SERVICE EXCELLENCE – FIRST IMPRESSIONS

By Kayode Olufemi-Ayoola
Published: Daily Independent Newspapers in 2004
Circulated to staff of Equity Bank Plc.

" The deepest principle in human nature, is the

craving to be appreciated"- William James.

Service excellence is in the eye of the beholder - your

customer. With him, you will never have a second chance to
make a good first impression. This first impression could be a
bright smile or look, your facial expression or appearance,
your body language, the tone of your voice, or it could even
be negative facts like : a lack of courtesy or attention,
unprofessional behaviour or an attitude of indifference to his
needs or demands.

Unfortunately, the Suppliers' market, is so crowded with

home-grown and global competitors, that it is getting harder
and harder to attract and retain customer attention long
enough to develop emotional engagement. In other words,
more and more service companies are competing for the
same customers, thereby creating an overcrowded market
place of suppliers .

As someone observed, "we have now entered an age of

customer scarcity!". Therefore, we no longer have an
effective sellers' market, but a buyers' market, where the
customer holds sway, through the power of his choice.

I once read somewhere that," customers tend to stay with

organisations that enable them to experience positive,
meaningful and personally important feelings". Several
surveys conducted, also reveal that , "most people shift from
one service provider to another because of dissatisfaction
with service, not price or product offering".The onus
therefore lies on the service provider to manage the
emotions in customer service exchanges, as the battle for
the emotions of each customer is also the battle for repeat
and future survival of the business.

To be a successful service representative, you must make a

personal connection with your customers, letting them know
that you are there to meet their needs. You must earn their
loyalty, one customer at a time - seeking to increase your
profit per customer, thereby experiencing repeat business.
One service business discovered that, " a 2% increase in
repeat business , had the same impact on profit as a 10%
cost reduction".

Results from several surveys show that while most people

will tell ten other people about great service they have
received, the same set of people will tell up to twenty other
persons should they experience poor service... This is
definitely the power of advertisement in reverse!

Depending on the industry, it costs between two to twenty

times more, to gain a new customer, than it does to satisfy
and retain an existing one. In fact one survey result
categorically states that, " 95% of customers whose
problems are fixed quickly, continue to do business with the
company involved".

All these, show that the key to service excellence lies in

being able to tap into a consumer's latent motives and
invoke an emotional response, thereby getting the customer
hooked... (To be continued).

SERVICE EXCELLENCE – FIRST IMPRESSIONS CONT’D.

“Unless companies redefine how they are going to engage

customers and employees in-order to somehow override
price, their traditional competitive advantages are gone”
Gabriel Gonzalez – Molina.
Whether you call it permission marketing or customer
relationship marketing – your objective /goal as a business is
to achieve customer loyalty, to enjoy repeat business and
more importantly, to increase business from present
customers

The only challenge is that customer loyalty/engagement is

earned one customer at a time. The key to repeat business
lies in knowing what’s going on inside your customer’s
minds; this is the only way to emotionally connect with your
customers.
Daniel Goleman’s marvelous book on emotional intelligence
tells us that, “the human mind can be thought of in 2 parts:
one that thinks and one that feels. In most situations, both
parts operate in harmony to help people navigate through
life; however, when passions surge, the emotional side holds
the rational side captive, dominating the overall decision -
making process. This happens because emotions are hard-
wired directly to the body through a fast –track neural
network, whereas rational thinking is indirectly connected
with the body’s functioning.”

In many situations, emotions move a person to act well

before the rational mind has had a chance to catch up.
An article I recently read on the power of emotions, equally
confirmed this observation, as it noted that, “emotions
actually stimulate the mind 3,000 times faster than
regular thought”, small wonder that people have
been found to act/react before thinking out the
consequences!

All what this means, is that your ability as a service

representative to perceive and express emotion, assimilate
emotions in thought, understand and reason with emotion
and regulate emotion in yourself and others, is your key to
repeat business – herein lies your challenge!

The more open you are to your emotions, the more skilled
you will be in reading the feelings/ non-verbal signals of your
customers. For example, the facial appearance, the telling
tone of your customer’s voice or shift in posture – these
emotions are rarely put into words; they are usually
transmitted through non-verbal channels.

Research shows that 90% of an emotional message is non-

verbal. Communication experts tell us that as much as 55%
of the messages customers send may be communicated
non-verbally through body language. Another 38% of the
message is communicated through tone of voice. That
leaves only 7% communicated through the spoken word. The
customer’s tone and body language convey up to 93% of his
feelings and thoughts. As a service representative, it is never
what you say, but how you say it that really counts. For
example, if a customer calls/comes with a complaint, do not
say – “It’s not my fault”, instead of dodging the issue or
blaming someone else, apologize for the customer’s
inconvenience and immediately begin to take action to solve
the problem”

According to a service survey, 95% of the customers whose

problems are fixed quickly continue to do business with the
company. You as a service personnel must remember to
always treat customers respectfully and courteously at all
times because, you will only have one chance to make a
good first impression, use it wisely!

ABOUT EXECUTIVE TOOLKIT: PEAK PERFORMANCE COACHES-

There’s a growing number of Executives who express deep frustration with
their careers, such people look back and feel they should have achieved
more or even wished that they had chosen a different career.
A few have become entrapped by the curse of competence – successful in
a job they no longer enjoy. The longer they stayed, the more successful they
became, the greater the cost of giving up their job. The greater the cost of
giving up their job, the more their success became a prison.
We at Executive Toolkit, help clients develop clarity 5-10 years into the
future, help identify who they want to become and the skills they want to
acquire, think through and define how much they want to earn; strategies to
become better known in their industries and contacts who can help them
(your personal visibility programme).
Our focus:
• To reposition you in terms of who you must become!

• Income improvement

• Performance improvement/ personal development

• Dream job coaching

• To make you career resilient and help you weather your

career transitions.

• To provide insightful constructive feedback and support

in your quest to climb your career ladder.

Our tools
1. Values Clarification

2. Using C3 & P.I.E(Performance, Image & Exposure)

: Building your

• Competence

• Character

• And improving the level of your commitment

3. Performance planner & the 90 Day Goals Challenge

etc.

INTRODUCING EXECUTIVE TOOLKIT: PEAK PERFORMANCE

COACHING
This one-on-one coaching programme is unlike any self development and
career enhancement programme ever offered. As a client, you will spend a
minimum of 12 weeks building your life strategies, being guided as you take
accountable action steps towards making your greatest desires a reality. If
you are like many, you often set goals but sometimes lack the motivation to
follow them through.

With the nurture and guidance of Kay Olufemi-Ayoola and Sydney Sanni
(your Executive/ Performance Improvement Coaches),you will be
accountable for changes you want to make in your life. No doubt you know
that accountability is most often the key to taking affirmative action.

The personal coaching programme has massive life changing results on

those that have committed themselves to it. It consists of a minimum of 12
weeks of one hour one-on-one coaching sessions (3 sessions per month);
accompanying these are articles, case studies, massive constructive
feedback, values clarification exercises, 360 degree feedback
evaluations, and the development of detailed performance development
plans – followed by massive feedback methodologies.

The Coaching Programme offers guidance in three major areas:

• Performance Improvement/ Personal Development: to foster
individual performance in a business context.
• Dream job coaching – to help executives discover their own path.
• Career Resilience & Managing Career transitions.

We will support you in determining what you want and why it’s important
to you; we will guide, challenge, encourage, support and provoke you to
choice about what you are willing to do and who you need to become to
get it; and then, with your permission, keep you accountable until you
have achieved it.

About Your Executive Coach:

Kay Olufemi-Ayoola has been a practicing Career

Development expert and Coach for over 5years; he has
inspired thousands to reach personal and professional
fulfilment and transform their careers. Using individual and
group coaching, conducting hands-on workshops and
seminars and consulting with organizations , he coaches his
clients to advance up the corporate ladder quickly, and love
the job they have or land their dream job. Kay’s active
engagement in Human Resources and Career Development
began in the mid 1990’s as an undergraduate conducting
Personal Achievement Success Seminars (P.A.S.S) and Career
Talks, which were aimed at helping students maximize their
potentials regardless of prevailing obstacles in their
environment. He has extensive work experiences from
various Consulting firms and was Head, Human Resources
Vigeo Oil & Gas Limited, and Chief Operating Officer,
After School Graduate Development Centre before his
appointment as Head, Human Resources &
Administration, Spring Life Assurance Plc (a
subsidiary of Bank PHB). Kay is the founder and
Coordinator of Daystar Christian Centre’s Career
Development Unit – CareerPlus+ (started in 2004). He is a
frequent speaker at seminars conferences and has
published well over 60+ articles on Career Development,
Personal Branding, Career Change & Transitions and
Graduate Employability to date. He is the co-founder &
Executive toolkit: Peak
Partner of
Performance Coaches.
We believe that Advice can only be judged by results, not by intentions”
Interested? If yes, please see the attached for further details
Best Regards

Kayode Olufemi-Ayoola

Executive Coach
Executive Toolkit: Peak Performance Coaches
08037207606; olufemikay@yahoo.com