Apart from the recession high gas prices, and the recent devastation caused by hurricane Ike, what do you believe is the main cause of the downturn in your business? If an answer does not immediately come to mind perhaps you can consider these.
1. I carried out some renovations at my office recently and during this process I decided to have my conference table refinish and the chairs upholstered. What a nightmare! When the table was delivered it was still wet and rough looking and the chairs had more staples than Office Max. Needless to say I marched them right back - two times to be exact; like the songwriter says ‘they don’t know me a?” What’s killing this business? Lack of skilled personnel who takes pride in his or her work.
2. I went into another local business recently and while waiting to have a service, the telephone rang. One of the owners of the business went to answer the telephone, but just as she picked up the phone and said hello, the person on the other end of the line hung up. This business owner became irate and started talking to the telephone “ok you wan be stink! Call back here, see if I walking back to answer this phone again!” Like my grandmother use to say “well blow me down!” This business owner is obviously confused. The customer is the reason she has a business in the first place. What’s killing this business? Bad Attitude , arrogance, lack of professionalism, lack of management training.
3. I visited a local beauty salon recently (I wanted my hair to be curled with the sassy flip ups). I was unable to receive this service because the beautician, who by the way is the owner of the salon said she didn’t know how to create the sassy flips, she felt she needed more practice. Well I guess I should be grateful, at least she was honest, who ever said the truth shall set you free obviously didn’t know what they were talking about. I wasn’t about to have her practice on me! What’s killing this business? Failure to upgrade skill set and failure to keep up with the latest trends.
4. Finally I was seeking to hire a local security firm recently for a function that we were hosting. When I called this particular company the phone was answered with an abrupt hello and the riddling off of the company’s name -which I didn’t understand because the person who answered the phone was speaking to fast. So I asked the young lady if she would repeat the name. Now what did I do that for? As she repeated the company’s name her tone was cold, impersonal and angry. Her silent message to me was heard loud and clear, “Are you deaf or don’t you know what company you are calling?” What’s killing this business? An Employee who doesn’t care and needs to be terminated, lack of training, lack of professionalism we could dedicate an entire article to this one, but I’ll stop here.
Points To Remember
Research has proven time and again that the average dissatisfied customer has a distinct pattern of behavior:
Ninety-six percent will not complain about the way they were treated; however ninety percent of these dissatisfied customers will not do business with you again.
Each of the ninety percent that refuses to do business with your company will tell at least nine other people (and anybody who wants to listen) how dissatisfied they are and why.
Customers may come into your business because of the products or service that you offer, but whether they return is determined by the way they are treated.
So again I ask the question, what’s killing your business? If you still don’t have an answer read this article again.
