Telkom, the 33-year-old stepchild no one really likes, but we all need and when I think about the following statement from Klopper and North (2011:155),”a point of contact is any moment at which the brand performs or expresses itself and influences what stakeholders think, feel and believe about the brand” that isn’t the best look for Telkom.
All points of contact matter and it’s the company’s responsibility to make sure that all brand contact speaks to how they can influence the way people think about it. When I think about Telkom, I sigh.
The 4-hour call that was mostly playing reception music, you’ve loaded airtime for the third time and still no one has assisted you. You log on to the website which is full of pop-ups and deals, but can’t get hold of a human to speak to. So, you decide to go in-store. BIG MISTAKE.
You feel like an inconvenience, everyone stares you down, and while you sit and wait in the very quiet store, it’s finally your turn and the face you are greeted with makes you miss your strict Afrikaans teacher. You apologise for being there and ask as politely as you can if she can help with your problem. She takes one look at the mountain of documents you are required to bring with you, slowly blinks and says no, it’s a technical issue you need to head to a different waiting line. You finally get to the front of the technical queue to find out that not only can your issue not be fixed in-store but a consultant who assisted you a year ago has added extra things on your line, that you don’t use or know of.
What the brand doesn’t do well
Telkom is definitely ineffective in its brand contact process and internal marketing and here’s why.
The few times I had to deal with them were all negative, but let’s use the example I ranted over at the top. Apart from the call or website that I tried, employees play a vital role in touch points. It’s the human-to-human factor that sets the call and website apart from the in-store experience and their knowledge, professionalism, and friendliness can significantly impact the customer’s perception of the brand
According to (Klopper & North, 2011:156). All points of contact should be carefully planned and managed and serves a purpose. I did a quick hello Peter search of Telkom and the reviews astounded me. The company has a 1.37 star rating
and if we look at the number of touchpoints below that they missed, that number shouldn’t surprise me at all:
Total number of brand touchpoints (6)
*Phone Call, *Website, *Store Visit, **Staff Member 1 & 2 and *no resolution or follow up
(Klopper & North, 2011:158) states that brand contact points also exist across the value chain and with all stakeholder groups and it all serves a purpose. If you do a quick Google search next to Telkom’s name the words “Stand tall and do big things” are used in their marketing, and if you look at my viewpoint from a consumer perspective as Klopper and North suggests the company is not standing tall nor doing big things.
What improvements can be made?
I believe the brand needs to have a look at its brand using Klopper & North (2011:166) “outside-in perspective” and look at their customer touchpoints. Steve Smart suggests these 4 easy steps to use to influence the perception of your brand
- List your touchpoints
- Prioritise your list
- Commit to improvement
- Get customer feedback
From there Telkom can work on its brand contact and planning process again looking at it from the consumers perspective. Klopper and North (2011:161) suggest five steps of a basic brand contact and planning processes:
* Step 1: All points of contact:
Ask has all your points of contact been identified throughout the whole business and has employees been updated and educated to effectively serve and assist consumers?
* Step 2: Primary brand contact patterns:
What does the interactions between customers and the business look like? This includes employees, websites, social media platforms and calls.
* Step 3: Most important brand contact points:
Focus on the first, last, frequent, impact and resonant contact points.
* Step 4: Brand contact cohesion strategy:
Develop a cohesion strategy that serves the brand purpose that includes all employees of the company.
* Step 5: Managing the brand contact cohesion strategy:
All leadership and employees need to live out the brand purpose. Make the employees believe in the brand in order for them to live out the brand.
Internal Marketing
Employees and managers are considered one of the most important stakeholders in the brand contact process because they are sometimes the first point of contact. They are vital to a brands success and should live out the brands values. One of Telkom’s values are “We are proud and passionate about who we are and what we do.” Clearly, internally there is a disconnect between the brand and its employees. Employees should be educated, included and valued in order to make a difference.
It’s not all bad, Telkom is a millennial and a strong telecommunications company that is still standing. The company delivers a necessary service to most South African households and businesses and the brand is recognised globally. I do believe by focusing on these aspects, Telkom can enhance their customer experiences which will strengthen it’s brand image and hopefully get them some more stars on HelloPeter. 🙂
All images sourced from Google