Article 5.
BATHO PELE  (People First)
(published in MANAGEMENT TODAY - South Africa, March)

THE BUZZ!!!

•  SWITCHING CUSTOMERS 'ON'

- BATHO PELE

by Dr David Freemantle, Founder, Superboss Ltd, UK and best-selling author of 14 business books

When an organisation 'switches on' its customers there is a real buzz. This requires having 'switched on employees' and is the underlying principle of 'Batho Pele' There are eight essential steps for achieving this buzz

On my latest visit to South Africa I arrived on 6 th February, the day President Thabo Mbeki made his State of the Nation Address. As a regular visitor to South Africa ( Johannesburg , Bloemfontein and Cape Town ) over the last eight years I have been incredibly impressed by the progress the country has made. Every time I come I see improvements, whether it be in the cleanliness in the streets or the increasingly positive spirit I find amongst most people I meet. For example I have now had the privilege of going to Soweto on four separate occasions to meet various people there. There is an air of vibrancy and dynamism in these townships which I find very encouraging and which bodes well for the future. Other examples relate to the hotels I have stayed in which, with rare exceptions, are providing increasingly good service. Furthermore I have flown a number of times with South Africa Airways and have yet to have a bad flight! In fact I cannot even recall being late on one of SAA's flights!

In his address President Mbeki provides ample evidence of progress over the last ten years. However there is one key aspect he mentioned which I think is critical to the continuing success of this great country. This is the vision of 'batho pele'. The President stressed that this cannot be ignored in building a better South Africa . Simply put 'batho pele' is all about putting 'people first'.

It is a principle which, from my experience of undertaking research into the most successful organisations around the world, underpins great leadership and thus team motivation and high performance.

The Government's White Paper (No. 18340) on Batho Pele was published by the Department of Public Service and Administration on 18 th September 1997 and spells out eight principles which an organisation, whether in the public service sector or the commercial sector, would be unwise to ignore. When applied these principles (such as consultation, having clear service standards, ensuring access to service, courtesy, accurate information) will lead to the delivery of world-class customer service. In fact the service will 'buzz'.

When this happens customers are 'switched on'. It is so easy to turn off customers with poor service. This is often due to having front-line employees who are not motivated. They are

switched off for a whole variety of reasons. When this happens customers simply walk away and take their business elsewhere. There is a substantial body of research evidence from around the world which shows that 'buzzing' companies which 'switch on' their customers generate much higher revenues and profits. It is these progressive companies with motivated employees that really buzz - even in times of adversity.

The key challenge for any manager therefore, in facing these difficult times is to 'switch on' employees to create such a buzz that customers willenjoy doing business with them. This is the principle of 'batho pele'.

There are eight essential steps for 'switching on' customers to generate more revenue and profit.

•  Recognise customers

It is amazing how many front-line staff do not recognise customers (existing or new) when they appear out of nowhere. These employees, who often appear indifferent and disinterested, tend to be 'task-driven' and focus on the transaction at the expense of building a relationship (no matter how short and temporary) with a customer. Organisations that buzz have employees who recognise a potential or existing customer when they walk in (or call on the telephone) and personally become excited at the prospect of doing helping them meet this requirements, whether it is for a six rand coffee a six thousand rand vacation in Mauritius - or even a simple enquiry about a tax demand for six hundred rand. The process of recognition is simple. It means engaging a customer with eye contact, acknowledgement, a warm greeting and a friendly attentive approach. This is exactly as required in the principles of batho pele.

•  Take an interest in customers

During my previous visit to Cape Town I took the opportunity of some time off to visit a bird sanctuary near Hout Bay . In the gift shop there I met an incredibly impressive lady called Debbie Mangold (see photo). She has boosted revenues in her gift shop and her principle and practice is simple. She takes an interest in customers. "Every time a customer walks thru' the door I feel POSITIVE," she told me. "I try to radiate this as POSITIVE energy. In this way the customer is likely to feel POSITIVE."

•  Do something special for customers

When companies are task-driven, as opposed to being customer-driven, employees are trained to follow routine and furthermore instructed not to step out of routine. Their approach becomes robotic, mechanistic and at best rather ordinary. To 'switch on' customers it is essential to go beyond the routine and make them feel special. This requires a high degree of creativity in seeking out opportunities to surprise a customer. One expert at doing this is a wonderful guy called "Surprise", a restaurant manager at the Sandton Crowne Plaza (see photo). It is because of people like Surprise that I always stay at this hotel whenever visiting Johannesburg . He is always striving to do things special for customers. On one occasion I was dining in the coffee shop. It was approaching 9.00 p.m. and I was expecting a call in my room from my wife in the UK . As I hadn't finished my meal Surprise volunteered to take it to my room where I could finish it there. This guy is really special - as are many of the staff there.

•  Make a difference

When companies are all the same the chance of a customer choosing any one of them is random. To ensure that customers choose your company it is essential that your employees differentiate themselves from those of your competitors by making a difference. Mike Magangana (see photo) who works for Mug & Bean in the Mimosa Mall in Bloemfontein is another great guy who makes a difference. He is invariably cheerful and always joking with customers. He makes their day because any customer he encounters makes his day.

Demonstrate emotions

To 'switch on' customers it is essential to demonstrate empathy and the appropriate positive emotions. This is what emotional intelligence is all about. Customers need to know that the company and its people genuinely care for them, especially when things go wrong. This requires having front-line staff who can demonstrate kindness and compassion when a customer is experiencing difficulties. This equally applies when employees experience difficulties. Colette Armitage, (see photo) the manager of the Greater Johannesburg depot of RandAir tells of a few situations where the company has gone out of his way to help employees in difficulty. One of RandAir's underlying principles is 'kabula' or togetherness - and that's the way they work. Emotion is a critical element in this.

•  Give employees choices

Fundamental to the overall strategy for 'switching on' customers to buy from your company is the essential need to give front-line employees the freedom to make choices in favour of customers. The more these choices are restricted the greater the risk that employees will become demotivated, because they do not feel trusted, and customers will be 'switched off' (and thus turned away) because no one is able to make a decision. Last November I purchased a compact disc from a major store in another country. On playing it in my hotel room I discovered the disc was defective. On returning the defective disc to the store I encountered an employee who was unable to make a decision without going through some convoluted bureaucratic process which involved consulting her boss - who of-course was not immediately available. I was kept hanging around for twenty-five minutes whilst they tried to sort out the problem. The employee had been 'switched off'. If she had been 'switched on' and able to make the appropriate choice on my behalf the problem could have been dealt with immediately.

•  Put people first

A major lesson learnt from all the companies that excel at service and sales and with the revenues and profits to show for it, is that they put people first by investing an inordinate amount of time energy and resource into 'getting the people thing right'. When employees are conscious of this it switches them on. When they know their employers genuinely care for them they in turn will care for the customer and the company. This is the 'switch on'. A golden example of this is Discovery Health. A year ago (see report YOU magazine 30 th January 2003) this company was voted one of the best in South Africa to work for. There is wide range of things Discovery Health does for its employees (for example occasional breakfast with the boss). However the underlying principle is that 'to care for a customer you must first care of employees'.

•  Develop Superbosses

Little of the above is possible unless a company has a breed of managers who are super at motivating their teams of people and thus 'switching them on'. These superbosses tend to be exceptionally supportive of their people whilst articulating a visionary direction which they aspire to together with a set of personal values to which they equally subscribe. One such superboss is Louwrens Erasmus (see photo) from the aforementioned RandAir. He devotes an immense of energy and time to visiting RandAir's various depots, sitting in on team meetings and supporting his people in pursue of their aims.

Dr David Freemantle is well known in South Africa where he has spoken at a number of conferences as well as conducted in-house customer service, leadership and motivation programmes for various organisations. He is one of the world's leading experts on how to create an organisation buzz has gained an international reputation for his thought-provoking seminars and key-note talks at conferences. He is the author of fourteen best-selling business books including "What Customers Like About You" and "How to Choose". His next two books THE BIZ and THE BUZZ were published in London in November 2004. Prior to founding his own company Superboss Ltd twenty years ago he was on the board of a major airline. He is based in Windsor , UK .

 Dr David Freemantle would be delighted for any reader to contact him at: team@superboss.co.uk

Article copyright © Dr David Freemantle

Contact details:

Dr David Freemantle, Superboss Ltd., P O Box 813 , Windsor , SL4 2XU , UK
Tel: 0944 1753 833226 Fax: 0944 1753 863412

e-mail: team@superboss.co.uk

www.superboss.co.uk

ARTICLE COPYRIGHT © Dr David Freemantle