Desire a real customer experience? Invest in the people behind the smiles
Every October, organisations across the world roll out banners, hashtags, and themed shirts to mark Customer Service Week, a time to celebrate the people who keep their products and services connected to customers.
But when the music fades and the hashtags cool, one question lingers: are we truly investing in the people behind the smiles?
In Nigeria, customer service is too often celebrated more than it is strengthened. We applaud frontline employees for their patience and politeness, yet do little to improve their skills, enhance their working conditions, or create career pathways that make service work respected and rewarding. The result is a predictable cycle, high staff turnover, inconsistent service quality, and a workforce that is overworked, undertrained, and underappreciated.
Customer service is not a department; it’s the bloodstream of every business. From hospitals and airlines to banks, telecoms, logistics, insurance, and FMCGs, millions of Nigerians interact daily with service professionals who quietly hold the economy together. They are the translators of frustration into calm, confusion into clarity, and more often than we admit, anger into loyalty.
Yet their roles remain undervalued. Customer service is treated as an entry point, not a profession. Too many smart young graduates view it as a temporary gig, something to endure until a real job comes along.
Few organisations offer structured career development or mentorship to make service work aspirational. The irony is striking: the very people who carry brand reputation on their shoulders are those we invest in the least.
When people see no growth in their roles, motivation declines, turnover rises, and customers feel the consequence. But when businesses invest in training, from digital literacy and analytics to leadership and emotional intelligence, everything changes. Productivity rises. Staff retention grows. Customers notice the difference.
It is important to note that technology may serve faster, but only people can serve better. Nowhere is this customer excellence investment more urgent than in our hospitals and airports.
In healthcare, the first impression of care is rarely made by a doctor; it begins at the reception desk, in a phone call, or through a nurse’s voice. Yet, many of these frontline workers operate under pressure with minimal training in empathy, communication, or patient relations. Too often, hospitals treat customer service as a soft skill, not a clinical standard.
We must build structured patient-experience programmes that train every hospital employee from the front desk to the ward in compassion, confidentiality, and crisis handling. A healthcare system that combines medical excellence with emotional intelligence not only heals patients but also restores faith in the system itself.
The same truth applies to our airlines. Aviation is the world’s window into Nigeria’s professionalism. Every flight attendant, check-in agent, and support staff member carries the nation’s brand on their badge. Yet, too many passengers experience inconsistency, poor communication, and reactive service.
The route to global competitiveness begins not with new planes, but with new people practices, training staff to international standards of courtesy, cross-cultural awareness, safety, and service delivery. When passengers feel valued from check-in to landing, they don’t just buy tickets; they buy trust.
If we neglect the empowerment of our service professionals, it suggests that we are not yet ready to build a sustainable economy.
Many Nigerian firms are investing heavily in digital tools, AI chatbots, CRM platforms, and automation systems. That’s progress worth celebrating. But technology is only as effective as the people behind it. Technology helps, but empathy wins. A bot can process a complaint; only a human can restore confidence.
The companies winning customer loyalty today are those that blend efficiency with empathy. In fintech, healthcare, and telecoms, customers value speed, but they remember tone, patience, and follow-through. These are human skills no algorithm can replicate.
If Nigeria wants to elevate customer experience to global standards, it must view it as a human capital strategy, not a public relations event. That means creating learning ecosystems, service academies, national certification programmes, and performance pathways that professionalise the role of customer service.
It also means valuing customer service as the front door to our national identity. Every smile at a counter, every calm voice on a call, every kind gesture in a crisis – these are the moments that shape how citizens, investors, and visitors feel about Nigeria.
This customer service week, let’s look beyond the banners. Let’s appreciate the people behind the smiles, not just with words, but with systems that help them grow. Let’s make every call centre, service desk, and helpline a place of pride, not a place of pressure.
Because when we invest in the people who serve others, we don’t just build better businesses. We build a nation that smiles back.
About the writer:
Deborah Yemi-Oladayo is the Managing Director of Proten International, a leading HR consulting firm in Nigeria, specialising in talent development, recruitment, employee outsourcing and HR advisory services. Email: [email protected]
