In the last 72 hours I have asked myself again and again whether it was divine providence to have handled Customer Service aka “Servicom” in NTA for two years at some point in my life. I was largely misunderstood by both staff and service providers. Simple reason being that very few people are interested in Customer service in Nigeria. In fact, it will seem that both those at the receiving end of customer service and those providing it are either clueless or do not know their rights if receiving a paid service. I am completely gobsmacked by the poor levels of customer service or the complete dearth of it. Now that I also train in Customer service along with other faculty at The Eugenia Abu Media centre, it is clear to me that people come into a service provision job or any other job for that matter, untrained, self-entitled and unwilling to give the customer their due.
At the end of 2019, I was invited by a big supermarket and chain of stores to train staff on customer service. To my utter dismay, I found staff who had no interest in the business other than their salary and closed themselves to learning. I found others who told me point blank that they would be physical with any customer who was verbally inappropriate with them. I was quite amazed. I mean while I do not encourage customer verbal inappropriateness, for a cashier to tell me they were ready to be physical was for me the height of it. Question is how were they hired? What did they understand as their role in the business chain?
In another space where I was involved in mystery shopping for a big store, my staff returned with bizarre reports of staff complaining that they had had enough of customer service training. Should we lie down for these customers? This was the question a particular staff kept asking. And she was a deputy manager. Surreal. I was billed to deploy our customer service training that weekend for this store and that staff was to be a participant.
We are literally on our knees in the customer service business, from restaurants to airports and shops, staff are treating people like rubbish and owners seem like they do not care. I wonder if they hired motor park touts to man their business. Sales girls only behave when their bosses are around. Gum chewing, rude and eyelash batting girls are at the counter, give you a full eye when you walk in and then promptly ignore you. Those who greet act like they are doing you a favour. They are impatient and seem to want to shoo you out of the shop. In addition, they have no information about the product they are selling or when it will be available or even if it will ever be. They seem to be out of their depth when you ask them a simple question.
In the last 72 hours, I have lunched and dined out at some of the finest restaurants in Abuja. I am literally at my wits end with some of my observations. I have practically begged for a menu from a waiter who dropped it and went his merry way and then pleaded for his attention to take my order. I then waited another 15 minutes for him to return and tell me something was not on the menu. At another restaurant, the waiter had to be told to stop humming under his breath as I waited to make my choice of food. Waiters have shown that they would rather hold an office job and in fact if not for Nigeria and lack of job, they would not wait on you. They usually don’t verbalize it. Often it would be through body language and attitude.
So, question is, why does it seem that I am the only one incensed when I received bad customer service. Why are my compatriots acting like it is a bit too much to ask if I say waiters should not yell at each other in my presence while I am trying to eat or hairdressers should not gossip while doing up my hair which will ultimately lead to their spittle in my hair because they are discussing inanities that have nothing to do with me. Again, how do we hire our staff? I find that most service providers in Nigeria in the medium stream tend to hire cheap labour, do not train them and unleash them on us.
Let me say here clearly to shop owners. When you do not train your staff, they practically send off your customers and ruin your relationships. If you have a quarrelsome sales girl, you are cooked and if your shop is made up of inefficient and rude staff it is time to pack up your business.
Business owners have to decide if they like the title entrepreneur without the work and customer service quotient that goes with it. It’s a tragedy that here in Nigeria customers are treated like Sardines
In the course of doing this column, I have had cause to speak to a multiple entrepreneur whose hands are in every pie, tailoring, restaurant buisness and all other unrelated businesses. She has scaled up so quickly that I doubt she is able to manage her ever expanding businesses. Again, another problem impacting customer service. Scaling up without the requisite preparation or capacity. She told me she has many good hairdressers, just that some of them are rude and impatient but they are very good. Oh really! Madam can you hear yourself? Rudeness is not my thing. If you are the best of anything and add rudeness, then I don’t consider you good at all. Character is everything.
Business owners have to decide if they like the title entrepreneur without the work and customer service quotient that goes with it. It’s a tragedy that here in Nigeria customers are treated like Sardines. No one tells you thank you for making a choice of their shop to buy what you need, those at car washes toss you around like a scarecrow’s assistant and those at restaurants are dealing with too many customers and treats you like a number. No one thanks you for your custom, they are more interested in the tip for a bad job done. And when buffet points are out of a particular variety of food, you will be the one to have to advise the waiter to get the kitchen to replenish.
My question to business owners is this? Are you in this business for fancy or you are serious about it? Your staff are treating customers like sardines, bunching them together and refusing to listen. Other staff are rude, unethical and disrespectful while trying g to sell you a product clearly not on the menu.
Something is dangerously wrong. Nigeria needs fixing, one customer at a time.
I rest!
