THERE is an interesting dynamic attached to Zimbabwean businesses.
It might be by default, intent, ignorance or just simply the insidious erosion of the moral core of the people of this country.
An interesting example is this: I approached a leading furniture credit retailer. As proof of residence, I produced a water bill that unfortunately was more than three months old.
I offered to attach a receipt from a bill settlement I had just made with one of the more illustrious clothing retail stores.
The salesperson refused even though the receipt had my name, address and phone number.
He helpfully suggested that I buy electricity. Unfortunately, I had at that time more than enough KW/hours to last me well into the next month.
At this point, he said: “Well, we cannot help you.” Fortuitously another water bill came within the week and I was able to make my purchase.
Fast forward one month I was due to pay my first installment. I went to one of their branches along First Street on September 30.
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There I was told that I would have to make my first payment at the Chitungwiza branch where I had made my purchase from.
So on October 1, the payment was duly made with this proviso: I was fined 10% of my installment for missing the month-end deadline.
Obviously, I pointed out to them that my payment was turned down in one of their Harare branches.
To this, the cashier responded with great indignation and called that particular Harare team lazy, no good so and so’s. She said I should have been allowed to make the payment. But still the fine stood.
Later on, I wrote them a note on social media expressing my due umbrage assuring them that in the future, I would not trouble them with my business.
The cases outlined above are about par for the conduct of Zimbabwean business they are, incredibly, not hungry for business.
It seems as if dealing with clients is to them an unavoidable evil they have to endure to make money.
They have this sullen attitude that says: “You have come to us because we have what you want. You will get it on our terms or not at all. If you don’t offer us business, someone like you will.”
You do not as a rule get Zimbabwean business across all sectors be it banking, retail, insurance, medical aids, funeral policies actively pursuing their business.
They want to be courted by you the customer and then, reluctantly, after great effort and supplication on your part accept your money.
This can be ascribed to two factors. One is that our thinking as managers and workers seems to be that so long as a business is afloat and making money, the salaries are coming in, the bosses are getting their perks then there is no need for anyone to exert themselves unnecessarily.
If the status quo keeps everyone fed, then keep the status quo. Nobody seems to appreciate that making money is durability.
Everybody puts in the minimum effort that will ensure survival of the entity. Nobody is thinking about possible future exigencies.
Zimbabwean business apparently suffer from a minimalist mindset.
It seems as if they too are infected by the indigenous businessman syndrome, where it seems as if the goal of the entrepreneur is to merely have a business to one’s name regardless of its health or durability.
A business does just enough to stay afloat, the logic being we have been around for so many years, we must be doing something right.
The second factor is that Zimbabwean businesses are caught up in what might be called a default marketing mode.
In this syndrome businesses, do not make deliberate and concerted efforts to entice and retain business.
Very little to nothing is done to positively position themselves as a brand.
In other words, they do not seek to place themselves positively in the experiences of their customers in order to attract and retain business.
That is customers rarely have a positive experience of their brand.
By brand, I mean the organistion, product and the service attached to the product.
Instead they rely on a monopoly, near monopoly and an enduring customer need in a product sector to assure themselves of business regardless of how poor the customer experience is.
A case in point will suffice to illustrate this.
During the horrors of 2008, a close relative fell seriously ill. The doctors requested that certain tests be done on her.
At that time, I had an account with Beverly Building Society. So I rushed to the Chitungwiza Town Centre branch.
As we stood in the long and exhausting queue, I mentioned to the people around me that the money I was queueing for was for a medical emergency.
At this point, everybody became very solicitous and pushed me to the front of the line.
We were all confident that the bank manager would appreciate my situation as I had the various prescriptions and quotations for the tests.
We were all very rudely disabused of our naivety when I met the ferocious gorgon who was the branch manager at the time.
She made it quite clear in no uncertain terms that she did not care if my relative lived or died, her business was to keep the line orderly and give people their money. In the end, the money ran out before I could withdraw it and so had to come up with a Plan B. By the Grace of God, my relative lived.
I was outraged, hurt and bitterly disappointed, but I could do nothing about it. I and everyone else in that queue needed a bank account in which to receive our monthly salary.
If I closed my account and transferred to another bank, I would probably not receive my salary for at least a month or two.
So I stayed with Beverly to the very end. And most importantly, Beverly knew it, knew that I or someone like me would stick with them because I needed the service they provided.
This instance illustrates default marketing, where a business just puts a product out into the market because it is a necessity and relies on that need to sell the product.
They rely on the people’s need for their product to sustain their business.
All businesses in Zimbabwe engage in elaborate and lavish marketing and promotional campaigns, but this not backed up by a customer-centred service delivery designed to entice customers and retain them as well.
The marketing campaigns and product placement in the minds of the customers is tokenism because where the metal meets the meat, on the shop floor, all that is undone.
These businesses rely on and gloat over having a captive market insulated against competition by the unattractiveness of Zimbabwe as a business destination.
Our banks know that there is certain percentage of the population that has to bank, so they don’t really bother themselves by putting together attractive packages or a positive customer experience.
They make no effort to be better than the next bank.
The same applies to the aforementioned sectors medical aids, insurance and assurance, funeral policies.
Nobody is really trying to dominate a sector through quality service delivery.
People paid for funeral policies for years and years and then maybe retired or lost their jobs and got zero benefits.
Medical aids know that their customers have to fork out shortfalls and are outright turned away from hospitals, but they do not try and come up with policies and processes that can address these issues.
Nobody is responsive to the concerns of their customers, instead its always business as usual.
Be that as it may, one has to fear for the future of Zimbabwean business should ever the economy improve such that it becomes an attractive investment destination.
Will our businesses in retail and the service sector be able to compete against new products and services coming from South Africa say insurance policies that actually refund premiums after a certain period of time, furniture credit stores that can guarantee you delivery of a piece within 72 hours, banks that help build the dreams of their customers.
Zimbabwean businesses need to wake up and make customers fall in love with the products they offer and their service.
Our marketers and sales people must always be thinking about how to make their interface with the customer better, memorable and a positive experience.
When a customer has money to spend, they not only want to buy the product, but having worked hard for the money, they also want to treat themselves to the illusion of grandeur that comes with having money.
It is up to the business to deliver that intoxicating experience to the customer.
- Ignatius Tsuro is a commentator on social and political issues. He writes in his personal capacity.
