Serve your community not just your buyers

Serve your community not just your buyers

We have heard a very common proverb “what goes around comes around”. This phrase means a lot to the business community. This phrase depicts a hidden meaning that if a consumer is treated well and given the right product with the proper value he will bring many more customers. He will become the source of free mouth publicity which will be in favor of the company. This publicity can bring the entire community affiliated with that particular buyer. But this mouth publicity can prove dear in case the customer is not treated well. There are numerous instances that prove that negative mouth publicity spread more rapidly than positive one.

Let’s take an example of the erstwhile top brand NOKIA which ruled the mobile phones industry for almost a decade. There was a time in India when mobile phones for many rural and even urban households too meant “NOKIA”. It had become a synonym of mobile phones. So what were the reasons that led to the downfall of such a huge brand? There were innumerable reasons but primary above all was the sheer ignorance of its top management. It ignored the fact that the industry was taking a new shape with the introduction of new features such as dual SIM, screen touch, and Android, etc. Its loyal customers were incessantly giving indications to NOKIA that it was on a wrong track. They were trying to communicate to the top management on social media platforms about what needed to be changed. The top management was ignoring the complaints regarding the hitherto obsolete operating system. NOKIA could have taken these complaints as an opportunity to improve its services. This could have ultimately resulted in the retention of the loyal customers and the entire community associated with it who was complaining about different platforms. This would give a big impetus to its brand value and community attached to it. Communities in that way are made to feel that they are being given proper attention for their needs.  Unfortunately, NOKIA took these complaints merely as complaints rather than taking this as an opportunity. Now we can see how NOKIA is fighting for its survival.

This instance suffices the statement that “serving buyer is not enough, community-associated should be equally served”.  In the Indian vernacular too we see many a time stickers on the shops stating “work is worship and customer is god”. This phrase stands true for the corporate world too. The customer is said to be the god for multifarious reasons. The foremost reason is the fact that he is the one who publicizes and creates goodwill amongst his community which helps in creating fortunes for the company. Good market value leads a company to new heights in a very less span of time. So to become a market leader every company needs to work on serving the community also along with the buyer.

 Customers have become more sophisticated and research-oriented. They don’t buy anything just for the sake of it. They take anything only after proper researching, brainstorming. They take into account a question every second “is it worth buying”. So it becomes a tedious task for the business community to stand tall on the customer’s expectations. In order to match the customer’s expectations business communities have to evolve with the changing marketing trends. So in order to serve the buyers, they need to serve the community also.       

Companies need to seek areas where customers is having any questions and should be ready to work on it as soon as possible. This can make customers feel privileged and satisfied. This can be lauded by him and in a few days company can become a talk of the town within customer’s community.