The Sunday Mail
Necessity is the mother of invention for companies that have a zeal to excel.
Forward thinking organisations are not on lockdown counting their losses and complaining. They are busy looking for opportunities to beat the crisis.
Management should be burning the midnight oil, coming up with creative changes and business models that accommodate both their businesses and customer needs, but for the techno-savvy businesses who are pro-active, it is business as usual.
Sitting at home and getting frustrated over a situation that cannot be changed overnight is for weak business executives that lack deep thinking and foresight.
This is the time for businesses to imagine, rehearse and come up with various real strategies that are game changers and move their institutions forward for the better. These strategies must help them to be more prepared now and beyond.
Businesses have seen their Damascus moments, hence, they are now more customer focused. There has been an increase in local organisations embracing technology, especially electronic commerce as a way to reach their customers.
The Covid-19 outbreak has made businesses realise that customers are the heart and lifeblood of their existence and they should do everything possible to reach out to them.
All their energies and focus must be channeled towards reaching and fulfilling these needs and wants, because they are insatiable and cannot be locked down.
Every product or service is an essential service. what determines its essentiality is the timing of its demand. Food supplies are important if one is hungry, plumbing services are conveniently important when there is a sewer burst while toiletries are a necessity when one wants to use the bathroom.
Thus, every product or service is an essential good in its own right, what differs is when does it become an essential service.
With customers locked down in their homes, most businesses are almost at a standstill. And for those businesses that are thriving in this chaos how are they managing it?
Is it, therefore, possible to do business as usual in the middle of crisis like this? The answer is a bold “YES, IT IS POSSIBLE”. Smart businesses have invested and are still investing in technology.
Technology has changed lives not just individual customers’ lives but even the lives and livelihoods of both big and small. The landscape of possibilities is being shaped everyday no matter the circumstance of the environment and money is being made at every chance.
Covid-19 has given life to the term “social-distancing”, thus limiting our usual human-to-human contact. That is so unlike us humans because we believe in physical interactions when doing business.
Ooh, wait a minute, the pandemic has erased the physical contact for now but that is nothing because modern technology knows no social distancing and is still bringing that humanistic presence.
Local businesses like fast food outlets have scaled up their dial-a-delivery services where one can just pick up a phone, place an order and the food is delivered right on one’s door step.
Other players have joined in the fray and are also offering dial-a-delivery services while some have even gone the extra mile by offering free delivery within a certain radius.
There is absolutely no reason for one to go shopping and risk getting infected while mixing and mingling with potential infected people when you can transact in isolation at the touch of a button.
The coronavirus crisis is calling for companies that are flexible enough to adjust their normal way of doing things in order to meet customer needs.
For instance, the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown has greatly affected the school calendar but that has not stopped some proactive schools from conducting lessons. Students are conducting e-learning lessons or lectures and receiving soft copies of textbooks.
Churches have also not been outdone as they are also conducting their services through live streaming and offerings are being wired through mobile money platforms or electronic transfers. These ways of doing business all are done in the spirit and response to social distancing.
Online shopping is the real deal right now, therefore, organisations must invest in online applications that enables their customers to electronically transact without the fear of catching the fatal coronavirus.
These new applications have human connections that helps in understanding the customer needs. There has been an increase in traffic to online stores even and most of these visits have translated to an increase in online shopping.
Companies must, therefore, consider setting up online shops that will transcend times of crisis like these when people are not able to physically visit their brick and mortar shops.
Businesses must also embrace technology like automation. This is the use of programmers and technologists to assist customers with their queries quickly. Automation does not require human interaction but can serve customers just like a physical human being.
This lockdown has seen major local newspapers increasing their presence on social media, using platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter. This ensures that their customers are not starved of news.
This is advantageous to businesses as they are gaining greater reach in terms of readership and are likely to attract more advertisers.
Better customer service comes from giving a customer a value of a person and not just a transaction. According to global workforce performance firm, Leesman, which surveyed 700 000 workers worldwide, found out that 52 percent have little or no experience working from home.
Therefore, companies must re-train their employees on how to remotely work from home and improve customer service in dire periods like this time of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Did you know: According to the World Health Organisation, “drinking alcohol does not protect you against Covid-19 and can be dangerous”.
Cresencia Marjorie Chiremba, is a marketing enthusiast with a strong passion for customer service. For comments and suggestions, she can be reached on [email protected] or on 0712 979 461.
