There's a story you may have heard. But it bears repeating because it demonstrates perfectly a wonderful truth:-
Two friends are on the golf course. One turned to the other and said: “Harry, we've been friends for a long time now. And yet, in all these years, you've never opened an account at my bank. How come?”
His friend replied, “Why Bill, you've NEVER ASKED me to!”
The three letter word “ ASK ” really can increase your business!
Too obvious or basic? Maybe. But so often, opportunities are missed. My local garage proprietor, for instance, sees us face to face nearly every week. But never once has he suggested we bring our cars to him. He's never ASKED for business from us, his existing customers. Of course, he'd have to do more than just ask. He would need to “sell” us on the capability of his mechanics to do the job. But he just doesn't seem interested. He's missing out on business from the customers already on his forecourt. And what could that be worth to him annually in terms of profit?
And he's not alone. So many businesses miss out on sales because they simply don't ask. They ASSUME the customer will ask them. They assume that because the customer buys one line off them, they'll automatically seek out the company's other products or services. But it really is NOT the case.
Customers are pretty astute. You have to show you care, REALLY care, before you'll earn their loyalty.
Isn't it so, that at some time, someone in a company you deal with, has let you down. But, because of your past good experiences with their service, and their eagerness to find the mistake and fix it, you stick by them? That is “nurturing”.
The reality is that 68% of customers who stop buying do so because of what's called PERCEIVED INDIFFERENCE. And 14% stop due to unresolved conflicts. Yet when business looks tough, we tend to look at prices! (which scored just 9% on the “why do people stop buying from you” survey by the way).
The message surely is: Sure, we must constantly be on the lookout for ANY slackening of service in our organisation. And any off handed service given out by team. But less apparent is the complacency that customers will automatically know our full range of services, and buy them from us. Or that they'll always come back. Otherwise, some day, they'll be gone, and you may never know why.
A business is like a car - fail to service it, and even though the damage may take years to show itself, when it does, it's too late.
As someone said to me recently - the whole secret is care - care spelt C.A.R.E. Now I used to think that meant Customers Are Really Everything. But how's this for another definition - Customers Are Rare Enough. We perhaps need to treat them as a dying breed because if we don't take care of them, someone else surely will.
As specialists in business development too, we can help you build yourself a better business. So give us a call. We can start off simply with a planning session before deciding to go on. That way you are under no pressure, and the choice to go forward is totally under your control. And remember what we said about our guarantee.
