The Nigerian Customer Service Playbook: From Problem to Resolution

Hello and welcome. My name is Tavishima Ayedi. I'm the host of the podcast and I'm making today's recording at an undisclosed location in Abuja. So I expect to hear some noise in the background. Now, the goal of this podcast is business problems, you know, with customer acquisition, marketing, side hustles, you know, whatever it is that is holding your business back. So if you are curious about these sorts of issues, then this is the show for you.

So subscribe on Spotify, YouTube, Apple or any player of your choice. And if you'd love to connect, you can call SMS or WhatsApp me on 08064662140. OK, let me just spill the beans. I'm actually in Utako right now. Now for those of you who live in Abuja, I know that is a very busy commercial district, you know, markets, logistics companies, you know, stuff like that. And the reason why I'm here is because I came to pick up an order and let's put it this way,

for those of us who are in business, lots of times you don't look at things from the customer's point of view. And that's one of the reasons why we give bad customer where we have bad customer service processes or we don't even have any customer service processes at all, in fact. So I say, I'll say that's what today's episode is about, the proper way to approach customer service. Now the reason why I'm thinking about that today is because over a month ago, my wife placed an order on Instagram and it was a dress that she was looking forward to.

And you know, like some of these things that you trust the vendor, you send the money. And then one day my wife just woke up and realized that it's been a while, it's been like 2 weeks. I haven't heard from this person. So she now buzz the lady to find out how far, like how far would the delivery now, you know, order number, order number, the location for pickup and all these sorts of things. And there was no response and,

and another two weeks afterwards, you know, my wife now thought, look, this thing is, is now is now becoming somehow. So she kept trying to reach the lady and no response, nothing was happening. So I noticed that of course she was upset about the whole thing. So I took the phone number and then I tried calling the lady, no response. You know, I sent a message. And so just like with my wife, you know, no response basically.

But of course, the usual thing she had all those automated response WhatsApp messages, you know, the one that you guys put up on your phones to show that you value the person's business. You're busy right now, we'll get back to you. All this automated BS. And you see, these are part of the reasons why I say you guys mean we're well, when you put automated messages on your WhatsApp channels, your WhatsApp my business channel, but you're better off not putting those messages at all and rather just doing your best to be responsive to customers.

Because actually when people have a problem or they're trying desperately to reach reach your business, it actually is very frustrating to send a message to someone and then automated message saying, you know, your business is important to us. Another automated message saying we're busy right now, we'll get back to you when possible. And then automated message upon automated message. So just turn those things off in my own opinion, and then be responsive.

Or if you must put an automated response message, let it be something like, sorry, we can't come to the phone right now. If it is an emergency, call Chukudi on so, so, so and so or call Janet on so, so, so and so. I think that's a much more useful prompts to have so that if it indeed is an emergency, you know, like in my wife's case, you know, she thinks it's an emergency, There's someone she can call and she can't talk to to say how far our place is.

Order over a month ago. And then for those of you who sell things that involve physical delivery, it will be a good idea if you actually have some standard processes in place just to notify people what's up, let them know how things are going. So back to my wedding photography days. For me, this was standard, you know, when the book was being designed. I'll send the bride a text message, you know, hope you're enjoying your honeymoon, you know, hey Logger, you guys have fun.

We started book design today. I'll update you in another couple of days. When book design is done, I'll send them another message. Book design is done. The next step is while going into production, production to take three to five days. I'll let you know also when book production is done, when everything is done and everything is ready for delivery, I'll send them a text message. You know, everything is done. Are you guys back in Abuja yet?

OK, cool. I'm going to be delivering it myself. Where would you like me to deliver it to? We agree on the time and everything, but you see that I'll be updating people every single step of the way. This is the kind of thing that keeps our customers calm. I keep our customers cool. And just like I was saying in yesterday's episode, it's one of these things that make people think like this person is a real professional.

And these are the things that make it easy for people to now refer you. But then let's contrast it now with this case that, you know, my wife has just experienced. See, I'm not doing this, you know, to shame any, anybody's business. In fact, I'm not mentioning the lady's business name. I'm just, I just think that this is a case where we can learn lots of valid lessons about how to handle customer service issues and how to carefully craft the user experience, you know, or UX as people like to call it these days, carefully craft user experience.

So every single business that involves physical deliverables, you should be on top of the game when it comes to these things. Thank you very much for the order. The money has been received. Your order is now in processing. Your order has been processed. It is now at GBO port in Lagos, is going to be shipped off in another 24 hours. Order has been shipped off, is now on his way to transit. It's going to be in Abuja in another 24 hours.

Order has arrived in Abuja, is currently in processing. Somebody should call you within another 24 hours. Order has been processed. Expect somebody to call you within 3-4 hours today. And then when on your own and then I'll tell you that they've delivered the thing. Somebody should also make a call. Madam, we received a call from the logistics provider that this thing has been delivered. I'm just calling to confirm that you received your package.

Madam, have you received your package? Is everything in one piece? We hope you love your order. Can you please give us a five star on Google? But I really appreciate your business. Is there any other person that you can refer us to who would love XYZ kind of service as well? Thank you very much Ma. Looking forward to more of your patronage then you now go and put the customer back in relationship nurturing sequence. You know, as per our birthdays,

New Year, happy Salah, happy Christmas and all those things, all those automated messages. So this is how this is how this is how it should be done. We shouldn't always leave our customers all angst driven, you know, to the point of pulling the hair out, you know, wondering has my payment been received, Has my order been confirmed? Has the thing been sent? Is it now in Abuja? Where is the thing? Who am I supposed to call?

What is the order number? As sales people and as business professionals, we are the one who should be taking the initiative on these sorts of things. Now, of course, when my wife told me about this thing, I'm trying to reach out to the woman, you know, as per experience Decor, you know, as per me, I'm a business person, woman is a business person. So my wife is angry. But you know, from one business person to another, I know how these things can be.

Now as per things happen, So I just wanted to call her and then just have a chat. And then the lady of course is had a very, you know, effort kind of attitude. So I just told my wife, you know what, let's just flashy this thing. You know, how much was it? You know, the money was plenty sure, but let's just flashy this thing and I just reported the Instagram handle and of course wifey reported the Instagram handle as well.

I see this is the problem with Nigerian businesses. Now that we have reported the Instagram handle, I'm sure that they have received notice on the other end. So that's how today, now their body is vibrating and they're reaching out to us that oh, somebody has the thing was delivered over a month ago. Somebody has been calling, no number was picked. You know, something, something, something. Anyway, physically I was able to get in touch with someone,

excuse me, confirm the logistics company. I went there and you know what, it's a very simple something was a wrong phone number. The lady who sent the consignment, the business person should put a phone, wrong phone number just by 1 digit. And these are simple mistakes that happen. But because this lady doesn't have processes and systems around customer service, there was no way that this thing was going to be discovered and to be flagged.

Because this is the kind of thing that if you actually have paid for logistics, sorry for delivery, you should be checking up on the company. How far have you delivered? It's not just enough that you've collected money. You should confirm that the delivery has gotten to the end consumer has gotten to the final consumer and processes should have been in place. There should be somebody in the office who is a customer service officer or you know, I don't know, receptionist, somebody whose job it is to trace these sorts of things.

And then logistics companies that you use, please use reputable logistics companies for your business. Use the kind of logistics business that will call you back to say how far this phone number you gave us. We have been trying the person all day. Nobody has come. It's like two or three days, you know how far what's going on? We leave this thing in the shop or should we send it back to you in Lagos. So also make sure you're using reputable logistics outfits as well, because I'm surprised that the comp, well, at first I was surprised that the company didn't do that.

But then when they told us where it was in the Taco, and because I'm familiar with Taco because back when we were a newly married couple living in Zone 4, that's where we used to come and do all our market runs for for the week. So when I got there, it turned out to be, how do I put it? You understand now one of these logistics companies, you get like, it's just one desk and one room and no fan, no AC, no lights, no nothing.

Everything is just there gathered on the floor. You understand the kind of company I'm talking about. So of course, those people too don't even have their own customer service. Customer service game on point. So this was a very, very simple, negligible issue that could have been resolved a long time ago if people just had systems around customer service issues or just some simple business systems period. As a logistics company, if somebody gives us goods, but the goods stay in the office for like 2 days, nobody has come,

what should we do? How do we track the person we're supposed to deliver to? If we can't track the person, what is the process for returning back to sender so that we don't have liability for these sorts of things? Because think about it as a logistics company, it's possible you might receive something, you're keeping it. Nobody has come, the item spoiled, eventually they figure it out. The person who Lagos will say, look, it's not my responsibility, I give it to you, logistics company,

logistics company will be saying but it's not my responsibility. Excuse me, I tried calling the the person was supposed to pick up, nobody came. It's not my responsibility that the thing spoiled. I know that this is Nigel. Who do you think the person will hang the person will hold. They can't go all the way to Lagos and Jack somebody do Jack you here the logistic company because they can see you face to face. Now you're very before.

So even for those of you who run logistics outfits, you need to be thinking about these sorts of things. But the sad thing is, excuse me, now we've reported this lady's Instagram handle to Instagram handle to Instagram, regrettably, because to be honest, I regret that I that I've done that, you know, on top of a very small issue like this, excuse me, that one phone number was wrong. But really the lady went about it the wrong way.

And now I hope you guys can see the reason why I keep advocating over here on the podcast that if one of the ways that you can stand out as a Nigerian service provider is when you start taking response, when you all, I put it, this is the attitude that I advocate over here on the podcast. And people who have tried it before, they're always shocked because believe me, it calms everybody down. No matter what the problem is,

it calms everybody down because Nigerians are not used to being spoken to that way. So first of all, you say, Madam, I'm terribly sorry that you have not received our order. You have not received your order. This is not how we like to do business, Ma. I'm terribly sorry about that. My name is Nikeshi. I'm the customer service Rep and I'm going to take full responsibility for making sure that we resolve this issue. I apologize on behalf of the company, ma, I'm going to take full responsibility to make sure that we resolve this issue.

And if it's something beyond my control, I will escalate it to my auger. I will escalate it to my Madam. So please Madam customer no Vex, can I ask you a couple of questions so that we can figure out what happened? Let me see how I can resolve the issue. That is the simple approach. All the people that I've told and who have tried this approach, they always give me the same testimony. Everybody calms the hell down because nobody is used to being spoken like that in Nigeria.

People will calm down. You will not have a simple conversation. Now, see, especially in this case, that was a simple thing of just one phone number. This thing could have been discovered in one conversation because the customer service Rep, those are the basic things you were asked. OK, thank you very much. Ma, what is the order number? OK, What is the name of the package? Where is it supposed to be delivered to? What phone number did you put on the package?

You know, all these sorts of things, you know, now discovered that. Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Ma. The problem was the problem was from my own and we delivered the wrong number to the logistics company. We're really, really, really sorry, Ma. You know, Madame Novaks. And then of course, you know, these sorts of things. You can even like I've seen some companies do some throw in some, some how I put it. What's it called? Loss Leaders.

Abby lost. I think that's what they call it, loss leaders. I think you give something for free, you lose money on it, but you're hoping that you're going to, excuse me, make it back later on in other orders. So it seemed the kind of thing so oh Madam, really, really sorry. It was our fault. We've rectified it now. The thing will be delivered to you in about two days. And just to show how sorry we are, please Madam Novak, we're going to send you 2 free bandanas or we're going to send you 2 free earrings.

Or you know, just something small. Nigerians are not used to being spoken to in a very polite manner. You do this to your business people, people calm down and people are impressed. This is something that could have been really resolved very easily. So that's why I'm making today's episode and that's why there's noise all over the place because I'm still going to talk. I said let me just make this recording right now because if I

say let me go home first, I might forget. And then I also wanted to make another podcast episode about something else. So I said, let me just hop on here real quick and make this episode. So please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please let's sit down with our business partners, with members of our staff, and we need to come up with some small, small, small procedures when customers are angry. What are we going to do?

What is the internal policy for handling deliveries? If there's a problem with deliveries, deliveries are not getting on time, people haven't confirmed deliveries. What are we supposed to do? How do we follow up with logistics companies? Whose responsibility is it? You know, simple, simple, simple things. But please and please, I know you guys don't want to hear this from me, but I'm telling you, all of you that have all these automated response messages on WhatsApp, take those things down.

They serve no use. They add no value to the customer. It makes you feel as if everything is all good. You'll feel as if everything is taken care of. But clearly not everything is being taken care of. Even if you want to create your own custom bot, you are going to need a lot of data to program these things adequately so that they can respond to every single situation. My own opinion, Please take those things down. They serve no value.

If you must use them, then let it be a simple message that says thank you for contacting Chukwudi MRM and Sons. We are not available right now to take your call. However, if it is an emergency, call Kelechi on 080 blah blah blah or call Jennifer on 080 blah blah blah. That is the best kind of message to put up there because if the person feels like it's an emergency, at least they now know that this is somebody to call and they can get a response immediately.

There's no point in putting an auto response, auto response message that responds immediately but that provides no value to the customer and the customer still has to wait another eight, 10/12/24 hours before they get an adequate response that resolves the issue anyway. We should be thinking clearly about customer service issues and trust me, trust me with the way that business people in Niger just mouth off. Anyhow, any small things, the mouth of the door to take responsibility.

If you use this approach, it will make a world of difference in your business. You just say thank you very much Ma for reaching out. Sorry that this has happened. On behalf of the business, I apologize. My name is Jackson. I will take responsibility to make sure that this thing is resolved. If it is not something that I can resolve within my power, I will escalate it to my line manager or I will call my auger. So please Madam, don't vex.

This is not how we like to do business here. So please Madam, I need to ask you some questions so that we can resolve. I can find out what's going on and I'll now know how to resolve it. Then you have your standard template questions. Start asking the questions. When did you place the order? When was the order confirmed? What are the notifications you received? When did you notice that there was a problem? What is the nature of the problem?

Blah blah blah. It will make a whole, it will make a lot of a difference. So that's it. That's just the reason why I made today's episode. So that's it and that's all. Remember, if you'd love to connect, you can call SMS or WhatsApp me on 08064662140. Thank you for your time and attention. I will catch you same time, same place in your headphones or in your speakers.