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Ten Ways to Lose Customers

"To any enterprise, there are no jobs more important than those serving its customers."
Isn't it ironic that it takes years to build a great customer relationship but only moments to tear one apart! There are so many ways to lose your existing customers, if you aren't careful in your dealings every day. I came up with these ten ways to lose your customers, but these are by no means the exclusive list. What is interesting is that each of the ten service points I've covered below can be turned around into a great way to actually reinforce, and retain your customer relationships to make them even stronger. The common thread I found to achieve great customer service requires staffing great people, training them, and retraining them. It also helps to have a company culture that values service over everything else. I suggest you review these examples with your entire customer service team!
1. "BROKEN PROMISES" - Customers get upset when a company makes promises that aren't fulfilled. This has been referred to as "over-promising and under-delivering." Adopt the philosophy that you will always live up to the commitments you make to your customers. Teach your customer service team, "A promise we make is a promise we intend to keep... each and every time." When someone on your customer service team makes a commitment to one of your customers, your company must stand behind that commitment, even when it costs you money. Admit your mistake, apologize to the customer, and do what ever you can to make them happy. Remember this: a customer who is unhappy with your service will tell everyone they know exactly how poorly you treated them. Failing to live up to your commitments to one customer may end up costing you business from several of your other existing customers! When you treat your customers poorly you need to realize that you are driving business to your competitors! Teach your customer service team to "under-promise and over-deliver!"
2. "SHUFFLING THE PROBLEM" - We have all experienced the frustration of contacting a company by phone, regarding a complaint, and then being transferred from one unhelpful person to another. "Customer shuffling" is a nasty customer service practice the employees in some companies use to avoid taking responsibility for dealing with a customer's problem. When this has happened to you, do you get the same feeling that I do, that this company doesn't really care about me, my problem, or my future business? To solve the "customer service shuffle" your company has to create clearly written procedures that each customer service representative must follow in order to address common complaints. When you train your people, and empower them by giving them the decision making authority they need to solve customer related problems, you avoid their need to shuffle dissatisfied customers around. Empower the employee who receives a customer complaint to follow up on it, from beginning to end. Customers are happiest when the customer service representative (CSR) who makes the initial contact also has the decision making authority to resolve the complaint quickly and easily. Ask yourself this question: How important are satisfied customers to my business? The correct answer is not only "yes they are very important", but you should realize that satisfied customers are the key to your past, present and future success! Don't ever forget that a satisfied customer is likely to return to do business with you again and again while, unfortunately, your customers who leave dissatisfied are likely to be gone forever!
3. "POOR SERVICE ATTITUDE" - We have all dealt with customer service people who project the attitude that, "it's not my problem." This really makes customers angry! When I sense this is happening to me I take action. I quickly assume the customer service representative lacks empathy for my problem, so I immediately ask to speak to a customer service supervisor (CSS)! I think that's what most of do when this happens. For this reason, I believe you should have a written procedure in place describing what your customer service team should do when a customer is extremely unhappy or irate, and to have a procedure in place. Establish a practice of monitoring interactions between your CSR's and your customers. Have your customer service supervisors monitor actually customer phone calls and do it often. Finally establish standards for customer service and deal with employees who are rude or project an uncaring attitude to customers. Remember: your company only gets one chance to make a first impression on your customers so make sure that first impression is a good one!
4. "MAKING CUSTOMERS ANGRY" - I've gotten mad plenty of times when I have had to deal with customer service people concerning product or service related problems. Sometimes my problem is solved to my satisfaction and sometimes it isn't. When I am still unhappy or angry with quality of service I received you can bet I won't do business with that company again, and I suspect you wouldn't either! But some companies have a way of calming down and satisfying even their most unhappy customers. Do your service employees know how to do this? What do your employees do with irate customers? Do you have a procedure in place? Show me a company where the customer service people know how to satisfy those unhappy customers and I'll guarantee you that company trains its people well. Here is an idea I would recommend to you to turn dissatisfied customers into satisfied customers. It's called TRAINING! During the initial orientation of newly hired customer service employees you should make sure each member of your team is thoroughly trained on when to refer customers to a supervisor. During the orientation, using role playing, each of the members of your team should gain hands on experience dealing with a variety of actual service related problems that have caused your customers to become irate in the past. With a written customer service procedure in place, a strong orientation of new employees, and ongoing staff training using role playing, your team will be ready to address any customer related concern.
5. "LACK OF FOLLOW-UP" - You can't always solve every customer related problem in a matter of moments. Let's face it, there are times when you do need to research the problem and get back to the customer at a later time. There is nothing wrong with explaining to the customer that you need time to investigate their problem. But when this happens be sure to make a commitment to the customer of a specific timeframe within which you will get back to them with a response. Failure to get back to a customer, once a commitment is made, is like telling them that their business is not very important to you. It also sends the message that the people in your company lack integrity. If you are going to be delayed in responding make a point of letting the customer know. Provide updates as soon as you have them. Teach your team how important it is to live up to their commitments to your customers and to one another. Remember: Customers don't want to hear excuses from a company they are trying to do business with! Treat your customers the way that you would want to be treated! Teach your team to follow this simple standard, "Make commitments, and then follow through on them every time!"
6. "ALIENATING CUSTOMERS" - There is an old adage in customer service circles, "the customer is always right!" Those of us who work in customer related jobs know this isn't literally true, but when it comes to our customers we act as if it were! One hundred percent of the time, in our dealings with customers, we need to project a positive attitude, along with respect for our customer's point of view. It serves no purpose to argue with our customers, and those who do come to find out the outcome is never really positive for their business. You may win the argument now and then but you will more often than not lose a customer. What is one customer worth? If you treat them right you may be able to count on future business, and good word-of-mouth advertising. Argue with, and debate with your customers, and ultimately prove your customers weren't right, and you are likely to lose that customer for life. That's the customer service version of "winning a battle but losing the war!" When you work in a job where you are in contact with customers, you can't afford to have a "bad" day. Don't ever forget, if it weren't for your customers you'd be out of business. If you treat your customers poorly they'll vote with their feet by doing business with your competitors. Adopt the attitude that your customers are always right, and you're on your way to establishing customer relationships that may last a lifetime!
7. "REACHING AN IMPASSE" - From time to time, no matter how hard we try we aren't going to be able to satisfy every customer. Even the most experienced customer service representatives (CSR's) run into customer related problems over which they just have no authority. There is a way to avoid leaving the customer with a bad feeling about your company and it involves having a simple procedure in place. The answer when this happens is for the customer service team to get a supervisor involved in a discussion with the customer immediately. Time is of the essence, and it is critical for your service team to know exactly what to do. I recommend that you train your CSR's to take the following steps:
I. Initially, your CSR should work directly with the customer to resolve the problem.
II. If an impasse is reached, ask the customer to speak with a supervisor.
III. The CSR Supervisor listens to the customer's concern. Sometimes the process of simply listening to the customer, and letting them vent their concerns, seems to extinguish the size of the original problem.
IV. The CSR Supervisor attempts to resolve the problem and satisfy the customer.
V. At this point, if an impasse still exists explain as clearly as you can your company's policy and why an exception cannot be made. The key is to "seek understanding from the customer, not agreement!" Often, once the customer understands your explanation of "why", they are more likely to accept the decision, though they may still disagree with you.
VI. Apologize for any inconvenience the customer has experienced and thank the customer for their business. Unfortunately, in some cases, the CSR Supervisor and the customer will end their conversation at an impasse simply "agreeing to disagree."
Teach this procedure to everyone and post a copy of it on every bulletin board. Review it with new employees and periodically discuss it at team meetings with your entire staff. If your company wants to be known for having great service the key is to provide ongoing customer service training to everyone who is contact with your customers.
8. "APATHY TOWARD CUSTOMERS" - Do you know who pays the bills at your business? I am talking about the rent, lights, gas, electric and even your pay and benefits. The answer is of course your customers pay all of your bills by choosing to spend their hard earned money on your products and services. But customers can change their buying habits, and they do it all the time. Don't ever forget they can choose to walk away from your business in favor of spending their money on your competitor's products and services. Think about that for just a moment. In fact you should think about that every day! What are you doing to make your customers want to continue doing business with you? Are any of the people servicing your customers taking your customers for granted? There are plenty of alternative sources for almost every product imaginable. Is there a compelling reason why your customers should continue doing business with you? Think about it, talk with your service team about it, and do something about it, NOW!
9. "NON-COMPETITIVE PRACTICES" - Customers have more options for purchasing products and services than they have ever had before. Everyone has internet access, and they use it to compare products and services. You should make it a practice to study the competition. Study their pricing structure for products and services against your own. Customers don't mind purchasing from a business for a fair price. Study your competitor's pricing structure and make adjustments accordingly. Don't underestimate the intelligence of the shoppers for products like yours in the marketplace. People are smart and the market will dictate what you can expect to charge for your products and services. It is important to remember that the customer expects you to make a fair profit, but no more!
10. "MISHANDLED PRODUCT ISSUES" - When a customer makes a purchase it is quite easy to smile and thank them for their purchase. How does your service team react when that same customer tries to return that purchase for a refund or a replacement? Often customer service people are well trained to sell products and collect money. Less time is typically spent on teaching the importance of service after the sale. Your customers will learn more about your company from the way you deal with a product the customer wants to return to you, than they will from the way you handled their original purchase. Do you provide service with a smile? Are you just as glad to see the customer making a return as someone who is making a purchase? The reality is that you should handle both transactions in the same positive manner. Some companies have restrictive return/service policies which create bad feelings for their customers. If you treat your customers well when they have a problem they will reward you by returning again and again to make future purchases. If you mistrust your customers, and make them feel like naughty children when they try to return a product, they'll leave you, and spend their money elsewhere! Show your loyalty to your customers by taking care of them when they have a problem, and they will reciprocate by being loyal to your business. A good rule to follow is this: take care of your customers, the same way you would want to be treated under similar circumstances if the same thing happened to you!
"When you stop worrying about making money, and concern yourself with taking care of the needs of your customers, success will follow." Michael Bergdahl
Ten Ways to Lose Customers
by Michael Bergdahl
International Speaker, Author, & Wal-Mart Competition Authority

Michael Bergdahl
"Professional International Speaker on 6 Continents, Author, And Authority on the Best Practices of Wal-Mart & Sam Walton"
His Background: Michael Bergdahl is a professional international business speaker, author and turnaround specialist. Bergdahl worked in Bentonville, Arkansas for Wal-Mart, as the Director of "People" for the headquarters office, where he worked directly with Wal-Mart's founder Sam Walton. It was Sam Walton who gave Bergdahl the nickname, "Bird Dawg!" Previous to Wal-Mart he worked in the FMCG Industry for PepsiCo's Frito-Lay Division in the sales organization and headquarters staff assignments. He is also a turnaround specialist who participated in two successful business turnarounds at American Eagle Outfitters, and Waste Management.
Wal-Mart/ Sam Walton Authority: Michael Bergdahl is considered an authority on the best practices of Wal-Mart & Sam Walton.. He has appeared on CNN, CNBC, CNN FN, MSNBC, CNN International, Univision, CBS National Radio and Bloomberg TV. He has participated in internationally televised news debates on "Power Lunch", "On the Money", "Morning Call", and "Closing Bell". Articles written by him, and articles written by others about him, have appeared in business newspapers and magazines around the world. Bergdahl is the moderator of a LinkedIn discussion group called, "Wal-Mart's Best Practices - Super Group" with more than 2900 worldwide members including: Retailers, FMCG Product Manufacturers/Suppliers, & Supply Chain Professionals.

Customer Care

Service of mankind will secure leadership.
(A Conceptual-Practical Roadmap towards Stable Customer Account)
Introduction
Business venture is an interactive phenomenon of interdependent individuals to attain financial benefits. The ultimate motive of a business venture or an entrepreneur is to earn profit, so that a successful business venture is evaluated on the basis of its economic returns. An economic return or profit is outcome of multiple factors such as effective entrepreneurship, efficient resource management, knowledge management, customer satisfaction, supportive government policies, and booming global conditions. These factors can be grouped into two categories - success factors & performance indicators. A success factor leads towards successful business, while a performance indicator leads towards better performance of a business. Success means profit and performance means profit level. The most inevitable success factor of a business venture is Business Location, while the vital performance indicator is Customer Care. A wrong selection of business location leads towards business closure and customer dissatisfaction means less demand or low return; the ultimate outcome of low return is business closure, too. Appropriate business location gives stability to entrepreneur, while a caring approach towards customers mean stable customer account or loyal customers. A suitable business location gives better start to a business and customer satisfaction gives long-run sustainability to a business. Moreover, a better selection of business location is helpful to meet supply constraints, while a sensible approach towards customer care is supportive to tackle demand pressures.
Customer Care has two dimensions - perceptual and practical. At practical level, it is careful behavior towards multiple needs of customers, while at perceptual level; it is helpful mindset towards multiple needs of customers. Customer satisfaction is ultimate achievement of a business venture. It provides sustained sales or reasonable return over a long period of time. The very bases of customer satisfaction are better production techniques and good distribution system. The twin strategies, efficient production & effective distribution, produces and delivers the product with zero defects and develops lifetime or loyal customers. It is noteworthy that the production contents or prices are generally equivalent for identical category of products or services in a competitive economy, so that, the dominant aspect of any customer care process is to enhance distributional ease for customers, technically speaking; it is application of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) model.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is the process of taking care of customers before, during, and after the sale of a product or service. A caring process is started when a prospective customer hears and responds about some product or service, hopefully, it never ends. The final target is to create a Loyal Customer or to achieve Customer Loyalty. Ideally, customers should enjoy the process of buying / hiring as much as they enjoy use of product / service. In the real world this is very difficult. Business owners may not be able to remove the all hurdles that can get in the way of positive customer experiences, but they can be managed by implementing some psychosocial approaches towards customer's expectations. A quality production, competitive price, friendly environ, accommodation of social norms of customers, correct information to customers are some necessary steps towards better customer care.
Good customer relations are not accidental outcomes of business life; rather good customer relations are outcome of good business processes, both operational as well as structural. The multiple institutional processes enhance the level of customer satisfaction, like having a set procedure for selling, the best after sale customer caring practices help and ensure that customers will remain satisfy throughout the process of buying and using. A satisfied customer is inevitable objective for business success, the prominent signs of satisfied customers are:
· Repeated buying interaction with the organization,
· Telling friends and colleagues about the advantages of dealing with and purchasing from the organization, &
· Giving appropriate feedback to organization from time to time.
Businesses flourish and develop on old & new customers. However, customer creation is a lengthy and complicated process. It is the process of winning both heart & mind. A product / service satisfy the emotional and perceptual aspects of customers. The whole institutional process is involved, directly or indirectly, towards better customer experience. A repeated customer is indication of satisfied customer. In order to maintain customer loyalty or repeat, a business provides a consistent buying experience to her customers. It is cost-effective, time-saving, and efforts-saving to satisfy an existing customer as compare to create some new customers. An empirical study calculated that an organization spends/needs five times additional resources to find a new customer against the cost to keep an existing customer.
Customer Decision Analysis
It is generally true that 80 percent of profits come from 20 percent of customers. However, the total customer base is important. The small customer enriches the organization, generally, through proper feedback. The right approach is to differentiate the responsible customer from detractor. A detractor customer is unreliable, non-cooperative, and unreceptive and criticizes illogically and arrogantly due to some psychological / social leanings. A responsible customer is logical, conceptually, loyal, emotionally, and reliable, practically. Moreover, a business face, generally, two types of customers, we may call them trendsetters and trend-followers. A trendsetter is leader customer; he/she sets the tone and trend for market. The follower customer is affected, extremely, by trendsetters, he/she is influenced by snobbish / bandwagon effects. An entrepreneur can also set some trends for masses through some innovative marketing techniques. For example, Microsoft settled some new attitudes of public towards computer and software. A great number of transnational companies do it for their products and services such as McDonald, KFC, and Pepsi.
An item or service is bought due to multiple reasons such as utility, price, and social fads. Consumers in any market tend to select one product or service over another based on their perception of its value. Value, simply, is quality at some right price level. Quality also includes non-price attributes, such as product delivery system and customer service. A customer's perception of right price is a composite of several factors such as need, facility, aesthetic, delivery procedure and price of alternatives. It is responsibility of management to make her product / service valuable for existing and prospective customers. A continuous and dynamic review of market situation is necessary to maintain comparative advantage. An innovative approach towards multiple marketing techniques / channels is necessary for persistent satisfactory buying experience.
A customer finds countless differentiated products in the market. There is, sometime, very little difference in content and price of the product or service. For example, customer has countless varieties of dresses to wear / houses to live / vehicles to travel. A competitive/differentiated situation can be managed through better delivery services and after sale services. Advertisement is supportive just to create one time experience; repetition is outcome of customer satisfaction. A customer leaves due to multiple reasons such as non-caring staff, product dissatisfaction, product price, and price of alternative products. The most important is non-caring attitude of staff towards customers. It is noteworthy that competitive environ or availability of differentiated products or services can change the customer mindset towards buying or purchasing at any time.
A Customer Value Analysis is used to evaluate basis of customer decision towards product/service; it gives concrete understanding of market-perceived quality profile - price profile. The proper understanding and utilization of customers' valuation approach gives an edge over competitors and improves the market share of a business. It has three levels:
Basic / Expected: - At basic level customer needs are assessed and customer is expecting these basics from you. The basic needs of customers must be satisfied for the survival of business. It is important to note that the survival of business is not compulsory; it is an outcome of enterprise approach towards satisfaction of basic / expected requirements of customers. Expected / Basic requirements of customers are invisible, usually; they become visible when they are unfulfilled. For example, the very basis of a dress is to save the customer from environmental itchings and to give someone a reasonable look, a dress unable to satisfy the basic needs shall be failed.
Desired: - The customer desires something better but he is not expecting from you or others. A desired level of customer care is achieved by knowing unspoken customer preferences. The best and effective way to get awareness about hidden customer preferences is to talk with customers / expected customers about their unspoken wants / desires. The knowledge about desired preferences provides an opportunity to achieve higher level of customer satisfaction. It leads towards marked difference between you and your competitors because customer is getting it from you and not getting it from someone else, moreover, it provides a long-run comparative advantage due to informational edge. The process of knowing unspoken preferences is easy to state, however, painful to implement due to informational inefficiencies or personal prejudices. It is noteworthy that the comparative advantage may vanish any time due to some imitation or information leakage, the solution is continuous updating of changing preferences and better approach towards satisfaction of preferences.
Unanticipated: -These are discontinuous features of a business to create pleasant surprise among customers. Good customer care means happier customers and increased referrals. A pleasant surprise to customers is effective strategy for sale maximization. It is noteworthy that a good experience is propagated normally to 5 persons and bad experience is propagated generally to 20 persons. A pleasant surprise to customers from time to time can be opted as permanent strategy to achieve or maintain customer loyalty
Product Delivery Model
The product / service delivery system has far reaching affects on customer satisfaction and company's market share. It must be based on customer friendly approach. A product/service delivery model has, generally, five vital components.
Environmental: - It is the physical set-up of the delivery system. It affects the aesthetics and psychological needs of customers. The friendly environment accommodates the social norms of customers, as well.
Interpersonal: - It is the interactive set-up of the delivery system. A relationship is a close partnership that evolves, steadily, through mutual cooperation, common goals, and reciprocal respect. A cordial interpersonal environment is necessary for satisfactory relationship with customers.
Procedural: - It includes waiting, guidance, documentation, etc. It must be easy to understand and simple to do. A proper setup for guidance on multiple procedures develops long-lasting relations with customers.
Financial: - It is the liquidity transfer set-up of the delivery system. The standard/legal norms of financial transaction are necessary to avoid some crises/mistrust. A liquidity transfers phenomenon is highly sensitive area of business realm, the whole institutional effort may collapse at final moments due to some non-cooperative or irrational or illegal measures of fund transfers.
Complaint Window: - The window facility is needed to improve the level of service of delivery process. The complaint window makes room for next and better experience for both, businesses and customers.
Entrepreneurship & Customer Care
An entrepreneur initiates, develops, and maintains a business. An effective entrepreneur reads the market situations, constantly, and responds it accordingly. A market change has multiple categorizations. The prominent changes are:
· Real Vs Expected Changes,
· Short-lived Vs Permanent Changes,
· Normal Vs High Promising Changes.
A wise entrepreneur closely watches the situation and reacts with effective business techniques to reap the maximum benefits of changing market environ. A response to some real change need some concrete steps towards customer care process, e.g., demographic shift is a real change, while an expected change demands a robust analysis of expectations for some future outcomes. A well-organized preparation to meet some real or expected changes is necessary aspect of a visionary entrepreneur. A short-lived change can be managed through some short-term measures or some operational changes in business process, while a permanent change demands some long-term measures or some structural changes in business process. The accurate understanding of temporal phenomena of change is essential aspect of dynamic entrepreneur. Normal changes brings normal profit to a business, a normal response is enough to mange it, on the other hand, high promising changes bring windfall profit for business, consequently, an innovative response is required to reap wind-fall profit. An innovative response has some risky aspects, too, but, at the same time, it is inevitable for higher and better returns. A stable and successful response to normal or high-promising changes is essential aspect of an innovative entrepreneur. It is noteworthy that customers forget very soon an entrepreneur who is neglectful towards customers' changing preferences or market situations. A visionary, dynamic, and innovative approach towards change is inevitable aspect of effective entrepreneurship.
Final Remarks
Begin your Customer Care efforts by focusing first on what matters most to customers, consequently you would be able to see measurable results within few weeks/days. The key towards successful implementation of Customer Care process is to understand consumer preferences accurately, to estimate consumer preferences precisely, and finally to respond on customer preferences appropriately.
We are living in information age; information about something is easily available to everyone due to multiple information channels, consequently, customers have fairly good information about products and services due to print and electronic media. In addition, computer / internet has attained inevitable factor during some day to day customer experiences, for example, ATM service is necessary for normal banking. A business can implement customized software for better and quick dealing experience. Application of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software involves many applications that merge back-office operations and databases with front-line customer interaction. It enables the business to provide correct and timely information to customers, answer their questions, and take care of their needs as early as possible.
Business success and sustainability is outcome of stable customer account. A customer is real asset of an organization. It is base and foundation of every accounting asset, both tangible and intangible. The decisive difference between customer account and other business accounts is presence of heart & mind with former, a customer have some emotional leanings and rational expectations. An accounting approach towards stable customer account may lead towards some wrong business practices. A humanistic approach towards customers is essential for successful implementation of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Modal.