subject: Five Ways To Fail At Attracting And Retaining Customers In 2009 by:Lynne Saarte [print this page] A lot has been written about how to attract and retain customers. From the most absurd to the most practical, these tips serve as a guide to most businesses. This article is not about that. This article will focus on what you should do to fail. These tips are the exact opposite of the things you should do. Read them and avoid them at all cost.
First, ignore your customers
Feedback is a waste of time and energy. If your customers are not happy with your product or service, you could not care less. Business should adopt the "take it or leave it" attitude. Offer your business like an exclusive offer - if you can not afford it, too bad. If they are not satisfied with it - they just have to live with it.
To practice this: When customers try to share their opinion with you, hand them a business card printing of your secretary and tell them that you do not have time to listen. Better to do this than sticking an index finger in each ear.
Second, show apathy and indifference towards your business.
Exhibit a devil-may-care attitude and before you know it, you will be well on your way. Because when you do not love your brand, what it stands for, and why it matter... others will begin to feel the same way.
Start with how you print your color business cards. Do not engage a professional printer. Just print it from your colored printer, use the fonts that you like and voila! You have your own smudgy, poorly designed business card printing. For better results, initiate a blog about how difficult your customers are. Tell the world how demanding customers can be and how you should just ignore them and go on with your business.
Third, lose the long-term plan.
Building a successful brand takes a lot of time and effort so why go through the process. A business should be about the here and now. Changes are expected to happen so there is no need to plan for the future.
Forget about printing dozens of color business cards, you might change horses anyway in the middle of the game. In short, short-term perspectives will work just fine. Move on to the next thing before you grow stale.
Finally, stay in the course.
Do not explore and experiment because they are costly. Copy what your competition is doing and add your own touches. No new thing is being invented anyway. Creativity is just a waste of time. To practice this, get a competitors' product. Break it down and make your own copy. Voila! No R and D expenses incurred.
Follow these advises and you are sure to hasten your business' demise.
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Lynne Saarte is a writer that hails from Texas. She has been in the Internet business for some years now, specializing in Internet marketing and other online business strategies.
