In today’s times, customers are very much aware of their rights. Whether or not a frustrated customer is standing in a long bank or retail outlet queue - be this in South Africa or even in the bustle of Paris - one is bound to hear someone shouting “customer service please!”

More than ever before, successful businesses insist that their frontline employees attend various customer training courses in order to improve their customer interaction. Indeed, their drive to improve customer services and their relations with customers is extended to the products and services intended for their customers. Increasingly, customer-centric organisations allocate enormous annual budgets to protect their markets, and these organisations deploy costly activities to measure their customer satisfaction indexes and retention strategies. The question behind these actions, supported by teams of internal and external marketing and product specialists, is not difficult to answer. Without a customer, there’s simply no reason for the organisation to exist.

“Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) is the new mantra in financial services, and will be at the heart of future supervision and regulation in South Africa. Those in the industry are actively readying themselves for TCF and embarking on implementation plans across their multiple business models and product lines.”
Author: Judy Gilmour, 16 January 2014
By Terry Booysen, CEO of CGF Research Institute (Pty) Ltd, reviewed by Deon Francis


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