What is your budget for your customer this new year?

Welcome to another year. Welcome to the much awaited 2016. A year I believe holds so many promises.

I know as individuals and as organizations, we perhaps have done our budgets for the year. But it is important for business organisations to make a robust “budget” for their customers this year. This is against the backdrop that “customer is key” to their business.

For many business, “budget” is just about “an estimation of the revenue and expenses over a specified future period of time” and in preparing their budgets, little or no consideration is given to customer satisfaction; making customers have value for their money.  The focus is usually on “how to expand market share and increase the company’s revenue”. For some, they don’t pretend over it; it is about  “exploiting the customers”. I am not speculating this; I know it like back of my palm as can be seen with the quality of their products and services. Is it not said that “by their fruits ye shall know them”. If businesses “budget” for customer satisfaction, it would show.

By customers I mean the patrons and consumers of your products and services. For some businesses, the “customers” are conveniently referred to as clients. Whatever name you call it, my question is “what is your budget or plan for your customers this year?

Let me refresh the importance of my question with below quote- “A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption of our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider of our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to do so.”

Having highlighted the above, and in case you have already made your  “budget” without consideration for customer satisfaction, that ‘budget is worth reevaluating because your customers deserve the very best this year as you make your profits.

Arinze Okamelu