Are You Driving Your Customers Away?

If you are in retail, you know that it takes happy, returning customers to keep a business afloat. And you and your team know how to make customers happy—at least you should, right? It’s time to check if your business is filled with loyal customers or if you could you be unintentionally driving them away. Reevaluate your staff, policies and procedures to make sure your company fosters an environment that attracts satisfied, repeat business. Here are some reasons why a customer may walk out the door and never come back:

Waiting… and waiting… and waiting

Have you ever gone into a retail store and needed some help, but found yourself roaming the aisles looking for someone to assist? Or how about when you go to a store and you pick out what you want, carry it up to the register, and experience an excessive wait time since the checkout clerks are understaffed?

Especially in today’s fast-paced society, customers do not like to wait. If they feel like they are being ignored or side-stepped for someone else, they will leave and go elsewhere.

Under-delivering

If you promise a delivery at a certain time and call to reschedule at the last-minute or don’t show up at all, you’ve likely lost the customer’s business. Time is money for both you and your clients, and if your customer feels like his or her time has been wasted, you may not get a second chance to make it right.

Go out of your way to please the customer and exceed expectations. Be communicative and timely.

Phone courtesy

Not returning calls, being hard to reach and putting customers on hold for too long are all common mistakes that may turn customers away for good.

There is nothing more irritating than calling a business with a question, getting someone who doesn’t know the answer, and being passed around from person to person. Poor phone policies can be detrimental to a business, so do all you can to make sure your staff is properly trained with the courtesies and protocol required to handle a customer’s inquiries with respect and efficiency.

If your business is open limited hours, or if your team is understaffed, recruit the assistance of a reputable company like Zipwire to make sure your customers experience stellar customer service with every call. An inbound call center can help by streamlining your incoming calls and helping callers get the information they need quickly.

Attitude adjustment

The customer is always right, even when they aren’t. If you have an unsatisfied customer, work to resolve the situation in the most customer-friendly way to retain that business. You and your staff may have to go out of your way to change the mind of an unhappy customer, however word-of-mouth spreads about businesses that are willing to go above and beyond for client satisfaction.

Take a good look at your business, monitor your salespeople, and check in on your customer service reps. A great reputation is priceless, and it’s hard to redeem once it’s been lost.

Photo Credit: Social Monsters with permission to use