There is a saying that without customers, you have no business being in business, which means that the importance of customers in business cannot be overemphasized.
Many organizations do know this fact and therefore know how to go about getting customers to a reasonable extent, however, where most companies are lacking is the aspect of retaining their customers or clients. And this is as a result of four primary reasons why businesses fail no matter how far they have risen.
There are several reasons a business could fail, but I will be focusing on these four significant aspects.
1. Failure to respect your client
Respecting your clients and customers is paramount in business. In fact, failure to respect your client is ignorance or foolishness. Knowing so well that your customers are the ones putting food on your table. Respect in business is what makes you pay attention to your employees, your customers without being reminded. And this is how you build a lasting relationship with your customers, employees, and partners. According to one of my favorite quotes “Where there is no respect, wisdom is lacking.” – Kate Iroegbu.
2. Poor customer service
Excellent Customer Service is the heart of any business as this is what gives the customer a sense of value and respect. That is, going the extra mile for your customers, which may sometimes involve additional time, resources, and occasionally money. Still, it’s worthwhile as this is what makes your company stand out from your competitors. But often nothing more is required but your willingness to go all out to ensure that your customers are satisfied and happy, and living a long-lasting impression with your customers.
Forbes reported that businesses lose 75 billion dollars due to poor customer service in a year. I would say excellent customer service comes before the quality of your product and your brand. Have you asked yourself the reason behind hard sales pitch and high advertising cost by most companies, even when they have been around for a while? The reason behind it is poor customer service and disrespect to customers. Business owners and their employees may try in building the initial rapport but fail in the most crucial part which is being able to provide customer satisfaction which is the key to customer retention. A business can only succeed when customers return to patronize your business. The most effective way to keep a customer and make them loyal is by respecting and offering them excellent customer service at all times.
3. Failure to deliver
The best business practice is to over-deliver. If you fail to deliver a service to satisfy your customers you are not just a wrong business person but probably do not truly understand how powerful and vital delivering excellent customer service is to any business. From telecommunications, banking, coaching, etc. Do you know that 96% of unhappy customers will tell at least fifteen friends? Bad customer service will kill your brand, ruin your reputation, a reputation built in 20 years can be destroyed in 5 years or less.
Not meeting your customer’s expectations is a blow on their chin and a knock on your head as a business owner, as this will bring you down. Because what this means is, you are saying that you are incompetent as an organization and on the other hand a complete waste of time for your customers.
4. Not having the strategies to handle adversity
As a business owner, you must be prepared to handle any challenge that the business is faced with without letting your customers suffer the impact. But what most companies do is to push the burden on customers and focus on their profit margin. And when that happens, your customers find an alternative or a similar service provider or product; they move on to your competitors. It brings a company to a reduced number of customers and pushes a company to increase the amount spent on marketing and advertising. If unsuccessful, they end up losing money and, in some cases, leads to redundancy. After this stage, if they are still not finding their feet, it results in a company going bankrupt. That is why as a business owner if you want to succeed in business you MUST learn how to RESPECT your customers, deliver EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE (exceptional service), and be prepared to FACE CHALLENGES and turn it to an opportunity if not opportunities.
How can you handle adversity? One of the best ways to handle adversity is by applying my eight key strategies APFDSALA.
For more detailed information on my eight key strategies to handle adversity check my website TriumphInTheMidstOfAdversity.Com.
After you must have put to use the application of my eight key strategies following the steps, I will also add that becoming a great leader is almost impossible without being able to handle Adversity Hence Triumph in the Midst of Adversity is a must-read as it will guide you through your journey and you will be able to learn from my experiences of going through several difficult situations and how I handled it and overcame that led to ultimate TRIUMPH.
After reading this book, you will learn to be resilient, positive, confident, have integrity, influence, and be inspired, as leadership is about inspiring people to do what they thought they could not do.
This brings me to the question I would like you to ask yourself, could your failing in business also be as a result of your poor leadership skills?
“Losers quit when they fail. Winners fail until they succeed.” – Robert T. Kiyosaki.
