Your employees are directly linked to your business’ success. For your employees to take your customer’ experience to the next level, they need the skill, knowledge, capability and passion. Wouldn’t it be great if employers could generate the same level of dedication in their staff that we see in the loyalty of sports fans to their team? How do you create the same passion and emotional buy-in for your employer brand? Customer experience can only ever match employee satisfaction. Employee engagement not only affects employee commitment and employee loyalty, but it also has a direct and indirect impact on customer satisfaction. “We place great emphasis on employee satisfaction,” says Heino Gehle, General Manager of PLP SA . “Satisfied employees are motivated employees and they have the motivational resources to deliver adequate effort and care. Satisfied employees are empowered and they have the resources, training and responsibilities to understand and serve customer needs. Satisfied ...

Adrian Zanetti T o stay ahead of the pack and lead innovation in a fast-changing society, is essential. How can you ensure that your customers have an exceptional experience when dealing with your company? The top business priorities for any CEO will be reducing costs, retaining customers and attracting new customers. How do you ensure that you have customer retention? Today customers demand a lot more than good service or a nice product. The reason for this, is twofold. Firstly, as Generation Y has moved into the consumer market, they expect us to know who they are and what they want. They are critical, outspoken and demanding. Secondly, with the rise of mobile technologies and the fast rate of technological innovation, this consumer-generation is also hyper connected - telling their friends and families about their experiences with your brand on every available social media platform. “Today’s customers are more demanding simply because they are exposed to an array of options in ...

The On-Demand Economy is revolutionising consumer behaviour around the world. But what is it exactly? Lloyd Ball The new on-demand economy is the immediate real-time provision of goods and services by companies using smart technologies, and consumers have embraced this trend with a frequency that is unprecedented. The increase in the number of smartphone connected consumers, simple and secure purchase flows, and location-based services are a few of the market conditions and technological innovations that propel the explosion in on-demand services.  The always on, always connected revolution has made convenience, efficiency, and simplicity critical ingredients in purchasing decisions — never before has a consumer been able to buy anything they want at anytime with simply the tap of a button. Despite the relative youth of on-demand businesses, it is expanding at a rapid pace. Supply is driven via an efficient, intuitive digital mesh layered on top of existing infrastruct...

Lloyd Ball Keeping up with the pack is essential, but leading the pack and staying ahead of it is where the game changes. How does one ensure that your customers have an exceptional experience when dealing with your company? A Gartner 2012 study showed that the top business priorities for CEOs over the past five years has been retaining customers, attracting new customers and cost reduction. But today customers demand a lot more than good service or a nice product. The reason for this, is twofold. Firstly, as Generation Y has moved into the consumer market, they expect us to know who they are and what they want. They are critical, outspoken and demanding. Secondly, with the rise of mobile technologies and the fast rate of technological innovation, this consumer-generation is also hyper connected - telling their friends and families about their experiences with your brand on every available social media platform.  Today's consumers are more demanding; exposed to an array of ...

New codes bring new B-BBEE opportunities Petra Rees When companies start their new financial year, part of their planning must involve implementing the revised B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice. The codes include priority elements with sub-minimum criteria, and if these are not met, companies will lose their achieved B-BBEE status. “We have done preliminary assessments for some of our clients and the results speak for themselves. The majority of them sit at a B-BBEE procurement level 4, and if they don’t implement the necessary changes they will drop to a level 7 or even 8. This would have a serious impact on their business,” says Petra Rees, from Lean Enterprise Acceleration Programmes (LEAP), a subsidiary of the PLP Group. “The biggest challenge for companies lies in the area of Enterprise and Supplier Development, with the procurement element forming part of that," adds Rees. If a company has a target turnover of over R50 million for the year, and they are not aligned to...