Large extracts from an article by William C. Taylor in the New York Times was published in these same columns on 17th August 2004.

Inadvertently, the name of the author was not mentioned explicitly. This article dealt with the myth of discounts and how many businessmen believe wrongly that these would help them gain customer loyalty.

In Mauritius, though the context is slightly different, the points raised are nonetheless largely applicable. The market is very price sensitive and as such, discounts and bargains certainly boost sales volume significantly in many cases. Who has forgotten the sticker mania in 1980’s brought about by Pepsi Mauritius via Panini? There was the bird collection, the football collection and the mammal collection. A huge success nationwide but did that really lead to customer loyalty? The sales will be there until a competing brand launches a promotion.

So basically, though promotions are an integral part of marketing and have their raison d’etre, marketers must never forget the fact that one of the major factors behind customer retention is customer satisfaction.

Xerox is said to have polled 480,000 customers for several years regarding product and service satisfaction using a five-point scale from 5 (high) to 1 (low). Until a few years ago Xerox’s goal was to achieve 100 percent satisfaction – 4’s (satisfied) and 5’s (very satisfied) combined. But the company discovered that the relationship between loyalty and satisfaction differed depending on whether the rating was satisfied or very satisfied. In fact, it found that those customers awarding a 5 were six times more likely to repurchase Xerox equipment.

This study was done in the States in a highly competitive market and where customer behaviors are slightly different but that does not stop the fact that it gives a stark indication of how customers are anything but loyal.

In the New Economy, too many companies lay a lot of emphasis on acquiring new customers to the detriment of actually consolidating the relationship with the existing customers and turning them into advocates. Each time a customer comes in contact with your company, at your counter sales, some piece of advertising or one of your products, it will be a moment of truth. This moment of truth should become a moment of magic so that this very customer turns out to be your best sales person.

I read in l’Express the interview of Shell Mauritius Chief Executive who talked about the power of ‘word of mouth’. The latter, especially in a nutshell like Mauritius, is so powerful it can make or break your company.

<B>Stars of the week</B>

Ah Koye Ah Chow and Sofap Ltd: The first company is based in GRNW selling furniture among other things. I noted the reasonable prices, a personalized service, friendly personnel and prompt delivery. Sofap’s showroom in Pailles boasts a well trained and friendly staff who go out of their way to advise customers. Were it not for the valuable advice of the counter staff, I would have gone home with paint that would have been excessive for the surface area to be painted. Also, hats off to the recruitment policy of Sofap. The handicapped member of staff who works there has an approach to customer service which is, to me, unique.

<B>Cabbage of the week</B>

Once again, the cabbage is awarded to the 150 service of Mauritius Telecom. Very often, the enquiry service gives out numbers which are already out of service. Updating of database and reliability of same are critical to an enquiryservice.