5 sure ways to turn customers away from your small business

As a small business owner, you cannot afford to turn any customers away and must always put your brand forward.

Let’s face it we don’t have big budgets for massive brand building campaigns so every little bit we can do to create a better customer experience goes a long way.

And from experience, I’ve noticed these 5 essential customer service elements are not always met, and it’s a sure way to lose business. These are:

1. No greeting upon entry or on the phone. It’s just poor manners, when you enter a store and the clerk is head down busy on their phone and obviously too involved to notice you. If you have staff that does this, I suggest you have a strong conversation about etiquette. 


2. You call a business and the phone just keeps ringing. This has happened to me on several occasions. Who in their right mind does not have a voice mail system?  As a small biz owner, you maybe solo in your store or office, so you can’t afford to miss any potentials customers. Set up a system right now.


3. Staff is not educated enough about a product or service. It is truly a big turn off when you are interested in purchasing an item and you have questions that cannot be answered. To make matters worse, the customer service person may just waffle around the answers instead of connecting you to someone who knows. 


4. You have a difficult to find location. If your business is in a difficult to find location, something you may not be able to avoid, please make sure your address with detailed directions and landmarks is on your website, social media pages and on your google page. In addition, have a sign outside your business leading customers to where you are.


5. Not responding to email, social media posts, or voice mail messages. It is mandatory to respond to any inquiries a customer may have, even if it’s the simplest question. The point is when you do not respond, that potential customer will talk about it to friends or to make matters worse, when a question on social media goes unanswered others can see it. As a rule, respond to emails within 12 hours, voice mail within 24 hours, Twitter posts within the hour, Facebook within 3 hours or sooner the better for all of the above.

I hope you found these tips helpful to deliver a better customer experience.  Contact me with any questions. Thanks.