subject: How To Win Paying Clientele And Then Scare Them Off [print this page] So you have setup a new companySo you have setup a new company. By far the simplest process was setting up the company formations. You have a great brand, excellent name and website to match. That's dealt with the easy part of UK company formations. Now let us move onto the harder parts of running a company. The biggest part, is finding lots of customers. Once you have the customers through the door, you have an even harder job. Now you need to work out how to keep hold of them. Successful companies retain their customers. You cannot afford to lose your customers to a competitor because your product isn't up to much. So how do you avoid losing customers and alienating them? There are actually a few very common ways to slip up. Here they are.
It really gets me when a company makes a promise to do something, and then doesn't. To illustrate how not to treat a a customer, I am going to give you a simple example, which I've experienced as I am writing. On the whole, the company hasn't done a great deal wrong. Fortunately when I don't have Internet, I see it as a hint that I should be socialising a bit more! But beware, many customers are screaming psychopaths who are very easily upset.
So I am writing at the moment because I do not have an Internet connection. This isn't neccessarily the fault of my provider- it is my fault for losing my login information. Yesterday I rang the company to confirm the details. Unfortunately the portal that hosts the details was unavailable, but they would get back to me within an hour with the information I needed. I was mildly impressed they were making the time to retrieve the details manually for me. Better still, they actually called ten minutes later with the details. Brilliant! Unfortunately I wrote the details on a scrap of paper which my Mum designated to the bin. Having called again, I was informed I'd be contacted within 15 minutes. An hour passed, and I was told the same thing again. What irritated me is that I had been told fifteen minutes. The lesson to be had here- if you tell your customer you are going to do something, make sure you do it. If the situation changes, inform them. If the company had phoned to apologise after 15 minutes, and inform me that I'd need to wait a day, I'd have been cool with that. I am actually now quite irritated.
This shows us how important it is to set realistic expectations. If the company had informed me apologetically I'd have to wait a day, I'd have been fine. If they then came back to me that day, I'd have been very happy. This is why the McDonalds brand is so successful. You know what you are getting every time you buy a Big Mac. The McDonalds hand book covers everything from how long the burgers are grilled before frying to how much sauce is applied. This makes for very little room for error. Not like when you eat out in a restaurant and are wowed by the food, only the next time you visit, you experience a different chef and different food. Set expecations low, and smash them! Never go beyond the expectations you have set.
Remember finally, you will never please every customer. Some customers enjoy causing trouble. These people go through life inflicting pain on customer service! I can say from my experience of dealing with bad and fantastic customer service, that you cannot please everyone. You will find customers that break everything and then blame you. Don't waste your time on the problematic ones- follow the advice above and put a smile on the face of the customers that deserve it.
