As a business owner, one of the most important things you can do is retain your customers. All it takes is one dissatisfied customer to lose dozens. Bad news travels fast; therefore, it’s in your best interest to create happy customers.
One of the best ways to keep customers is to know what not to do.
To help you keep happy customers and keep the good reviews flowing, take a look at some of the most common ways that businesses lose customers.
Accepting Cash Only
If you’re a small business, you may prefer that your customers pay with cash only. Since paying with a credit card can result in processing fees that affect your profits, it’s something many business owners would rather do without. If your store doesn’t have an ATM machine, then you could lose the sale altogether.
Many customers prefer to carry around a debit and credit card over cash, and you’re therefore alienating them as clients. With so much competition out there, it’s critical that you offer all sorts of payment methods. Even though credit cards may involve processing charges, people tend to spend more on their cards than they do with cash, so you’d be doing yourself a disservice to lose this advantage.
Poorly Trained Staff
Nothing is more unprofessional than asking an employee for information about a product they’re selling only to find that they’re incapable of answering.
Salespeople should be knowledgeable in order to be able to close the sale. Your employees should know what they’re selling inside and out by means of training. By properly training your staff you can avoid people walking out and taking their business somewhere else.
Unfavorable Hours
As a business owner, one of the best perks is being able to choose your own hours. However, your hours shouldn’t only be convenient for you. If you’re only open a few hours a week, then it won’t be long until people stop trying to go to your store. While most people probably won’t expect to be able to get a pedicure at midnight, you should be open during traditional hours of operation.
By having reasonable hours, you won’t frustrate your customers and lead them to find what you’re selling somewhere else. Even if you offer the best prices around, most people generally value convenience over price.
Bad Return Policy
Customers like to have the ability to return a product if they are dissatisfied. If you have a no-return policy, then it’s a quick way to lose customers altogether. Even though some people never feel the need to return what they buy, some people count on being able to return something if it doesn’t work out. If you make it difficult to return something, you’ve lost a customer forever.
2018 ·