THE SILENT MAJORITY

Usually when we think of the silent majority we are thinking in terms of voters and politics. We hear so much about it every political season which now seems to go on forever. 

But what I want to talk about today is a different silent majority---THE CUSTOMER. 

Recently I saw a sign posted in a business that, while it was one I had seen before, had a profound effect on me when I read it again. It said

THE SILENT MAJORITY

DID YOU KNOW

93% OF DISSATISFIED CUSTOMERS NEVER COMPLAIN

90% OF DISSATISFIED CUSTOMERS NEVER COME BACK

EACH DISSATISFIED CUSTOMER WILL TELL AT LEAST 9 OTHER PEOPLE

13% OF DISSATISFIED CUSTOMERS WILL TELL AT LEAST 20 PEOPLE

Now I am sure some of you are saying something like, I have heard that one before or so what else is new. You may have heard it but have you listened. Lost any customers lately? 

One thing I have noticed in the BSC industry that I have spent my lifetime in, is that most of us are really good at explaining away a lost customer. We say something like, 

They went out for bid and I got underbid. 

The  new contractor can't do it for that, I'll get it back.

They we too hard to please, I'm glad they are gone.

They are down sizing and got a cheaper price. Had they contacted me I could have given them a better price. 

But maybe, just maybe, they were one of the 93% that didn't complain and just got tired of poor work or poor (or no) customer relations on your part. Just as bad, or worse, are they one of the 13% that will tell 20 others how bad their relationship with you was? Just a thought.

Let me suggest in this new year that we make a concerted effort to make sure we have a positive relationship with all of our customers so in the unlikely event there is a complaint about service performance we are aware and handling it immediately. I for one, want to keep all customers and want a positive relationship with them. Set yourself a goal that you or someone in your organization is intimately involved with every customer you have. The investment in obtaining new accounts is SO much more expensive than retaining the ones we have that we need to focus on keeping what we have. Agree?

Sometimes we have small volume customers and I have heard the comment that the customer is so small I just can't spend a lot of time on them. My response is that if a customer is large enough to sell too, it is large enough to give your full attention too. If you don't want small accounts, don't sell them, it's as simple as that. Our company had a limit as to how small an account we would pursue and in the event we got a call from a prospect that didn't fit the profile we would say to them we would rather turn them down than let them down and then go on to explain what we meant. 

The average lost business in our industry hovers around 17% per year meaning a BSC has to add 25% new business just to net an 8% increase. I know, I know, you do better than that and I congratulate you, but the point is the more we keep the better the bottom line. 

Are you ready? Let's set a record for retaining customers in 2015. 

Till next time.