The Sunday Mail
Cresencia Marjorie Chiremba
“Customer service is just day in, day out ongoing, never-ending, unremitting, persevering, compassionate, type of activity” – Leon Gorman, CEO at L.L. Bean
Education is a fundamental right, and this is why it is guaranteed by the Constitution.
However, there has been debate on who are the customers for educational institutions – is it the learner or the parent?
A good understanding of who your customer is helps to not only give customers a good service, but to also know what customers want.
This knowledge similarly helps in designing effective marketing programmes.
Customers are people who either provide, purchase or consume your product or service.
They are the same people who recommend it to future potential customers. In the education sector, particularly schools, there are basically three types of customers – learners, parents and school staff.
It is interesting that when it comes to organisations like schools, all the customers are the same and receive the same service.
It is different from other sectors, where there are priority customers that receive additional or better services than the rest.
This is more pronounced in the banking sector, where customers are classified into different categories and some get preferential treatment over others.
Customers for schools are not mutually exclusive.
Services offered at schools are usually specific and almost the same at most schools, and most of these services are tailor-made to suit certain guidelines and standards.
While most people believe the parent/guardian is the school’s major customer, there is an age or grade limit where the parent’s decision on the choice of school is ultimate.
In some instances, after Ordinary Level, parents give children the power to decide which school, college or university they want to attend.
This is common if the learner has flexible parents or guardians.
Overall, the primary customer is arguably the child as the consumer of the service.
The core business of any school is to provide education.
However, with the increase in the number of private crèches, schools and colleges, the primary objective seems not to be the only reason.
Some of the buses and cars that ferry learners to these private institutions do not seem roadworthy and are at times overloaded.
The duty of parents/guardians is to pay school fees for a service.
They have the ultimate decision to choose which school their young children should go.
So, at this stage, when a school is designing its marketing programmes, the target market should be the parents.
If parents are not happy with the service, they have the power to transfer their children to other schools that meet their expectations.
Thus, the school should strive to satisfy the one who brings in the revenue, and that is the parent.
And, in a sense, the last customer of the school is the teacher and operational staff.
The teacher provides the school service through curriculum development and delivery, while operational staff make sure that the physical environment and facilities are conducive for learners.
Thus, schools should invest in training and other forms of learning development for them.
Staff must be motivated with perks and incentives so that their performance is always at peak levels.
The organisation should include staff members in decision-making and allow open communication to make them have a sense of belonging and ownership, hence boosting their morale.
So, the cycle goes something like this: Parents pay school fees for a service they expect from a school for their children, teachers provide this service paid for by the parents, and children go to school to consume the service provided for by the teachers and support staff in the environment provided for.
Learners, as the primary customers, take what they learn at school back home, providing some feedback or rather return on investment to the parents on the school fees that they would have paid.
So, schools just like any other organisation that aims for success, must have a customer-first approach.
*Cresencia Marjorie Chiremba is a marketing enthusiast with a strong passion for customer service. For comments, suggestions and training, she can be reached on [email protected] or on +263 712 979 461, 0719 978 335, 0772 978 335
