UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMER CARE

Hello ALCP team,

I really miss you, please let us try find out how to meet again and discuss about ALCP Alumni network agenda.

Let me give you this second part of my topic, and feel free to post any comment.

UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMER CARE
PART II

a. Focusing on your best customers

Some customers will be more important to your organization than others. Some who are important in the short term may not be so valuable in the long term. Identify your best prospects so that you can focus on serving them well in the future.

b. Defining best customers

Whether your customers are internal to your organization, outside individuals or companies, or representatives, some will be better prospects than others.

Your best customers are not necessarily the ones who bring you the greatest profit now, but those who will want more of your services in the future. It is far more cost effective to retain existing customers than attract new ones, so focus on customers who are likely to provide the best returns in the future.

Important:
Make a list of your top ten customers and talk to them frequently.
See that your team knows who their best customers are.
Keep in regular contact with your best customers.

c. Examining trends

Examining customers, who will be most important in the future, look at the underlying trends in your industry.

If for example, you are currently serve a customer in an industry that is in decline, consider changing the focus of your effort. You may also need to change your focus to cater for seasonal or fashion trends. An ice cream manufacturer who sells ice creams to children during the summer for example, might decide to sell frozen, desserts to adults in the winter. Change your focus before sales or revenue fall by anticipating, rather than reacting to, an economic trend. Look for signs of new trends and seek out new growth areas, then alter which customers you target on your products and services to meet this challenge.

Important:
Always ask your customers how their business is progressing.
Study the trade journals for each of your customer’s industry.



d. Retaining long-term customers

Selling more of your products or services to existing customers is far more cost-effective than selling to new prospects. It therefore makes sense to retain your best customers by anticipating new economic conditions and helping current customers to adapt them. Make sure that you are prepared to help your customers make the most of opportunities when new market open-up.

Help your customers succeed and you will succeed too.

Source: Successful Manager’s Handbook

Dr John Eaton and team, 2002

UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMER CARE

Dear ALCP members,

We have been privileged to be part of ALCP courses at OTF, one of important lessons we have got is a Customer Care. Customer care is very critical and Rwandan economy can never experience real growth if managers and businessmen do not change the way their perceive customers and how they manage them. Customers desserve more attention and care, and it's my opinion that as rwandan people we still have a lot to do in this specific area of business.

Let me share with you the following insight I have got about customer care, please do not hesitate to put your comments, as I believe Rwandan businesses need to be more revitalized in this field.

UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMER CARE
PART I

“A customer is anyone who can say no.”
Peter Drucker

Why put customer first?
For an organization to thrive, it must keep pace with its customers’ changing needs and, succeed in satisfying them. Put customer first and you will ensure that you meet and anticipate their demands and expectation and so continue with the business.

a. Meeting customer’s requirements
By adopting a customer’s first approach, you will ensure that you provide the right product and services to the right people now and into the future. If you enable your customers to drive which products and services you provide and how you provide them, you can be, certain that you are meeting their needs. This is vital for long term profitability since customers will pay only for what they want.
Encourage staff to analyze all their activities from customer’s point of view.

b. Anticipating needs
Government policies, consumer fashion, new technologies, economic conditions, and hense customers’ needs are changing all the time. As a result, it is vital that you understand your customers thoroughly, listen to them regularly, watch for developments or events that could affect them and their businesses, and then plan how to meet their new requirements. You will then avoid the risk that they will go elsewhere because you have failed to identify that their needs have changed and that competitors are offering superior products and services.
Every time you meet customers, make a point of talking about their future requirements.

c. Satisfying expectations
Today’s customers expect first class service. If they sense that you are not putting them first, they will feel disappointed. Be aware that your customers will not only assess your performances against your competitors, but they will also judge you against what you promised to deliver, and what they believe to be acceptable standards. If you anticipate missing deadline of failing to deliver exactly what was promised, inform your customer as early as possible.

Source: Succesfull Manager’s Handbook
Dr John Eaton and team,2002

HOW OUR ATTITUDE AFFECTS CUSTOMERS

Dear ALCP members,
Let me share with you some tips to help team leader or enterpreneur interact succesfully with customers, according to Clate Mask, an entrepreneur’s coach:

BECAUSE YOUR ATTITUDE AFFECTS YOUR CUSTOMERS AND THE TEAM

Find yourRunning a business and leading a team towards goals is tiring, time-consuming, and often frustrating. It's not uncommon for the "Entrepreneurial Light" or “Team Leaders” to burn out. However, if you're not excited about what you do; your products or services, no one else is going to be. And who wants to be part of team he is not happy with or wants to buy a product/service they're not enthusiasticabout?Quick tips for regaining your passion:
-Write down all the reasons you love your job, your team, products or services
-Imagine what you want your business to look like in 5 years (even if it's unrealistic... perhaps especially if it's unrealistic!)
-Read inspirational books, blogs, and articles about small business ownership
-Take time to rejuvenate
Look, you became an entrepreneur for a reason. And, how you feel about your company is going to be reflected in the risks you'll take, the way you interact with your customers, and the amount of money you bring in!Ray Kroc (founder of McDonald's) said, "If you work just for the money, you'll never make it, but if you love what you're doing, and always put the customer first, success will be yours."Be passionate! Be excited!
Learn to love your business, your customers, and the simple joys of small business ownership. Pass that passion on to your employees and customers, and you'll see a phenomenal difference in the growth and success of your business!

Hi ALCP Alumni!

Thank you Serge for your help,

We have an interesting blogg, but I would like to invite ALCP Alumni to be more active on it as agreed during previous ALCP breakfast.

Hope to meet ALCP Alumni as soon as possible this year.

aime

Character

It is an incredible opportunity for me to have participated in OTF training. I gained new knowledge; I met people who later became friends. I have these connections that I believe will have immense benefit to me and to my country.
In addition to what we learnt during ALCP training, I have been thinking bout what might be of help to us (ALCP members) who are or dream of becoming change agents in this nation.
I have found none other than Character development. Read on and please make comments if possible.

Without a strong foundation, a building will fall. It doesn’t matter how beautiful its appearance or spectacular its design, if the structure doesn’t stand upon a secure base, it will collapse under the pressure of its own height.

A leader’s character is like the foundation of a building. If it is not strong, deep and firmly fixed in place, the man’s life and all he has built will eventually fall. It does not matter how eloquent he is, how attractive or powerful his skills are, without character, all threatens to collapse.

A leader might appear, by all external criteria, to be an effective leader; but if character is absent, it is only a matter of time (or eternity) until the house collapses for lack of a good foundation.

True character reveals itself even in the small things. Moreover, life is an assimilation of small things. How we respond is a clear measure of our character.
True character reveals itself most dramatically (noticeably) in the hidden places—in those encounters with total strangers and with people we will likely never see again. It’s our conduct when no one is looking that exposes clearly the real quality of our character.
True character reveals itself most completely in the way we treat the people without power in our lives.
True character reveals itself clearly in the ways in which we deal with those inevitable, compromising, and regretful episodes in life.

It is sad but true. Too many “successful” leaders have collapsed under the weight of their promotion. Intermittent ethical compromises that once seemed like insignificant cracks in the foundation of a small building became gaping breaches of corruption in the place of enlargement.

ALCP members, this is my prayer “That we will have a strong and developing character lest we fall under the weight of our own successes.” Columnist Cindy Adams wrote, “Success has made failures of many men.”

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