their organization not the day-to-day management of their customers.
Service delivery is about perception, arguably the CEO has shown us that he is temperamental and has a Rubicon that customers that made his company running must not cross, perhaps he would not mind closing the company in a place of tolerating a high touch customer.
The CEO said customers also have a responsibility which we cannot take away in this argument but how well is the customer aware of her responsibility in the age at which most customers do not read the terms and conditions that are always more than two leaflets
It is not bad to stop a customer from doing business with you, the question is what is the process of avoiding the customers, it can be done in a systematic and gradual process with a touch of an expert
Yes, we have some unprofitable or nasty customers, I was invited to intervene in a case which I find it difficult to comprehend as a customer experience management expert and also as a board member of Save The Consumers Initiative.
This customer bought something at a particular ShopRite in Lagos and decided to return it at a different ShopRite in another location in Lagos and he insisted they need to return his money or change the product for him and he said he is right after all it is the same brand. This is a pure example of a nasty customer, but we are human and he is a customer he still needs to be treated right by explaining why he needs to take it to where he purchases the item.
The lady in question who recorded the CEO when he chased her out of his office for bullying him never explain what transpired before the CEO decided to walk her out but we saw the attitude of the CEO. He actually over-reacted, no matter how strong your case against the customer is, immediately you raise your voice or walk her out, you are telling other customers to also walk away, it needs a meticulous approach to handle an irate customer
Service break is constant in any organization, it will definitely happen someday but the recovery process and compensation mean a lot.
Some Nigerians are in support of the CEO, while some of us are happy because of the level of decay in service delivery in Nigeria, the company will be at the receiving end simply because most people supporting the CEO are not the company’s Customers, the common local parlance of the injury on one is injury on all will surely set in for the company customers. The CEO has become popular negatively, so also the company.
In customer-employee experience management, we have what is called customer abuse management, which are physical abuse, emotional abuse and Physiological abuse, the customer may have abused the CEO but it takes an experienced customer experience manager or CEO to understand and manage it appropriately,
Be that as it may, every customer deserves to be treated right even though the customer is not right.
for more details: check this linkhttps://twitter.com/ChallengerNG/status/1217043375381188608?s=08
