The Number One Reason For Business Failure!
It all comes down to one key element: the customer. The reason many businesses fail is because they don't have a customer-centric approach, or they fail to make their customers happy. After all, who would want to buy a product or service from a company that doesn't care about its customers? One way you can ensure your business succeeds is by following these steps:
1. Focus on building relationships with your potential customers and appeal to their needs and emotions rather than focusing on "features."
2. Be honest about every part of your business and be up front about everything from pricing, delivery times, return policies, etc.
3. Set clear and specific expectations for your customers in terms of what they can expect from you.
4. Make your customers feel appreciated and listened to by being genuine, friendly, helpful, and just plain nice to them.
5. Keep your customers informed through periodic emails or newsletters about the latest news in the industry, what's new with their favorite products or services, etc.
6. Maintain a level business/personal relationship with every customer and don't make up rules that are just to make up rules, such as "you'll only talk to customer service if you have a problem." This is called "No Win." Always solve problems first; ask questions second (if at all).
7. Give back. If you want something, give another something first. Use your business to help others in some way and the rewards will come. The truth is that people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.
8. Listen to your customers and find out what they really want and don't want and why.
9. Make it easy for customers to buy from you by using a shopping cart checkout system or PayPal instead of having them fill out long forms with countless fields to fill in or asking them for a list of their credit card information – this is just plain old insecure!
10. Don't get so caught up with marketing and sales that you ignore all of your other customers and turn them off, then they go away.
11. Tell your customers what you're going to tell them. Then, tell them. Then, tell them what you told them!
12. Don't forget to say "thank you" to your customers – they're the ones who keep your business alive!
13. Be open with customer information; don't hide things from your customers like terms and conditions, policies, etc., or only disclose these things after a customer has paid for a product or service from you and demand an additional fee for "disclosure.
13.9. Always have a tracking link in your email to make sure that you can track all of your leads/sales/etc. This helps you to see how effective your methods are and how well they're translating into sales.
14. Don't make getting in touch with you or ordering from you overly difficult. Make it easy for people to reach you and order directly from you or your website – don't refer them elsewhere or start a cycle of emailing back-and-forth that only frustrates the customer and makes them want to give up on the whole process!
15. Don't ignore problem customers – always follow up with them and try to solve their problems ASAP!
16. Don't make it difficult for anyone to return anything that's wrong with their order or with the product itself. This could be a huge turn off to your customers and lead to word-of-mouth advertising in your absence!
17. Make the buying experience a positive one for your customers and they'll come back!
18. Don't waste your time trying to figure out what makes people buy from you – you're only wasting gas and time if you keep trying to find out why something didn't work out in terms of business. Just make sure that whatever it was that went wrong, is quickly resolved so that your customers don't give up on you (and then talk about how terrible your products are).
19. So many things can go wrong with a business. Don't let legal problems be one of them – do your due diligence and make sure that you're doing everything right on the legal front.
20. Never let somebody else take advantage of you if they don't want to give you something in return for what it is that you're giving them. You know when you're being taken for a ride…don't allow it!
21. Stand up for the little guy or gal – the customer! Help them when they need it, even if they don't realize that they need help or aren't asking for it directly at the moment.
22. Be patient and give your customers what they want, within reason.
23. Be polite and patient with your customers and others from the beginning – this is how you build relationships! It isn't hard to be nice to people; if you're nice to them, then they'll be nice to you back! It isn't rocket science.
24. Don't "give up" on your customers or business too soon. If you give up, the problem will just keep repeating itself and you'll never get over it!
25. Be consistent in everything that you do and don't feel like your customers have to adjust to your business – make it work for you!
26. Have a plan of action ready for when things go wrong or are not as they should be in terms of customer service. Even if it's something as simple as an apology, follow up about the problem, and a solution that doesn't cost the customer anything, always follow through with these things!
27. Don't be afraid to try something, but don't do anything half-hearted. If it's not going to work, then stop doing it!
28. Having a customer service department is a good idea – this is one of those things that you can never have enough of in business! If you have questions about all of the above, feel free to comment down below!
What tips do you have for building your company? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @LoriLeeTCD. Happy building!
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