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Customer Care Training & Consulting

Bringing Batho Pele into your Business

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 09:11

Howard Badler

Batho Pele came into effect in September 1997. At the time Minister Zola Skweyiya, Minister for Public Service and Administration instituted a white paper which came to be known as Batho Pele.

How many of you out there actually know what Batho Pele means? Batho Pele translated means “People first”. This white paper was developed in order to set out specific service delivery guidelines and ensure that public service delivery was of the highest quality standards.

The eight key Batho Pele principles were introduced to all government departments and has become a benchmark standard to effective service delivery within the public sector.

The eight key principles of Batho Pele are listed below.

1. Consultation – citizens should be consulted about the level and quality of the public services they receive and, wherever possible, should be given a choice about that services that are offered.
2. Service Standards – citizens should be told what level and quality of public services they will receive so that they are aware of what to expect.
3. Access – all citizens should have equal access to the services to which they are entitled.
4. Courtesy – citizens should be treated with courtesy and consideration.
5. Information – citizens should be given full, accurate information about the public services that they are entitled to receive.
6. Openness and Transparency – citizens should be told how national and provincial departments are run, how much they cost and who is in charge.
7. Redress - if the promised standard of service is not delivered, citizens should be offered an apology, a full explanation and a speedy and effective remedy; and when complaints are made, citizens should receive a sympathetic, positive response.
8. Value for Money – public service should be provided economically and efficiently in order to give citizens the best possible value for money.

The concept of Batho Pele should be practiced by all companies in South Africa and not just in Government departments. Read through the eight principles again and what do you see? It states that you should be in contact with your customers on an ongoing basis to source their input on your service delivery. This can be done through customer satisfaction surveys. Ensure that you are providing them with a choice of service for example only catering for electronic transactions where manual transactions are still required.

Companies should have documented service level agreements for all their processes and procedures. Once these have been defined you will be able to define turnaround times for all interactions with your customers which will ultimately set your service standards. Each and every customer should be treated in the same manner irrespective of the size of the customer. What most companies forget is that the small customers were their first customers. Look after all your customers equally. Customers must be treated with the highest levels of respect and courtesy. We are currently living in the information age and customers today require detailed information about a product or service that they wish to purchase. Ensure that all your brochures as well as your internet site has all the information about who you are and what it is you sell. Customers want to know who they are dealing with so it is important that you give some information about your company.

Processes and procedures should be in place to deal with customer complaints or service failures. The customer should have access to a platform where they can address their uses and feel confident that the issue at hand will be dealt with and that an apology is given to them personally.

Customers today are looking at value for money before making a purchase. Ensure that if you are selling a product or service that your after sales service is of the highest standards.

Companies often fall short in this area as their initial selling capabilities are very good however when a customer has a complaint or requires a product to be repaired they experience poor levels of service from the after sales departments.

After reading this article ask yourself the following question. Do you practice the principles of Batho Pele in your business? If we expect this type of service from government departments, shouldn’t the same apply to your business?

Click here for more details on Howard Badler and Customer Care Training

www.customercaretraining.co.za