As the Nigeria Customer Service Awards scheduled to hold in Lagos on October 8, at the prestigious Four Point Hotel by Sheraton, continues to make headlines on different media platforms, the Chief Executive Officer of Customer Service Awards Ltd and convener of the awards, Dr. Aliyu Ilias took time out of his busy schedules to talk with DAILY POST on the idea behind the awards as well as some unimaginable and exceptional plans for the 2015 edition of the awards. Apart from this, Aliyu spoke on other sundry issues.
Excepts:
May we meet you?
My name is Aliyu Ilias. I am the CEO of Customer Service Awards Ltd and the convener of the Nigeria Customer Service Awards.
What is the motivation behind the Nigeria Customer Service Awards?
The main aim of the Nigeria Customer Service Awards is to celebrate excellent service in Nigeria. The fact remains that some individuals and organisations are doing the business of customer appreciation better than others. These organisations and individuals need to be celebrated so as to encourage them to do more as well as encourage others to better their services. For the organisation being awarded, we are not saying that their services to customers are at the peak of delivery, but that they are better compared to their contemporaries.
How do you select these awardees?
It is a pure research work that each company can have their report, In the selection and evaluation processes, we consult the Nigeria Mystery Shoppers providers. The NMSP which is a service check company saddled with the responsibility of evaluating nominated companies to find out if there is a compliance with optimal service standards. We equally have four ways through which the selection process is taken further.
Firstly, we publicize the nomination portal to Nigerians through different platforms and the nomination is ongoing via our website at www.nigeriacustomerserviceawards.com and by sending NCSA space Company name to 20822. Secondly, we use what we call “feedback”-we interview a cross section of the Nigerian populace who are direct beneficiaries of the nominated Brands. The individuals cut across the demographics are asked about the level of service delivery in Nigeria. Thirdly, we try to evaluate the level of relationship between companies and their staff. In customer service delivery where there exists a good relationship between the management of a company and their staff, it makes the staff perform better in service delivery.
Companies need to empower their staff for service recovery and compensation. Lastly, we subject all the nominees to be secretly shopped by the Nigerian mystery shoppers provider NMSP . The NMSP will send its agents to all these companies who will pretend to be customers so as to really evaluate and monitor their services in order to find out their level of compliance. Nomination has started and mystery shoppers are at work.
Is there no way these companies influence the winning of the awards?
Well, it is an open book. You can contact our previous winners. All you get is a letter from us after our evaluation that you have emerged a winner. Some of the 2014 winners are Etisalat, channels TV, Access Bank, Heritage Bank, Aumtco, Kia motor, etc.
When is this years award ceremony coming up?
This years event will come up on October 8, at the prestigious Four Point Hotel by Sheraton Hotel Ikoyi, Lagos. The customer service awards date falls within the International Customer Service week of October 2015. The customer service week is celebrated worldwide.
What are your plans for this year?
This year, we are partnering with TRESTLE MEDIA Ltd to make it bigger and a befitting customer service week. We have lined up the following for the week. First is “walk for service excellence in Nigeria”, and secondly is “Customers Connect” with conference focus on the Insurance industry,and also Customer Service and Technology
The 2015/2016 Customer Service Ambassadors would be unveiled. The Application and selection process for the customer service ambassadors is on and the idea behind The Customers Service Ambassadors is to get service delivery close to the public, and let the public express their feelings through this customer service ambassadors. These ambassadors will be having four areas of assignment which will include seeking redress for bad services, identifying with good customer service companies, organizing different events on service delivery, and finally, they will attain a celebrity status as a result of canvassing for excellent service delivery. The customer service ambassador initiative has an intellectual edge, and we want to create jobs through this customer service awards with the associated programs. The customer Service Ambassador is in association with the Chartered Institute of Customer Relationship Management and whoever applies and goes through the Customer Service Ambassador evaluation will be certified by the institute.
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