Is this what you look like when you lose a customer??

If not, it should be!

How will you know when a customer fires you?

Showing no genuine or personal interest. Impersonal service. Insincere people. Commission (only) hungry sales people.

Poor response time. Takes too long to get back to a customer or get to a customer, and they will find someone else. People will even sacrifice quality for speed.

Unavailability. People or product is not available. Customer can't get the stuff they need or they can't reach the person they want results in going somewhere else.

Hard to do business with. Long telephone waits and being put on hold. It also doesn’t help if your people are not product knowledgeable. Voice mail and answer machines rather than a real human being to answer the phone and going through three minutes of crap to get sent back to the main menu. That customer will call someone else who will take care of them.

Unfriendly gate keeper. It never ceases to amaze me how many angry people serve on the front line of multi million (billion) dollar businesses. The first rule of every corporate policy in America should be one word "smile" when you answer the phone.

Poor or rude collection practices. This is a big one. Most companies have never taken the time to point out to collection people that keeping the customer is important as collecting the money. If they are going to make payments, you need to keep them happy to continue collecting the rest of the payments.

Over promising. Customers are like elephants, they never forget. You overpromise and underdeliver, you lose.

Inadequate capability to handle customer's problem. Poor product knowledge, or too many service call backs – not enough service people. Double jeopardy if you make a lame excuse about it or blame it on your techs.

To eager to do more business. (Too pushy, too much pressure) – no one wants to buy more from a high-pressure salesman. Help, don't sell. Create an atmosphere of buying (asking about them) – not telling about you. Don't be a pest – have a solid reason for following up.

Poor professional package or image. Customers want to be reflected by the quality of those they deal with. How is your Company image? Sloppy dresser? Clean truck? Smell good? Polite? Happy?

Dumb excuses about why you "can't". Customers are calling because they need your help. They need help with their situation – Leadership is about taking responsibility, not making excuses.

Nickel and diming. Charging for every incidental, like copies, phone calls and interest only payments puts a bad taste in a customer's mouth.

Poor product quality. No matter how much people pay, they expect a quality product. If you're selling a price and sacrificing quality, eventually you will lose the business to someone with opposite thinking.

Poor service delivery. Everyone expects fast service that's right the first time. How was yours? How's the attitude of those who deliver it? The occasional “run” to the truck means worlds to the customer.

Poor training. Don't fire the problem employee. Shoot the person who trained them. Poor or ineffective training is the root of customer satisfaction. Employees see training as gold. It means that the business owner cares about their employees enough to send them to educational training classes. And the first thought that comes to mind is, what happens if they leave after spending all this money on them? They won’t!! Why would they leave if they are being taken care of.