Wednesday, 19 August 2015

Customization, the secret of Managing Account a Case of Pension Fund Administrators- Odunze Reginald C




Image credited to paramount.com

Customers are like women and children, they value themselves, and they want to be promoted, appreciated and hold in high esteem. Any human being will feel at home in the hands of those that promote and appreciate him.
In my early years of hunting for job in Lagos, of all my numerous kinsmen, I can never forget one that took time to appreciate me, telling me how intelligent I am, how I will easily get job within the shortest possible time. I discovered one thing that whenever I am with him, my ego swells, and I feel that I have already secured the job. It was that zeal and strong magnetic impulse that drove me to get my first job in Xerox.
But there is one thing that I value this man, he takes time to talk to me positively, telling me not to mind those negative people that say there are no jobs in Lagos. Though I have other kinsmen who took time to tell me that there are no jobs, telling me about negative part of Lagos, though they gave me money, when I am going but I value this man who does not give me anything but takes time to lift my ego, it was that ego lifting that drove me in those days. It rekindles my faith and brings the job nearer to me. He takes time to talk about me, even though I had nothing.
Dr William King noted that “A gossip is one who talks to you about other people,  A bore talks to you about himself. And a brilliant conversationalist is one who talks about yourself” Lebouef ( 2000:35)
Continuing Lebouef noted “that in today’s world professionalism has little to do with what you do for a living, it’s how well you do what you do that separates the pros from the also-rans. The mark of true professional is that by his conduct, he gives the customer excellent value for his dollar as the customer perceives it. And there is no better way to build perceived value than by tailoring your efforts to benefit each individual customer”. Lebouef  (op cited)
And when we do that we are customizing, we are in the era of customization, not that customer is king, but it is equally good to tailor our service deliver to customer’s specifications and requirement. No two customers will exactly have the same desire, expectations etc.
In customization, it is imperative we know the names, title and aspirations of our customers. The customer’s aspirations have a lot to do in carrying on with the essential requirement in maintaining a cordial and harmonious relationship with a customer. I have step into a customer’s premises and immediately I discover that the customer is a politician, I took time to see the brandings, symbols in his office and I have to follow, in a way that even though I am not a politician, but being mindful of what you will say in such dispensation may make or mar you.
As National Pension Commission strategizes on lifting the transfer window, which according the AGM, Public Sector, Abba Mamman has been militated by the rising cases of double and multiple pins. He went on to say that what wlii ensure the success of PFAs in surviving and keeping their customers in the event of the lifting of the transfer window is the quality and efficiency of customer service. But to me what will ensure that is the ability to customized, sterling bank calls it the one customer. But I call it customization, the need for customization cannot be over emphasized, each customer has its specific needs and tailoring the services of PFAs to the needs of the specific customers will long way, in ensuring the satisfaction of these customers.

Odunze Reginald is the Lead Consultant, Chareg Consulting, a management and marketing  consultant  a social media and social marketing consultant , you can visit our twitter anchor @regydunze, find us on Facebook @ Reginald odunze and reginaldodunze.com, at google+ @ Reginald Odunze and at Linkedin@reginald odunze.


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