I escaped Boko Haram's Daring Bomb

Dateline was Sunday, 29th January, 2012.  The place was Naibawa Quarters, South Eastern part of the City of Kano.  I had gone to Church in the morning and returned home to sleep after lunch.  Against the run of my initial plan, I decided to stay home.  I had wanted to take a bicycle ride across the office but I changed my mind.  That was a saving grace for me.

By 5pm, I walked across with my son to a relative's house in the neighbourhood.  At exactly 6.41 pm, we heard sporadic gun shots in the neighbourhood.  We all shut down everything in house - TV, generating sets and put out all lights.  We were flat down on our faces.  The gun fire raged and was followed by heavy sounds of bombs detonating. 

The gun shots kept coming close to the house and the entire neighbourhood was in a dead silent mood.  After about 45 minutes of sporadic gun shots with the attackers having a free reign, everything went quiet.  We had escaped a major attack from the dreaded Boko Haram.  And so the reign of terror was unleashed on the Naibawa area of Kano.  By the next morning when we were counting our losses in the area, the Police Divisional Office on the Naibawa Park road was a major target.  It was bombed and what was left was just mere ashes and rubbles.  Three residents were killed in the cross fire as the Police tried to defend their station.  Fear was palpable and the residents didn't feel like staying in the neighbourhood anymore.  Security was gone and the bombing of the Police Station effectively rendered the entire axis of Anguwar Uku, Naibawa and Zaria road without any police outpost after the Yar'Akwa Police Division was bombed on the first day of the attacks on 20th January, 2012.

A lady who had dragged her boyfriend to the station to report him for some domestic issues barely left the station after reporting the guy and leaving him in the station before the attack happened.  Her boyfriend was dead by the time the attacks retreated.  What a way to end one's life.

Kano, Nigeria's second biggest commercial city has been under siege for nearly two weeks.  In spite of the huge deployment of troops to the streets, Boko Haram kept pace with their terrorizing attacks in various parts of the city after the coordinated attacks of Friday, January 20, 2012.  That speaks volume of how unintelligent our fight against terror is.  In the heat of all these, I have seen mobile policemen posted at road-blocks around the city which have become a major menace still collecting or exhorting money from motorists and do not hide this at all.  The way these security guys are positioned, they cannot stand any surprise attack at all.

The morning of the attack on Naibawa, while I was walking across to Church in the neighbourhood, I saw surveillance helicopters flying overhead and then wondered why they could not pick out the attackers in the evening. 

The truth is that these attackers are way ahead of our security intelligence.  It is high time the Nigerian authorities deploy more sophisticated methods of nipping in the bud the spate of terrorists attacks that leaves innocent citizens victims all the time.  If we keep applying the same methods for a new problem, we will never get anywhere.

The economic impact of these attacks is monumental.  Kano is gradually becoming a ghost city with the massive exodus of non-natives from the area.  People who have made Kano a home of sort are now leaving in droves.  Why would they stay?  They can no longer be guaranteed safety. 

What does these all portend for the corporate existence of Nigeria?  Some politicians are still playing politics of sentiments with this inflammable problem.  The northern politicians are saying government should negotiate with Boko Haram and grant them amnesty like the Niger Delta militants were treated.  The question is:  How do you discuss with a faceless group whose agenda is more treacherous than advocacy?  They want to overthrow the government of Nigeria and enthrone an Islamic Republic.  They insist they want all Christians to leave northern Nigeria and then confuse matters by saying they are revenging the killings of Moslems in some conflict areas in Nigeria.

Whoever is behind these group should know one thing for sure:  Whatever has a beginning has an end.  Osama bin Ladin didn't last forever.  He was picked out.  So will Boko Haram end ingloriously.  At the end of the day, Nigeria will stand either as a one indivisible entity or a group of nation-states with the destinies of the people of the different nations still making progress. 

There is light at the end of the tunnel.

NIGERIA: The mistake of 1914...

In 1914, the British colonial masters in their bid to control the administration of the Northern and Southern Protectorates of their colonies decided to amalgamate the two of them.  In doing this, the British did not take into consideration the fact that these two different nation-states were not compatible.  However, because of their ultimate motive of mere administrative convenience and to advance their purpose of mastering the mass of people, they did not care one bit about the compatibility of the two different people.  They went ahead to name the two nations Nigeria and insisted they were one.  In spite of the forced marriage, the two nation-states remain till this day but only now fragmented into different nationalities and today Nigeria is about 6 countries forced into one confused nation.

By 1960 when the British handed over power to us at Independence, we had dissolved into three different nations and they handed over power to an abstract entity called Nigeria but the real power was in the hands of the Northern Protectorate under the guidance of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.  He was a mere paper leader but the real leader of Nigeria was the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello.  The other nations in the arrangement were the Oduduwa led by Sir Michael Akintola with an emissary in the person of Obafemi Awolowo.  Biafra was another nation which was led by Sir Michael Okpala but had a paper tiger at the center in the person of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.  This arrangement subsisted with many crisis for only six years.  Obviously, these nations pretending to be Nigeria could not co-exist very well.  At the dawn of independence, there were crisis in the West which we now refer to as the "Wild Wild West".  The Tiv riots in the early 60s was also an evidence of a forced marriage between people of different destinies.

In 1966, a set of military boys staged a coup and what happened was like an ethnic cleansing.  They wiped out the leaders of the North and the West and left their own leaders in the East.  Can you now see what I mean?  Three nations co-existing as one.  One decided to overturn the table and left their own leaders alive.  There was nothing nationalistic and patriotic about the 1966 coup.  It was just one of the nations trying to outwit the others after it felt there was an imbalance in the sharing of power between the North, West and East of the contraption called Nigeria.

What followed the 1966 coup was not funny.  The Igbo leader who took over after his kinsmen had eliminated politicians from the North and some from the West could not hold the country together.  He formed a unitary government which broke down in six months as he had no serious command in the Army.  The northern military elements staged a come-back and wrestled power and handed it over to a so-called neutral person in General Yakubu Gowon.  Another disgruntled group in the military led by Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu disagreed with this arrangement and gradually a revolt resulted and what we had was a 30 month Civil War that claimed the lives of more than 1 million people with the Igbos who decided to secede suffering the highest casualty.

In 1970 when Biafra surrendered to the Federal military might led by General Gowon, he declared "no victor, vanguish" and since then it has been a ding dong affair.  The North held on to power for the next 9 years through Gowon; Murtala extended it for 6 months and their stooge - General Olusegun Obasanjo held it in trust for 3 and half years and handed it back to them in 1979 with Alhaji Shehu Shagari becoming a civilian President.  Buhari stepped in - 1983 and General Ibrahim Babangida held on from 1985 to 1993.  When it looked like the Federation was going to get better with Chief MKO Abiola heading for victory after the June 12, 1993 Presidential Elections, acclaimed to be the freest and the fairest elections in our history, the elements in the North stepped up their game and helped to annul the election and General Sani Abacha came in with huge brutality.  He died 5 years later and it was again a northern leader in the person of General Abdulsalami Abubakar that stepped in even though for a short-lived period of 11 months. 

The civilian administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was a creation of the North through General Ibrahim Babangida who felt there was a need to right the wrong of the June 12 election failure.  But as it turned out, Olusegun Obasanjo of 1979 was no longer the same man in 1999.  He had wizened up and he was determined to balance things out.  But the North would have none of it!  That was where trouble started.  He was opposed at every point and when he eventually bowed out in 2007, the nation was already at its tittered edge.  His nomination of Yar'Adua for presidency did not pacify the North because they felt he was a sick man and that Goodluck Jonathan was positioned naturally to step in.  Fine, Goodluck eventually became the President but not after there was hell on all fronts about the Presidency being the turn of the North.

Many of the politicians who felt the North was cheated even went as far as saying they will make the country ungovernable.  Is that not what is happening via the Boko Haram bombings now? 

THE VERDICT:

For nearly a hundred years, we have tried to force ourselves to live together.  The mistake is way back to 1914.  Can we now see why we can't seem to work well as a nation?  This faulty foundation gave birth to the unbridled corruption in the system.  The reason is this:  we are not citizens but indigenes of regions.  Citizens contribute but indigenes claim rights.  We see ourselves as Igbo, Idoma, Igala, Yoruba and Hausa before we are Nigerians.  Distrust is deep within our fiber.  As a Christian, its simple to add that two cannot walk together except they agree... Amos 3:3.

Where are we in agreement as a people?  I can't see any from the North to the South.

Refer to my last blog of December, 2012.  It is time to gradually get this region called Nigeria into its proper place.  In my subsequent blog, I will begin to discuss the variables that will help us navigate into our different nation-states within the Nigerian landscape and foster more purposeful development.  Enough to the mindless wastes of precious human lives.  People should die for a reasonable purpose and not for NOTHING.  

Keep in touch with me.

 

Let Nigeria Dissolve into 6 Countries

Nigeria is Africa's most population nation and by extension the most population black nation on the planet.  About 50 years ago, it was projected that we were going to be one of the most advanced nations along with Brazil and India.  These two have gone ahead and we are worse than the smallest nations around us.  Today, the leader of Africa's economy is South Africa.  What advantage do we have for our population?  Our huge population is suffering while a few are getting richer.  Our leaders do not have the capacity to lead a huge population.  They don't think well enough to plan and lead a great nation.  So our first problem is a leadership challenge.

The next is our polarized ethnic diversity that is so loose to form a nation-state.  We regionalize everything.  Indigene or this state or indigene of the other state.  These are divisive tendencies.  Next to tribal regimentation is our sharply divided regions on religious basis.

During the Constituent Assembly of 1995, the people came up with six (6) geo-political zones of North West, North East, North Central, South West, South South and South East.  These regional groupings have served the nation well in the case of proper delineation and identification.  

Over the years, there has been tension in the land over where a leader should come from.  The issue of rotational presidency came up but only parties talked about it.  It wasn't embedded in the constitution.  But because of the lopsided educational divide where the South is more educationally aware than the North, it is difficult to interact without creating conflict because there seem to be no proper communication.  The North appears to have a fixed position and the majority of its people are not educated.  So, they are at the whims and caprices of their leaders who use them to their advantage.  They are used to the political advantage of the leaders' since they do not have the capacity to reason out stuff by themselves.  The average southern citizen queries everything and does not follow leaders hook, line and sinker.  The same cannot be said of the northerner.  

The leaders of the states up north have not done much to fast track the education of its people.  They have used religion to cause the people to remain ignorant.  Islam is good as a religion, but its adherent must live in a multi-religious society where they must engage in commerce and do general business.  Life is not about staying up all day reciting the Quran.  If you must eat and be able to mix well with people, then you must learn how to relate by getting knowledge in schools where the world's most acceptable language for transactions are taught.  It is that education that Boko Haram says is sin...

Before Boko Haram, there is this intolerant attitude of the average northern moslem.  Then they feel they cannot be ruled by a Christian President.  I saw how they reacted when President Goodluck Jonathan won the election.  They were deluded to believe that General Buhari, a Moslem Northerner won.  It ignited protests in violent formats and the targets were Churches and Christians... 

Now as I write, Boko Haram has gone totally wild and I believe it would have been different if we had a Moslem Northerner in the Aso Rock Presidential Villa.  So besides the bombing across the country, Boko Haram says they want to install an Islamic Style Government.  They don't seem to have visible support from Moslem leaders but it is not a hidden that they have the sympathy of the big guys in the North.  Recently, a Senator was implicated by one of their spokesperson.  He is in court.  The evidence against him is daunting.  So we cannot rule out fifth columnist in the corridors of power who share the sentiment of the north that a Moslem President should have been our leader.

The bombings have been incessant and sustained.  Targets have been more of Churches.  They seem faceless but they really are not.  They have succeeded in making the country ungovernable.  If indeed they operate a guerilla style warfare, then the security agencies will find it difficult nipping them in the bud especially if they have insiders in the security agencies and I guess that is what it seems.  

This is my honest proposal before the entire country goes up in flames.  I had suggested this in a subtle way during the post election violence earlier in the year and I did intimate that Goodluck Jonathan may be the last President of a United Nigeria.  This is what all these may come down to.  It is better to have peace and have people's lives safe in a restructured-nation-states than to have a bogus country without security of lives and properties.  I deliberately didn't talk about the economic problems insecurity can cause because I assume we all know that.

Let us not kill ourselves in a bid to live together by force.  We have different ways of life, different destinies, different belief systems.  We can't simply live as a nation... we may fight until we finish ourselves.  Politicians who profit from this arrangement may not like it but we can't carry on for too long.  I therefore call on the National Assembly to summon a summit of the different nationalities... let every region take their destinies in their hands and my proposal for the nations to come of Nigeria is as follows:

North West Region (Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara & 

Northern Kaduna)  COUNTRY NAME:  Bahauria  CAPITAL: Katsina

North East Region (Borno, Yobe, Gombe, Adamawa & Bauchi States)

COUNTRY NAME:  Gombiana CAPITAL: Gombe

North Central Region (Southern Kaduna, Niger, Kogi, Abuja, Nassarawa,

Plateau Benue & Taraba) COUNTRY NAME:  Nigeria CAPITAL: Abuja

South West Region (Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti & Ondo States)

COUNTRY NAME:  Oduduwa CAPITAL: Lagos

South South Region (Rivers, Cross River, Delta, Edo & Akwa Ibom)

COUNTRY NAME:  Niger Delta CAPITAL:  Oghara

South East Region (Enugu, Abia, Imo, Ebonyi & Anambra)

COUNTRY NAME:  Biafra  CAPITAL:  Awka

This is my humble submission.  The time to start is now.  The lives and the economy of the people is dependent on this.

More on this in my next blog.

GOD SAVE NIGERIA and its PROPOSED NATION-STATES.

The Vexed Issue of Oil Subsidy Removal in Nigeria...

 The Nigerian political landscape has been awash with the huge debate on whether or not the government should remove the Oil Subsidy for the past couple of months.  The debate was sparked principally by the desire expressed by the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) in the wake of its outcry that the N18,000 National Minimum Wage was unsustainable by most of its members in their respective states because they do not have the funds to pay their workers.  The Governors had argued that, for them to pay the minimum wage and still have money left in their coffers to run their governments as well as provide basic infrastructures, the Federal Government should increase the allocation to States from the Federation Account either by dissolving the National Sovereign Fund (NSF) or an outright removal of Oil Subsidy.  This writer believes that the Presidency was caught in the middle of the road and had to choose between two undesirable options.  The Oil Subsidy removal was chosen as its best bet out of the situation.  This seemingly politically convenient position has its very far reaching consequences.

            The subsidy on petroleum has been there for as long as the nation has been an oil producing nation.  It has been there even when all our refineries were producing at 100% capacity and there was no need for importation of refined products.  Therefore, the oil subsidy in a nutshell was a benefit of the masses of Nigeria from its government for the blessing of crude oil.  That appears to be the only means by which the ordinary Nigerians were supposed to feel the impact of being an oil exploring nation.

            What really is the subsidy?  What is the government subsidizing?  A little check-up of this reveals that government is paying for the extra cost of producing a litter of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol and Kerosene less the real pump price amount being paid as a retail price to the ordinary consumer.  That is, if it costs the country N10 to produce a litter of fuel, it is selling it at say, N4 to the consumers and bearing the burden of N6.  In this case, N6 is the subsidy. 

            During the military regime of President Ibrahim Babangida, a phased removal of the subsidy began as part of the government’s economic blueprint in order to release needed funds to the system as the international price of oil dropped in the mid-1980s coupled with the desire to fulfill conditionality for the implementation of the IMF-backed Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP).  However, in spite of the removal of subsidies in those days, as at 1999 when the current political dispensation took root, the pump price of PMS (petrol) was still at N11.00 per litter. 

            The President Olusegun Obasanjo administration constantly adjusted the pump price until it came to N65.00 per liter which the Yar’Adua/Jonathan administration inherited.

            What really has been the reason for this constant removal of subsidy over time?  The truth really is this: government has neglected the oil and gas sector of the economy systematically to the point that all our four major refineries today are either half dead or producing at an embarrassingly low capacity.  This ushered in the massive importation regime of petroleum products.  What has therefore sustained the retention of the N65 pump price over the years is the subsidy that the government has had to pay.  According to a recent statistics as presented by the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the landing cost of PMS per liter is about N145.00.  The government pays a subsidy of almost N90/liter to ensure that the pump price remains at N65/liter. 

            The basic idea is to ensure that the subsidy will ensure that life is bearable for most Nigerians.  However, the paradox which the government has hinged the removal of oil subsidy on is the fact that it is paying a fortune for subsidy while a certain cartel enjoys the benefit and the effect is not telling on the consuming public.  The Senate during the first week of December, 2011 reeled out the names of organizations that have continued to feed fat on the subsidy which government says for 2011 stands at about N1.4 trillion.  This it claims is almost above the budget for capital projects in the 2011 budget.  The purpose of the subsidy it claims, is not achieved while a few rich organizations in the oil and gas sector are enjoying the proceeds.  The subsidy removal therefore is to meant to pull the carpet off the feet of the cartel or cabal while the proceeds are channeled to providing basic necessities for the Nigerian public.

            While the argument sounds logical and populist, a closer scrutiny reveals that with the subsidy gone, the pump price of petrol will naturally increase to about N120/per litter.  This will immediately have a spiral effect on every aspect of the economy as transportation cost will skyrocket and costs of goods and service will increase geometrically.  It will effectively put paid to the relief the so-called N18,000 minimum wage was supposed to provide and further impoverished the already over-stretched Nigerian masses.

            This disadvantage of the removal of oil subsidy therefore is huge and the effect on the personal economy of the common man will be disastrous.  The opinion of this writer is that the subsidy SHOULD STAY but government should look for other creative means to source for funds to do its business while ensuring that the subsidy benefits are properly enjoyed by the Nigerian masses.  The remaining part of this write-up is devoted to suggesting how this can be done.

Covering the Subsidy Hole

            The major concern of government is the fact that it spends a colossal amount of money funding the subsidy.  Let us look at this critically.  This money is this much because there are so many holes that monies are emptied into in the process of importing petroleum products.  One major job the government should do immediately is to fix all our refineries and build new ones to totally stop the importation of fuel.  This is the best way to checkmate the cartel or cabal and destroy their back-bone.  How long really does it take to build a refinery?  In the last three years, our northern neighbours, Niger built a world-class refinery.   They are in the process of joining the large number of petroleum exporters to Nigeria!  Is it not funny that we transport crude to Niamey from the creeks in the Niger Delta by trucks through inland roads across the country to Niger and then they in turn return these trucks in reverse to us with refined fuel?  What is really difficult in building a refinery if the old ones cannot be fixed?  The government must be proactive and think creatively in solving a problem that looks like it has defied all solutions.

            Secondly, while it is working on getting the refineries fixed, while supporting the subsidy, the government must look inwards to source for funds to cover up the hole that the subsidy creates. 

            There are so many other sectors of our economy that continue to consume funds without a commensurate contribution to its growth.  These sectors and institutions have merely become drain-pipes.  The idea is to re-channel funds from there for redistribution to critical areas needing urgent resources.  The list here is not exhaustive as there could be more:

a)     Cost of Governance at all levels:  We have reached a point where the cost of maintaining government officials and their respective agencies is becoming unsustainable.  Starting from the executive arm of government, we can free a whole lot of money by rationalizing some offices and cutting down on the expenditure of many.  There is absolutely no reason why we should continue to engage the services of so many Special Advisers & Special Assistants whose duties are merely a repetition of what most ministries and agencies are already doing.  The President should start by cutting down on some of its expenditure profile.  For all intents and purposes, the Presidential Aircraft Fleet should be reduced to at least 5 from the present number of 11.  If a holistic audit is carried out with a view to maintaining only very NECESSARY offices in each sector of government, then billions of naira will be saved and the hole created by the subsidy will be adequately covered. 

The National Assembly recently came under fire by the Nigerian public because of CBN Governor’s outcry that it consumes about 25% of the national budget.  Whether the figure being bandied was 25% of recurrent expenditure or it’s a percentage of the total budget is not really relevant.  What has become important to the public is the fact that the cost of maintaining members of the National Assembly is too expensive.  There should be a bold step taken between the Executive and the Legislature to drastically cut their pay and allowances.  If indeed they are serious about making necessary sacrifices for the survival of the nation’s economy, then they should show examples by taking a pay-cut of at least 50% and cutting down on the pecks of their offices.  They should not expect Nigerians who are already over-stretched to continue to pay high for fuel while they continue to drive around in gleaming cars and feed fat by attending plenary sessions for just screaming “nay” and “yea”. 

b)     Checkmating Corruption

The government is paying a steep price by funding corruption at the highest places.  Contracts are inflated; awarded contracts are poorly executed while state officials just line their pockets with money for no just cause.  It must take urgent steps to institutionalize the nabbing of corrupt officials to avoid the leakages that presently pervade the system.  If this singular step is taken and corruption is brought to a minimal level, a huge sum will be freed to enable government have what it takes to fund infrastructural development across the length and breadth of Nigeria.  If the government does not develop the will to exemplify sacrifice by cutting down the cost of governance and take further steps to stamp out corruption, it should not expect cooperation from the masses to further impoverish them by taking away the subsidy which promises to bring them to further poverty.

There is palpable anger in the air amongst Nigerians.  The youths are in their most dangerous restive mood across the land.  Unemployment is higher than admitted figures in the media.  There are millions of families who cannot afford a square meal a day.  There are many whose hopes of surviving is so deem that the only rational thing they think about is how to hurt others to get to survive.  This is not the kind of population the government should be thinking of dropping another burden upon with a subsidy removal.  They should look somewhere else to cover up the gap.  If they look very well enough, they will find enough leakages to cover up and we can be on track to economic emancipation.  Leadership is not about dumping responsibilities on others but by taking the bull by the horns and finding creative solutions to intractable difficulties.  I agree with someone who said a while ago that the office of the Nigerian President is the most powerful in the black world.  Why should the most powerful black President shirk from the responsibility of confronting a cabal that seeks to sink the ship of state?  Except that high office is collaborating with the cabal, it is time to show how powerful it is.  God bless Nigeria.

Competition and Customer Loyalty

     

Introduction

It takes about 20 times more energy to get a new customer as you will need to keep one you already have.  To keep a customer is to treat him with a measure of quality and excellence.  Whether the customer is an individual or organizational buyer, they all have expectations of the firm they deal with.  The basic determinant of whether they will become loyal to that firm or to a competitor is premised on whether those expectations are met or not.  This discourse is targeted at helping the participating firms to meet and exceed their customers/clients’ expectations.

The Effect of Competition

Who is a competitor?  Someone who produces and/or sells similar products to yours is your competitor.  All such companies involved in similar trade are in competition.  You are all in competition for the customers’ money; striving, trying to outperform one another, etc; but the choice of who to stay with, is the call of the customers to make, but you can help them.  Never let your competition shows your customer a better product than yours!  Do you want to avoid losing your clients to your competitors?  Then help them avoid seeing a better product in your competitor’s.  How?  Make your product the best in the market.  The same principle applies to both new and existing products/sellers in the market.  There are key areas you must focus on to keep your customers.  These will be examined shortly.

Why Customers Quit

1% die

3% move away

5% other friendships

9% competitive reasons (price)

14% product dissatisfaction, but

68% quit because of an attitude of indifference towards them by some employee.

A research conducted by Stanford University revealed that, money made in any endeavour is only 12.5% by knowledge, and 87.5% by your ability to deal with people.  John D. Rockefeller said, “I will pay more for the ability to deal with people than any other ability under the sun”.  Besides several other factors that could take your customers away and give them cheaply to your competitors, the attitude of your employee, or people who relate with customers matter the most.  Customers consider themselves your most priced assets, and they want to be treated as such.  Anything short of this, meets with a beckoning from competitors.

The single most important ingredient to the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.  Always realize that, any activity you engage in is capable of being a benchmark with which customers evaluate you, particularly in the earliest stages of their contact with you.  That is the customer’s privilege, not yours.

Do you want to have an edge over your competitors with regards to the battle for customers, then have an edge first, with your company attitude.  The customer has no business differentiating one person from another in your firm, every singular misbehavior by any one is seen as company misbehavior.  Customers don’t even see their own wrong, the company must just have a perfect attitude.

How to gain customers’ confidence and keep them

1.      Establishing contact with customers is a vital part of any company’s success.  The ability to maintain a welcoming environment involves a combination of the physical environment and the way the staff members communicate with the customers.

2.      Make sure you acknowledge and greet your customers within 3-4 seconds, as this is how long it takes for them to make a first impression on you and your business.

3.      Greet your customers with a smile and a ‘hello’; this will make a huge impact on the rest of your service.  If a customer is not acknowledged and does not feel welcome, they will leave the business and go elsewhere.

4.      Keep in mind the quality of customer service can never outweigh the quality of the people who provide it.  By making sure you keep those who work for you happy will ultimately improve the quality of service and experience your customers have.

5.      Treat your customers how you would like to be treated; its an easy principle.

6.      Management should lead by example, and set the standard.  If the management leads in excellent customer service, the customers will notice it every time.

7.      Try to remember your regular customers; welcome them back; make small talk of how they are; what have they been up to?  This builds rapport and makes them special; use their name.  Their regular attendance pays your wages.  Treat them with the respect they deserve.  You will keep them happy and returning to your business.

8.      Go out of your way for your customer, if they are after something specific, do everything you can to get their needs met.  For example, if a customer wants a specific product and you don’t have any left, make the effort to track one down from the warehouse or another store.  They will be really impressed and happy with the excellent service they have received and will return to your business again.

9.      Train your staff in proper customer handling procedures so everyone in the business is consistently providing the same high standard of service.  All staff needs to be trained how to handle difficult situations as this will add an overall good impression of the customer service your business provides.

10.  When you are hiring staff for your business, you want to make sure you are employing people who can fit in with your customer service standards.  Someone who can is not afraid to talk openly, smile, and be approachable.  The mistake some companies make is hiring people because they are desperate.  In turn, employ people who are not suited for the customer service industry, which in turn will hurt your business and reputation.