Service is a component of business practice often overlooked by companies, whilst it receives much attention from clients. These clients expect great service and many organisations need to realise that it is no longer a differentiating business tool - but is now entry level.
"Customers need to be delighted and not just satisfied by the service they receive," says Rademeyer. "This is now such an important component of measuring a companies interaction with its clients that we have pioneered the development of the first delight benchmark in South Africa to measure national delight across various industries within South Africa."
According to this benchmark, service offerings differ depending on whether they are technology-based or people-based, whether they require a clients' presence or not and if they are meeting a personal need or a business need.
Regardless of the service offering that companies provide, it is essential that they implement the right service mix that incorporates internal marketing, external marketing and interactive marketing.
"It is critical that employees know and understand the positioning of the company and that they don't hear about special offers from their clients for the first time," says Rademeyer. "It seems fairly obvious that staff need to be included in all marketing initiatives, as this promotes interactive marketing between the staff and customers, carrying more credibility about the company than normal advertising campaigns."
Companies should strive towards aligning their perceptions with their clients perceptions to deliver the quality and service that clients expect. The largest gap in the service excellence model occurs when clients perceptions are different from the companies perceptions and are not managed accordingly, Rademeyer points out.
Ask Afrika have identified five determinants of service quality that correlate with client's perceptions: reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles such as the personnel and communication materials that the company employs.
Each of these determinants conveys trust in the minds of the client and makes them feel proud about their interactions with the company. However, customer expectations continually shift and have changed over the past four years from customers wanting a one-stop shop in 2000 to them requiring professional, courteous service in 2004.
In order to gain the loyalty of their customers, companies need to be aware of their ever-changing environment in which they operate and adapt accordingly. In addition they need to analyse their customers and those of their competition to determine their loyalty to their suppliers in the market.
To grow loyalty through service excellence, Rademeyer concludes that companies start by employing their staff according to the needs and requirements of the customers. After all they are the essential link between the customer and the company and you need to know what they are saying to your customers and what your customers are saying to the market.
The rationale behind market research company Ask Afrika's National Customer Service Delight Index 2004, which puts South Africa's notoriously dodgy service ethic under closer scrutiny than ever before, is to give businesses a better understanding of consumers' expectations and needs. The Index drew on almost 6 000 respondents, and involved 24 leading South African companies across nine industries. It evaluated service delivery in various industries, and provides research recommendations that can help companies achieve extraordinary customer service levels.
