Patricia Sappor Launches New Book, ‘Creating A Unique Client Experience’

Patricia Sappor Launches New Book, ‘Creating a Unique Client Experience’

 

Patricia Sappor, one of Ghana’s most respected banking executives and the first woman to lead the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Ghana (CIB Ghana), has launched her third book, ‘Creating a Unique Client Experience: How Leaders Build Client-Centric Organisations and Inspire True Loyalty’, together with THE SAPPOR FRAMEWORK, a model for building a service culture that lasts.

The virtual launch was moderated by Robert Dzato, Chief Executive Officer of CIB Ghana, and chaired by Albert Essien, Board Chairman of Development Bank Ghana and former Group Chief Executive Officer of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated.

It drew chief executives, board chairs, entrepreneurs and clergy together.

Drawing on more than three decades of banking experience, the book argues that customer-centricity must extend beyond courtesy to encompass policies, processes, systems, technology and human interactions.

It positions client experience as a responsibility of organisational leadership, not a function to be delegated solely to customer service departments.

Mr. Essien described the book as a playbook on competitive advantage at a time when products and pricing can easily be replicated. “Products can be copied in weeks. Prices can be undercut overnight. But there is one thing no competitor can copy, and that is the way an institution makes its people feel,” he said.

Bishop Sappor said her motivation was informed by professional experience and personal observations of poor service delivery, and the need to improve customer service in Ghana and across the continent.

“Over the years, I have come to appreciate that the customer is the oxygen that keeps an organisation alive. Without customers, there is no business, no institution and, ultimately, no reason for an organisation to exist,” she said.”

Client experience is not a luxury. It is indeed a divine necessity. It is about creating systems, processes, policies and cultures that make people feel valued, respected and consistently served.

“She challenged leaders to ask whether customers need personal connections to receive timely service. “Do people have to know ‘a big man’ before they can receive the service they deserve? Are our systems designed around the convenience of the institution or the needs of the customer?” she asked.

Embedded in the book is THE SAPPOR FRAMEWORK, which outlines six steps to sustain a customer-centric culture: S – Set the vision, A – Assess the current state, P – Promote awareness and standards, P – People, processes and technology alignment, O – Observe, measure, own and reward performance, and R – Reinvent continuously.

Reviewers described the Framework as Bishop Sappor’s signature contribution and called the publication “the blueprint that we need for customer centricity,” with principles relevant to financial, healthcare, education and faith-based organisations.

Dr. Ellen Hagan, Chief Executive of L’AINE Services Limited, formally launched the book. “In the race to become more technologically advanced, let us never become less human,” she said.

A Daily Guide Report