There has been rampant cases of business failures both in the past and at present. One wondered what is behind this. Some even make assertions that the business world has collapsed, some says businessmen has joined the political wagon that they have failed to differentiate between business capital and profit.
All these assertions have no basis. You may ask what then has been behind most business failures? The answer to this question is simple “poor customer relations”.
One of the single greatest key to long-term business success can be summed up in three simple words: Quality customer service. Yet as customers, you and I are aware that quality customer service is far too rare these days in spite that many business organisations have invested heavily in this unit but few actually make any headway. Why is excellent service so rare? There are three reasons for this.
Employees don’t know the basics. All too often, employees having contact with customers are sent out to perform a job without a clear understanding of what it takes to create and keep customers. A lot of potential business is lost simply because employees don’t know how to treat customers.
Every time a customer comes into contact with a business, he goes away feeling better, worse, or the same about it. It is how well employees deals with customers that ultimately determine how successful the business will be.
Quite simply, excellent service is rare because most business owners fails to reward workers for giving excellent service. A typical business owner hires a person to do a job, pays him a flat wage, and give him no incentive to go that extra mile for the customer. And in that type of climate, the employee attitude degenerates to one of indifference or even contempt toward the customer.
Although, customers rarely get such a rude message in words, instead, the employee’s behaviour delivers the message loud and clear. Yet to the customer, that employee is the company (the business). That customer will likely take his money elsewhere in the future. This in a short while tells on the business fortune.
Many customers will not complain of their dissatisfaction but may simply walk away and never return. A typical business hears from only 4 percent of its dissatisfied customers. The other 96 percent just quietly go away and 91 percent will never come back. That represents a serious financial loss for companies whose people don’t know how to treat customers, and a tremendous gain to those that do.
Looking critically on why customers quit, you may discover that 3 percent move away, 5 percent develop other friendships, 9 percent leave for competitive reasons, 14 percent are dissatisfied with the product or services
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