Dear You

People trust you and come to you for that reason. They do business with you and you fall short. They are pained and start seeing you as a betrayal of the trust because that’s exactly what you have done.

I have been here. So long you do business in Nigeria. You can’t run away from this. You will disappoint your clients. And it may not be deliberate. Nigeria can happen to your business. Life can also happen to you.

But when it does happen to you. Your reaction makes the difference. I once called for a workshop here. I had a faulty system in terms of delivering the seminar to the people that paid N10k each. What were my mistakes?

1. I wasn’t clear about the fact that they needed the knowledge to access the added benefits. So most people wanted the benefits and didn’t have interest in the knowledge.

2. I set several dates for the people to all get the knowledge. Most of them complained about Data (the funny and laughable things people do). Some prioritized other things and couldn’t meet up with our schedule. Few attended. And we kept on postponing. I have learned a better way to tackle this. Open a Facebook Exclusive Group. Drop the teachings for them. When never they have data or time let them go and access it. It will always be there for them.

I ended up refunding 99% of the money. Even though I was in the right. But I had a faulty system. Plus I am in business. I must understand to accept RESPONSIBILITIES. So I did.

This post is not about me. It’s about you and your business. What do you do when Nigeria or Life happens to you?

When a client sends you money for a service. In executing that service, you had the funds hanging trying to pay some of the outsourced hands. What do you do? Because Access Bank has vowed that money coming from Palmpay must hang on the way. And they don’t resolve for weeks. What do you do?

When a client’s product you have made is supposed to get to them on time but you did your best to send the product 72 hours before D-Day. But the dispatch rider didn’t deliver until 7 hours after D-Day. It’s a dress for a wedding. What do you do?

Many things can make you not deliver. No system is perfect. It takes less than 24 hours for me to ensure my client’s story is published on any online platform in the world. But what happens when Yahoo Finance decides to delay for no reason? What do you do when you have already published over 900 stories for your clients on Yahoo Finance?

What do you do when the internet fails you? What do you do when your own system fails you?

1. Accept responsibilities. This is more than saying “YES, WE ARE RESPONSIBLE. DONT BE ANGRY”. No, it means you will do something about the already terrible situation or loss. I give free media plans where necessary. I do more. I hardly fail. My system hardly fails. But when it does, I do more. A client is supposed to have his story on one of these Tech sites. But due to an internal issue with the tech company. Delays came. And now I have decided to make it up and I have given the client a N50k worth of pr plan. And also promised a refund.

2. Understand the pain. You may not agree that customers are always right. But you can’t deny that customers had options but chose you for a reason. Trust and likeness counts for something. Don’t take it for granted. So always ensure you are sensitive to these things. Show that you do understand the pain of disappointment.

3. Improve your system. Keep checking and managing to ensure you have zero issues. It’s difficult. But keep at it. Under promise. Over-deliver. Don’t shoot yourself in the leg by underpricing. At times you underpriced your service and that affected your delivery. Where you should use a well-established dispatch service you used a cheap one. And the result came out bad.

4. Communicate. Never not pick a call from a vexed client. Answer the call. Communicate the challenges. It’s better when you are talking than when you are mute. It’s disrespectful, and most importantly can be misread.

5. Extend apologies or explanations to referrer. Yes. People trusted you because of other people. And when someone has referred people to you and your business. When you fail. You make that person a liar as well. And you can do more damage than you think. So always have your referrers in mind.

Your System spotter

Ediale

#ForTheCulture

PS: Business is tough. You can make it easier with a show of responsibility.