ow.ly/mx7SR WHY IS MY SMALL BUSINESS LOSING CUSTOMERS? The last thing a small business owner wants to happen is often the first sign of trouble: losing customers for no apparent reason. Sometimes it happens without much warning, or gradually so it escapes notice right away. Then one day, the reduction in business, orders, profits, and customers becomes all too painfully obvious. What happened? WATCH FOR RED FLAGS The wise small business owner should remain customer-oriented at all times; after all, without customers, there would be no business. Therein lies the problem when the customer base begins to dwindle. While some loss of customers is due to normal reasons, such as people moving away or dying, the greatest percentage of customers abandon businesses based on their perceptions of the quality of the products or services, and especially on poor customer service. Here are some of the most common red flags that signal customer distress: Friends or relatives of the customers advise them to abandon ship. Customers believe another business offers better products, services, and/or prices. Customers express dissatisfaction with products and/or services. Customers believe business owners and their employees don’t care or don’t appreciate their patronage, preferences, or concerns—in other words, poor and/or ineffective customer service. So the biggest neon red flag, according to a documented study, was poor customer service and/or the lack of personal interaction. This accounted for nearly 75 percent of customers abandoning businesses and heading to greener pastures with other businesses that were more customer-oriented and made customers feel valued. An interesting note related to poor customer service, in this age of technology and online business, was the number of customers who left a business that used automated self-service lines. The top reasons for dissatisfaction included being trapped in an “endless loop” trying to get to the right option,...
Posted on: Mon, 01 Jul 2013 07:50:14 +0000