Diane's Blog

  l wanted to write this post because I am still surprised that some companies out there (esp SME) underestimate the importance  of customer contact plan,  most importantly communicating-how, when, about what - with their customers.  I reached out to a computer service company (i will call them XYZ for the purpose of this article)a couple of weeks ago for a keyboard replacement, after agreeing on the price I paid the first half of the  bill. I was then promised to be contacted 3  to 5 days with an update on the reception of the parts. I waited and after 2 weeks, called asking for an update and was told that the parts were not there yet; then they explained that they did receive the wrong parts and they had to place another order. At that point I was annoyed not because of the keyboard fiasco but the lack of communication. So I decided to take this opportunity to talk a little bit about the importance of a good customer contact plan. 

  Successful companies around the world have demonstrated that success is not just about selling great products or offering the best services but it is about providing an overall great  customer experience.  A great customer experience means  ensuring your customer's satisfaction not only when buying your products but throughout the process and one important aspect is better and efficient communication .

Coming back to my little story: when requesting XYZ services i filed out a form/contract with my contact information, great but USE IT!! not only can it help you build a useful database but most importantly to interact with your customer and propose additional services in the future etc... 

A good customer plan will help you  make a difference from your competitors. it must include the following activities:

Entice - to prospect new customer via telemarketing, advertising and outside calling activities.

Impress - to prepare effective introductory messages for all first-contact opportunities.

Produce - to sell, cross-sell, and gain ongoing referral business.

Cement - to maintain customer loyalty and maximize customer retention.

 Why? Establishing trust and credibility in your brand => building relationships => customer loyalty =>believers in your brand => business advocates that will promote your products(WOM) and widens your audience (referrals).  How ? Provide a blueprint of your organization outreach  activities; build relationship and trust when communicating with customers. Add value to your products:When consumers trust your brand, they are willing to pay more as long as your price is not completely out of the ballpark. Do not just promote your products but engage the customer by using the right channel for each cluster ( email, sms, facebook, twitter etc..). Do not just talk at them but listen: customer reviews, surveys, blogs etc...  Your communications must be a call for actions, it is not just showcasing all your great products but how it specifically  relates to the consumer -56% of consumers consider marketing communications as spam if the message is not interesting to them- For example: promotions should be done in clusters to match to customer interest, moreover get feedback; remember that the value is in the eye of the reader. Also every communication  must  have  a goal, measure(number of items sold,number of clicks ) and test(offers featured).  

 here is a little chart from The arthur group Inc. on customer experience.

#ProjectPulse just entered private beta, reserve your space now , available to African students, lecturers etc...  

   HFACAM is a non profit organisation that vowed to create a better healthcare for the populations in Cameroon and lend a hand of support to the Government in fighting issues such as HIV Aids , Malaria etc... 

According to the UNESCO institute of statistics there are about 4.5 million students in Sub-Saharan Africa; the demand for higher education in Africa has almost doubled over the past 5 years and the proportion of people attending universities has increased from 1% to 6%. Great! you might think but the ugly  truth is that the majority of African universities still rely on traditional methods of communication like notices board, in-class announcements and even mouth to mouth( but with new breed of students who are generally techsavy, most of whom own a facebook account); these methods are not very efficient nor convenient for the students who usually miss a lot of information.

  Leslie Tita, a web development student at Franklin university and also co-founder of Pulse believes it is time they change things. The Pulse Project they named it, aims to reshape the way educational services are delivered to African university students, it will provide a low-cost online student services platform for African universities, professors and students. Pulse will provide a service where any university can own and operate its own high-end online students network, without having to deploy any technical infrastructure, it will permit lecturers to communicate faster and cheaper to their students. thus enabling students to reduce the cost related to getting information by giving them the possibility receive updates from their teachers and classmates through sms, web and email.   If change is the key word of the 21 st century in Africa then  nowhere is change more evident than in ways to use technology to assist students. "We believe we can change the way the entire African higher education system operates"  says Tita, a very ambitious project one will say, given the fact that most universities administrators are very skeptical when it comes to letting ICT interfere in the way they have always operated and the administrative procedures are so long that most of time similar projects don't even see the daylight, but Leslie is very optimistic "2011 has been a very special for Africa, with skyrocketing mobile subscriptions, facebook accounts doubling over the six months and most people getting up to an Internet age, we continuously believe our project will be of so much good to universities and student" .   One of the key aspects, the pulse team believe will make the success of the project is the fact that people share the same vision of the project,  Leslie recounts how they recently participated in an entrepreneurship competition organised by MIT, whereby anyone was expected to pitch up their business idea in a sixty second video, and have the public vote, the pulse project video totalled over 1000 votes, coming in second against other projects from great institutions such as Harvard, MIT and John Hopkins. the feedback from African voters was positive as they felt concerned by the problems and were grateful that the solution is on the way. "people i have spoken to believe in the project as a means to reduce digital divide, which has been an impediment to innovation in Africa" Leslie says.

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What is Pulse ? from pulse on Vimeo.

The lack of adequate infrastructures in the universities makes communication even harder and frustrating for both the students and the administration. Unlike other platforms who provide a similar service, he says "pulse is the first in its kind, to operate with the mobile experience in mind". Ingenious considering the fact that about 4 billion people use their cells phones to access a world of knowledge and information through the Internet.   Two-thirds of these avid cell-phone users are from developing nations. The low cost online student service will facilitate that flow of information by regular updates through sms, web and email.   he goes inform that the professors who will enroll in the pilot program will each receive tablets pc's and he expects to partners with universities to offer the same to student's in the long run, it's a feature his says will have a huge impact, and notes he shall be giving a more indepth explanation about its future integration in pulse, He called it "breaking the digital divide the african way"

however Leslie recognizes the odds and challenges for an African entrepreneur, local governments do not provide optimal environments for entrepreneurs to succeed, corruption and tribalism reigns decisions, as such its becomes extremely hard for entrepreneur to live his "African Dream".   

Leslie deeply expressed the reason why he decided to work on this project, " In 2008 while i was in Cameroon, i worked for a startup with provided Internet services to the general public, i realised how happy and optimistic the Cameroonian people were at the arrival of this new startup (RINGO ndlr),which caused the reduction of broadband services fees,they even express their wish to see more initiatives of this kind come to life" today it may be a reality with the pulse project who plans to take on the African education market by storm,with Cameroon being their first target, the country has no university which operates a online student portal. So potential of such of project is really vast taken into account the number of universities in Africa who do not have such a platform, Will the Pulse project be Africans next USHAIHIDI, no one can tell, but what is certain when universities start using this platform, the questions shall answer itself.   "We really believe in the ecosystem we are building," says Leslie. "we are out to question the status quo of the African higher education system" he goes forward to add “Although we still have a long way, Pulse hopes its platform will bring a difference to Africa higher education, one university,one student at a time.” Pulse project expects to continue to provide novel approach to educational problems in the subsaharan region. This is crucial because Africa was left out of the loop when classifying the 100 top universities , and the Pulse project can redefine the African educational systems and turn African universities into high performing research institutions. "The day when an student would sit down in his village in Bangante or Bali and access his notes, exams and result through his mobile phone. Is no longer far, Pulse will make it possible" says Leslie. The pulse project he goes ahead to say, "Is an African Solution to an African problem" as recounts how the is a great need for local entrepreneurs to provide local solution to local problems versus exporting western ideas and trying to implement them.