Mr Sajjad Dharamsi: “Poor customer care can damage a company’s future.”
What you need to know:
Though no research has been done to ascertain the magnitude of the problem, one can say that customer care is a serious challenge in the country by simply witnessing what is happening in our banks, factories, hotels and in various other firms
INTERVIEW.US customer care guru John Tschohl is expected in Tanzania next month on the invitation of the Tanzania Society of Travel Agents (Tasota). In this interview with BusinessWeek, Tasota Treasurer Sajjad Dharamsi sheds light on the importance of customer care
Why customer care?
Customer care is at the epicentre of a company’s growth. Studies tell us that close to 70 per cent of customer defections occur when customers feel poorly treated. It is also believed that for every customer who bothers to complain, 26 other customers will remain silent. This means that a good number of customers would rather not complain to you and probably make a decision of not doing business with you without your knowledge.
Similarly, customer service gurus believe that an average wronged customer will tell between eight and 16 people about it. If a business reduces customer defections, it stands a chance of boosting its profits by up to 85 per cent. The message we are getting from these statistics is that poor customer care can damage a company’s future once and for all.
How serious are challenges associated with customer care in Tanzania?
It shall be noted that Tanzania has a socialist background where companies belonged to the government. With that background, no one really cared about customer care. Even after liberalising the economy in the early 1990s, customer care services were still a new thing in the way companies do their business. This situation still persists. Though no research has been done to ascertain the magnitude of the problem, one can say that customer care is a serious challenge in the country by simply witnessing what is happening in our banks, factories, hotels and in various other firms. This is why we have not restricted the participation of this event to Tasota members alone. We want everyone to participate for our country’s economic growth.
Why invite John Tschohl?
Mr Tschohl’s biography speaks for itself. He is a customer service guru – according to the USA Today, Time and Entrepreneur magazines - who has travelled widely and so he has a lot to help our people improve their skills in dealing with clients of diverse backgrounds and expectations. Tschohl has authored various books on the topic. He is also an internationally recognised service strategist and president of Service Quality Institute, the global leader in customer service.
For the last 31 years, he comprehensively worked on helping organisations drive a service culture and create a customer experience through his technology built on practicality, simplicity and common sense. With his credibility and focus on empowerment and the power of the social media he has the ability to emotionally communicate the power of the service strategy from top executives to the total workforce. John’s message is based on common sense built around his 41 years in speaking, designing training programmes, and developing a high performance workforce.
John has been featured on major television shows from Good Morning America, CNBC and PBS to USA Today’s cover story, newspapers, radio stations, and magazines from almost every corner of the world. John’s technology and books are in 11 languages, represented in over 45 countries, and 90 per cent of Service Quality Institute’s business is international. In short, he has what it takes to instill into our people the required customer service skills.
What should Tanzanian companies participating in the seminar expect from him?
Basically, economic growth drives customer satisfaction via the expansion of the average consumer’s budget. We are in the hospitality industry and we require a good customer care to satisfy the needs of travellers – most of them being people who need the highest level of comfort when they either come or communicate with us. That should not end with us. It should be the same with our partners in business – from hotels to banks and manufacturers. That way, we will bring Tanzania’s economy to new heights. Now, back to the original question, Tanzanian firms should expect that he will take them through some of his famous presentations including ways of creating a service culture, ways and costs of handling problems on the spot as well as his famous customer service techniques as outlined in his slogan: “how to go from hell to heaven in 60 seconds or less”. In short, they will get everything that anyone aspiring for a serious career in customer care would need.
