Senior Manager of MTN Business, Benedict Bentil, has urged small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana to strengthen customer relationship management and after-sales engagement as a key strategy for driving growth in e-commerce and social commerce.
He said many businesses miss critical opportunities to deepen relationships with customers after a sale is completed, arguing that follow-up engagement is essential for repeat business and referrals.
Speaking during the on-air Citi Business Festival on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, on the topic “E-commerce, social commerce and digital marketing for Ghanaian brands,” Mr Bentil said most SMEs fail to maintain contact with customers after delivery.
“The other thing is people also don’t take advantage of customer relations,” he said. “People get an order, they deliver the order and there’s no other engagement after that.”
He said businesses could significantly increase customer retention and referrals by simply following up to confirm satisfaction and encouraging recommendations.
“It’s a great opportunity for you to ask the customer: are you satisfied with the delivery? Would you like to recommend me to a friend?” he said.
Mr Bentil suggested that businesses could also incentivise referrals, including discounts for customers who share positive experiences with others.
“If you build those kinds of things into your pricing, you can even offer a 10% discount if you tell your friends about the good experience you had,” he said.
He lamented the lack of structured customer follow-up among SMEs, noting that even basic engagement after transactions is often missing.
“I don’t think there’s a single order I’ve done that the seller followed up on,” he said. “That’s what we need to do.”
Mr Bentil encouraged SMEs and micro-retailers to adopt customer relationship management tools, including automation systems that can send personalised messages, birthday wishes and product updates.
“As big businesses do customer relations management, SMEs should also do it,” he said. “You can automate it. The system will send messages automatically for you.”
He stressed that effective customer engagement should be seen as a scalable marketing strategy, noting that each satisfied customer can influence multiple others.
“Each customer has 10 customers behind them that you should take advantage of,” he said.
Mr Bentil also reiterated the importance of credibility building through testimonials, endorsements and strong after-sales support.
“Establishing credibility is something SMEs are missing out on,” he said. “Get endorsements, get testimonials, let people talk about the good you have done.”
He added that resolving customer complaints effectively remains one of the most powerful forms of marketing available to businesses.
The 2026 Citi Business Festival is powered by 97.3 Citi FM and Channel One TV in partnership with Absa Bank and sponsored by MTN, Zonda Tec Ghana Limited and Petra eTrust.
