DEAR Editor,-
If I could get R10 every time someone said to me over the past two weeks “There is no money on the South Coast”, I could treat myself to a lovely expensive lunch and do some shopping. Have you heard people say this? Or have you said it yourself?
I have been building my company’ over the past year now and have noticed that there is in fact money on the South Coast. The thing that is most lacking here is customer service. Yes, customer service. Service delivery in this area is pathetic! When you ask someone for a quote, three weeks down the line you are still waiting!
I will not name and shame the company, but I personally had this experience three weeks ago. I requested a quote and since they were busy, I asked the person attending to me whether they would like to email the quote, to which they agreed, but this week it is almost three weeks later and I still have not received the quote.
So guess what I will be doing now? I will do the same as all the rest of the South Coast and contact a supplier in Durban. This is what is happening on a daily basis. So now we all source alternative suppliers when all the while we have businesses right here who can do the work.
I even experience it in my own company where people look at you weirdly when you introduce your company. Their immediate reaction is “are you going to deliver the same service as someone from Durban would do, because you see I have had a bad experience with local bookkeepers and I have taken my business elsewhere.”
Or even worse, they snort when you tell them you have a bookkeeping company. There is hardly any praise out there for bookkeeping companies because of past experiences. Some people retain their bookkeeper purely because of the hassle it would entail to move everything to a new one.
This is the case in a few industries – so instead of saying there is no money on the South Coast – maybe we should change our level of service delivery to existing clients and see how things change for us.
Enjoy the weekend and let’s all strive for higher levels of customer service during December and bring back the business to the South Coast! PS: that sounds like the start of a new campaign #bringbacksouthcoast.
LEONIE STANLEY
