Pay attention to customer needs – Start-ups urged
A Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School, Dr Kobby Mensah, has urged start-ups in the country to pay attention to the needs of their customers and apply them to making their products and services to reflect customer needs.
That, he said was the surest way to help them meet their customer expectation and expand their businesses through referrals.
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As a result of globalization coupled with stiff competition, he said the days where companies enjoyed monopoly was over, “So startups should always think about their services in the perspective of their customer, they should be customer-focused and pay attention to their needs”.
Dr Mensah was speaking at the second edition of the Customer Experience Scale Up, a capacity building workshop organised by Duncs Consult –a business solution hub that focuses on customer experience.
The programme is the latest to be organised by the firm.
Attention
Dr Mensah said most often, startups put too much attention into what they do because they felt passionate about what they do and the opportunities available to them rather than the customer.
“They go ahead to invest all their time in those but remember, if you do not focus on the customer, who actually brings you the revenue, then essentially all that you are doing has no purpose,” he added.
He noted that while chasing their dreams of becoming entrepreneurs was important, satisfying customer needs and enhancing their experience was paramount.
“It is actually fulfilling the needs of the customers that is more important and that is the only way you will grow your business,” he stated.
Commitment
Dr Mensah further urged startups to fully commit themselves to the marketing process which begins with the designing of the products to reflect different customer needs, right pricing, using the right tools to promote businesses among others.
New trends
For her part, the Executive Director of Duncs Consult, Ms Sarfowaa Duncan, urged startups to adopt new trends within the digital space to enhance customer experience.
She said one of the major turn off for customers was customer service.
Consequently, she said her outfit, among other things, had introduced the customer experience tracker, which leverages on QR codes to take feedback from clients of service providers and businesses.
She added that the consult also deals in mystery shopping, consultation for businesses to assess the level of customer satisfaction in their various firms urging startups to take advantage of the services.