In every society, people are expected to pass through an educational system that equip them with the ability to use the four language skills. In life, one is expected to speak, listen, read and write. However, it is not a water-tight that someone must have adequate knowledge of the skills. For instance, there are people who did not pass through the system. In most cases, these people cannot write, but they relatively have the ability and capability of speaking and listening while using reading and writing skills always difficult to use.
This preamble, according to our analyst, is imperative as businesses and government establishments continue facing the challenge of providing superior feedback to customers across industries and sectors. From the consumer to the industrial good industries and sectors, businesses cannot do without communicating with their customers either through verbal and non-verbal means. Whatever means that found appropriate, representatives of businesses must be have superior listening skill. The failure to have the required advanced listening skill level will always impact expected superior customer engagement that delivers mutual benefits to both parties.
As customers continue reporting their complaints about businesses and government establishments in online communities and physical sphere, our analyst examines Nigeria-population interest in a number of indicators that resonate with customer engagement between January and June, 2020. Analysis indicates a 39.1% connection between the population interest in listening and services, while it was 5.3% for products. We also discovered that the population interest in listening linked to customer care by 19.1% during the months. The interest in services moderated interest in listening by 39.3% when it is combined with products more than being used individually.
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Exhibit 1: Nigerian Population Rank Interest in Listening, Products, Services and Customer Care
Note: The higher the score, the lower the interest, the lower the score, the higher the interest
The combination of interest in products, services and customer care had a positive influence on the public interest in listening. However, interest in services and customer care still posed high positive influence on seeking information about listening. There is no significant difference in the level of interest public had in products and services. However, there is a strong difference in the level of interest public had in listening and customer care.
Our insights suggest that both businesses and government Ministries, Agencies and Departments need to consider Chief Listening Officers. This is not new in advanced countries, especially among companies. Dell and Kodak are first companies that embraced the role of CLOs. The outcomes are there for everyone to see.
“Chief listening officers specialize in monitoring both external and internal communications about organizations. Their primary focus is on gathering information from customers and employees in order to develop ways for an organization to enhance their relationships with both.” CLOs are quite different from Customer Relationship Officers. They are not Public Relations Officers. They are not Liaison Officers. They are more of Intelligence Officers, who examine every bit of a conversation in order to provide appropriate responses to the bits that have multi-pronged risks. In order words, they listen actively to conversations online and offline, and share their insights with the superior officers or employees when they cannot provide appropriate responses to the customers.