Eternal Flame

I grew up watching my parents' romantic life unfold,unlike millennials the past few years of my existence I witnessed love at its best,profound and limitless. Them being an old school couple they have a different way of expressing love,they have gone for dates at Uhuru Park and night outs at such places as Blue-post hotel but to date I have never heard either of them verbally declaring love for each other.I have seen my mom taking care of my gout plagued dad at some point and I have seen him bringing flowers to her every single day of the twenty six years I have been in existence.Initially this stood out for me considering that most of my friends always told stories of their drunk dads coming home with half a kilo of meat to serve a family of maybe six and yet he wreaks of a barbecue,I used to think that these were some of the coolest men I never had the chance of meeting up until I interacted with the term Being a Gentleman. I have seen my folks laugh and I have seen them sad but never have I seen or heard them talk of divorce or separation.

For a while this situation got me thinking,What was constantly fanning the flame of my folks? What was this that created such an attraction which knew no limits? Like an epiphany it all came to me,for them to be where they are it had gone beyond any physical attraction,beyond their personal needs and beyond the societal definition of the perfect companion. They had made a choice of staying together and prepared psychologically to get through any negative encounter coming their way. Sitting down with them they explained that their basic rule is selflessness.
Intrigued by this revelation I also decided to bring the same concept into business. Using a hypothetical example Imagine having a supplier whom you have known for at least a year whose reliability left a lot to desire but he is the only one who could supply the raw materials for the production of your product,every single time you call concerned,he acknowledges the mistake and promises to fix it in a few hours time but he doesn't thus delaying your production. Initially you will put in such measures as ordering more raw materials to cater for the delay because at the end of the day you still want to be in business,however,deep inside you will hurting and would jump onto the next supplier if the opportunity presents itself. You will have no loyalty to your supplier because your importance is not acknowledged and there is no mutual respect with the both of you.This will in turn plant seeds of vengeance and ill-will within you and in some cases end up changing completely your business and model to avoid all the trouble. It would be anyone's guess as to what will happen to the supplier when you are gone as the biggest customer.
This begs the question how many companies make an informed decision to treat a customer like a husband would treat a wife? How many products or services fulfill on their initial promise? How many companies have thought of CSR differently from what has been established? From my parents I have learnt that for any relationship to work there has to be a give and take situation,you have to know each other to the core,you have to respect each other and you have to always think of each other. In my example non of these existed even though the supplier is a monopoly. In Customer Service I believe that the bigger the company the more obligated you are to ensuring that the relationship with the customer is maintained,grown and renewed every chance you get,by being selfless in giving the best to a customer the more appreciation you will get in the form of increased purchases.
As a business never let the initial flame of the customer burn out,it might grow dim but never allow it to go off. A conscious decision to always take care of your customer has to be made whether it's fulfilling a promise or going above and beyond the stipulated codes.