Communications expert calls for decent treatment of customers

Accra, Oct. 8, GNA - Corporate organisations must build bridges of healthy customer relations for them to compete favourably in the highly competitive world of business, Dr. Doris Dartey, a communication expert, said on Thursday.

The customer, she said, was critical in a free market situation, adding "the customer is the heartbeat of the existence of the company and must be treated with dignity, care and respect". Dr. Dartey was speaking at the launch of Customer Service Week of the British Council under the theme, "Living the Brand." The week-long celebration is to acknowledge British Council customers for keeping faith with the organization for more than 65 years.

The event is also to bring all customers of the Council together, including students of United Kingdom (UK) examination attached centres, Chevening Scholars and prospective UK students. Dr. Dartey said: "Cultivate a sensory awareness about your state of existence because the customers you serve experience you with all their five senses on the alert."

She noted that every brand must show its products and stated "it is a failure of promise delivery when product quality is sub-standard but the company uses advertising and mass media to brag about how good its products are". Dr. Dartey stressed that one could not separate a company's product from its brand, neither could one detach customer service from the company. "Products and human relations go hand-in-hand to tell a unified story about the organization."

She said the attempts to re-brand Ghana would require a lot of effort, which must not be tilted on the weaknesses of the country but must hinge on the strengths of Ghana as a country. "Branding cannot be accomplished through white washing the odds but through accentuating the positives," she said.

She said the state of customer service in the country was not good enough and added that some service providers thought being good to customers was a way of favouring the customers rather than carving a good image for their organizations.

Dr. Dartey said: "Customer service begins from the security personnel, progressing to the front desk and ascending to the management level of the organization.

She said if all these actors in the customer service drama played their roles well the organization was bound to make progress. Mr. Moses Anibaba, Director of the British Council, Ghana, said the Council as an independent and non-political organization, would continue to fulfil its global mission of connecting people worldwide with learning opportunities and creative ideas. He said the Council intended to deepen customers' focus and concentrate on specific areas of their products that needed improvement.