They’re walking out the door, never to return.

According to a recent study conducted of 22,000 consumers, 22% of customers will stop buying from you because of a bad experience. Some of the top reasons for the customer exits included 34% leaving because of interacting with a rude or disinterested employee. When you compare that to the statistic we’ve quoted often during the years (that 68% of lost business was due to the fact that the customer perceives the organization to be indifferent), then you can surmise that approximately half of that perception of indifference comes from employees just being blatantly rude or seeming like they’re disinterested.

We’re talking about customer service basics, which too many organizations don’t understand. They think it’s all about the product or the price or the design of the shop or the website, but so much of what drives customers away is about the employee – how they’re perceived, whether they appear engaged, whether they use the right tone and body language, whether they talk about you and your needs or themselves and their personal issues. So much of customer retention comes down to hiring and training, motivating and rewarding, challenging staff to be great and holding them accountable to your standards.

Look at your organization, asking yourself these basic questions:

· When hiring staff, do we test/gauge an applicant’s ability to communicate effectively (orally and in written word)?

· Do we assess how prospective employees come across with their tone and body language?

· Do we have basic customer service standards, those expectations of the bare minimum of what we expect in terms of how they’ll treat the customer?

· Do we train them (continuously) on customer service standards, skills, principles, and techniques?

· Do we monitor performance, rewarding and recognizing excellence, and holding accountable when standards are not met?

· Do our leaders model what we expect of staff?

Limit the number of customers you lose because you answered “No” to these questions.

Read our New Book – “Ask Yourself…Am I GREAT at Customer Service?” http://www.amigreatat.com/

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