7 Reasons You Might be Losing Customers
A business that is losing customers on a consistent basis is in trouble over the long haul. Customers are the lifeline of any organization. However, today’s business environment is characterized by high customer turnover due to stiff competition. If you’re losing customers and can’t figure out why, it’s time to take a good hard look at how you’re doing business.
1. Changing Too Many Players
Customers do not buy from companies but from people. Relationships are the lifeblood of a business, irrespective of its size. Therefore, to retain long-term customers, a company should not rotate salespeople, key contacts, or customer service representatives unless it has to. A business should foster any relationships forged by employees since they are rarely interchangeable.
2. Treating Existing and New Customers Differently
Offering incentives and discounts to only new customers may cause resentment among the existing ones. A business should think carefully about the carrots its offers new customers and ensure that it rewards existing ones equally – if not more. Although new clients have an immediate top-line impact, total sales to existing ones typically result in a greater impact on the business’ bottom line. And it’s always more cost effective to keep a customer than it is to earn a new one.
3. Focusing on Price Rather Than Value
Being a low-cost provider offers a competitive edge at first, but this strategy is difficult to sustain over the long haul. Instead, a business’ goal should be providing the best value. Value is maintained through a combination of service, price, schedule, and relationships.
4. You are Not Utilizing Social Media
Today’s customer is comfortable conducting business from their smartphone, tablet, or computer. The advent of social media has made finding and losing customers easy since a lot of them rely on these sites for information. If your company doesn’t have a social presence, you could find that your tech-savvy customers will be on their way out.
5. You are Not Using Technology Efficiently
Apart from social media, a business also needs to provide customer service through other platforms, including reliable voice solutions, chat, and email. The easier it is for customers to connect with you on the platform of their choice, the more likely they will be to stick around.
6. You Don’t have an Updated Call Center
Updating a business’ phone system and call center allows it to attract and retain clients. Installing a unified communications system that integrates with a firm’s current business applications offers good ROI. A Mitel phone system allows businesses to stay in touch with their customers, build for the future, offer reliable voice solutions, and enable a smooth migration to the cloud.
7. You have no Cloud Data Backup
A business needs to protect its stored data to prevent loss in case of disasters. Today, enterprise IT faces massive pressure to improve service quality while reducing cost. Consequently, many businesses are migrating toward advanced IT infrastructure levels driven by innovative technologies like hybrid cloud storage. Hybrid cloud storage guarantees companies that their critical customer information will always be secure. It also allows improved scalability and greater connectivity.
Businesses need to work consistently to develop a competitive edge in their line of work to prevent customer loss. This includes making good use of social media and voice solutions technology like updated phone systems, and cloud storage.