EZULWINI – Businesses risk disappointing customers when their employees cannot deliver the services promised in advertising campaigns.
Award-winning speaker Nikki Jacobsz said companies needed to ensure that their employees had the resources, information and authority to fulfil promises made to customers.
She was speaking during the 11th Customer Service Conference, a two-day event attended by representatives from various organisations.
Jacobsz said every employee helped shape a company’s reputation, not just its marketing department.
She identified three stages in building a strong brand: Making a promise, equipping employees to fulfil it and delivering the promised experience.
Businesses often focused on attractive marketing campaigns while neglecting the internal preparations needed to deliver the advertised service, she said.
“You cannot demand an experience that you haven’t equipped people to deliver,” she said.
Jacobsz called for coordination between marketing, operations, sales and management before businesses made commitments to customers.
She said departments needed to understand what was being promised, whether the business could deliver it and what preparations were required.
To illustrate the consequences of poor coordination, Jacobsz described an accounts employee called Susan who regularly faced customer complaints because of an unreliable billing system.
In the example, Susan struggled to obtain accurate customer information and resolve billing queries, leaving her to deal with frustrated customers.
Jacobsz said the employee remained responsible for treating customers appropriately, but management also needed to examine whether the systems and working conditions allowed staff to serve customers effectively.
She said frontline employees often knew which problems frustrated customers because they dealt with them directly.
Jacobsz also used Woolworths as an example of how practical service initiatives could build customer loyalty.
She recounted visiting the retailer’s Gables Shopping Centre branch while looking for a product that was unavailable.
An employee checked the Woolworths app, confirmed that the product was out of stock and told her when the next delivery was expected.
Jacobsz also highlighted a WhatsApp group through which the branch informed customers when new stock arrived.
She said the initiative demonstrated how employees could identify recurring customer frustrations and introduce simple solutions.
Such improvements, she said, required cooperation across a business rather than action by marketing teams alone.
Jacobsz urged businesses to consult frontline employees before introducing campaigns or services because their experiences could help management make informed decisions.
She warned that businesses could struggle to reverse customers’ expectations once they had made promises they could not fulfil.
Jacobsz challenged delegates to assess whether the service their organisations provided matched the image they promoted.
She said every employee, regardless of position or department, played a role in shaping how customers perceived a brand.
