Editor, RE: “The quest for quality customer service” (The New Times, February 11). Strong focus on the “internal customer service” will automatically result in service excellence. This segment is often overlooked and not give due importance. For a representative of any organisation, receptionist in a hotel, an order taker in a restaurant, a guest relations officer at a hospital or bank service attendant to provide quality customer service, they all must first receive from their respective organisations or management’s good internal customer service. It is only then that they will be able to radiate a high level of confidence and zest in what they do. Therefore, to administer quality customer service, managers must lay adequate stress on the well-being of those down the line, who will actually be providing service to the end customer. Please allow me to share with you a very true and most relevant incident of internal customer service excellence. Many decades ago, a young lady employee, Sudha Murthy, then working with Tata Group in Mumbai, was standing one late evening outside the main entrance of Tata Group, waiting for her husband to come and pick her up after work. Suddenly the Chairman (her boss) of Tata Group emerged and walked up to her and said, “Young lady, why are you here all alone so late, on this lonely street? Can I drop you somewhere?” Taken aback, the shy Sudha politely declined and said that her husband was on his way to pick her up and explained to the Chairman that he could proceed and she would be alright waiting there. But the Chairman patiently waited alongside her till her husband arrived and admonished him, saying that “You should not keep your wife waiting like this”. It is this positive attitude towards staff, representatives, consultants and others down the line which will enable Rwanda to shine. People always make a difference, and I am sure that with a positive attitude towards “internal customer service”, all those who actually meet and interact with the end customer will automatically provide super service in Rwanda. Clarence Fernandes
