Is Cyprus customer-centric enough?

Customer centricity is the ability of employees within an organisation to fully understand their customers’ situations, perceptions, and expectations. Fostering a pleasant customer experience at every point of the customer journey makes clients feel important and promotes brand loyalty.

In Cyprus, we are notorious for behaving in a loud, angry manner in public when we do not get our way, and I admit I am one of those who feels the need to raise their voice in the hope of rallying a troop of nearby people to support me in my cause of being a victim of poor service.

However, customers are not always right, and employees need to be trained to handle difficult situations or take responsibility when the business is accountable. A disgruntled customer, for example, who felt wronged after being sold a defective product from a well-known DIY store in Cyprus was told that it was not the employee’s fault, and that the customer should take his complaint to a higher power because the disinterested employee had nothing to gain or lose from the situation.

Given that customer experience is just as important as product quality, it is critical to listen to your customers and ensure they feel their satisfaction is a priority. The employee who was more interested in conversing with his co-workers than in assisting the customer is certainly driving a huge number of customers out of the store.

To suggest that client satisfaction is critical would be an understatement. According to technological research and consulting business based in the United States Gartner, 81 per cent of marketers consider client satisfaction to be the most important area of competitiveness in their industry.

Back in Cyprus, however, I often have the impression that this is not the case. A monopolistic player, such as a large international outlet selling sporting goods and accessories, which I have visited on numerous occasions and often heard the same complaint from others, rarely cares about customer satisfaction because they know that consumers have no choice but to rely on them. When a brand has a complacent mindset, it typically kills innovation since there is no incentive to produce higher-quality products or services.

I recently visited a pharmacy in Paphos that was open on a public holiday since it was their turn. I arrived fairly early, and there was no one else there. In an instant, a queue of people formed.

While I was ordering my medications, the pharmacist became overwhelmed by the crowds and frustratingly suggested that she would only deal with my more urgent items because she had other customers to attend to. Surely, if you are the only pharmacy in Paphos that has been assigned to remain open, you should hire more staff to deal with the crowds? Her lack of customer centricity demonstrated once again that monopolistic players do not need to go above and beyond to provide service, let alone service with a smile.

As more consumers turn to digital and online banking, physical bank branches in Cyprus are closing at an alarming rate. Although this approach appears to be sustainable – and let us face it, increases bank profitability and redirects investment – the personal factor has been lost along the way. Banks are no longer customer-centric, but rather product-driven organisations that consider product sales as their primary responsibility, largely because they are incentivised to do so.

Last year, during my summer stay at a hotel in Ayia Napa, I noticed that the pool bar staff remembered everyone’s name and order. “Recognising your clients makes them feel special, personalises the experience, increases the possibility of a return visit, and most importantly, it creates a connection,” the hotel manager said at the time.

A customer-centric business approach focuses on providing a great customer experience both before and, more importantly after the sale. Many businesses and organisations in Cyprus, however, are concerned with short-term needs rather than long-term objectives: ‘Tie the client down today, and who frets about the future?’ If a customer-centric approach is taken, the long-term goal will undoubtedly ensure profit.

Building relationships with consumers, anticipating their wants, requirements and communication preferences is the essence of customer-centricity. Companies, whether small or large, that take this approach will almost certainly boost customer happiness and loyalty, and the benefits will speak for themselves.