![\"customer-service\"](\"http:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/customer-service-300x205.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
An article in Entrepreneur magazine raised a point about sales and business that isn’t often considered. \u00a0What do we do when our customers walk out the door? \u00a0Unfortunately there are dozens of factors as to why a customer might leave you. \u00a0Some of these things may be beyond your control and others are things where a proactive approach may have prevented the loss or where a reactive approach may help gain them back.<\/p>\n
The first thing to find out when you lose a customer is why? \u00a0Customers don’t usually take there business elsewhere for no reason, especially if they were a long-time client. \u00a0The article I read suggests doing an immediate SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis on your selling approach and business model. \u00a0It’s good to look at the market your in and see if there have been any big changes. Also check to see if you are staying current with pricing and see what your competitors are doing. \u00a0Another great suggestion is that if you find you can’t objectively analyze yourself and your approach, get someone else involved who can be objective.<\/p>\n
The second important thing is to write a plan of attack on how you are going to get that customer back. \u00a0You need to be organized and set personal goals and benchmarks with timelines that make sense. \u00a0It’s also important to not wait to long before you try to reconnect with your client. \u00a0According to the article this is a big mistake and can lose their business for good. \u00a0The customer wants to feel that they are cared for by you, not merely just another number.<\/p>\n
Thirdly, it may be too much to expect your customer to come right back. \u00a0The best thing to do in this case is to edge your way back into a relationship with them. \u00a0You can do this by trying to get them into a different product, or a smaller portion of your product. \u00a0Get a smaller “yes” and over time try to turn this into a bigger project.<\/p>\n
Fourth, it’s very important to try and request an exit interview. \u00a0This can help you find out exactly what their reasons for leaving you were. \u00a0A key here is to not be defensive about criticism but to listen and even be apologetic if it is warranted. See this as an opportunity to learn about yourself and also about your client needs that weren’t being met. \u00a0This information may eventually lead you and your client back together again in the future.<\/p>\n
Lastly, it’s important to get to bottom of the issue. \u00a0A great, yet hard, suggestion is to ask, “is it me?” \u00a0Sometimes it’s not the company as a whole that is the poor fit. \u00a0It may be, that you need to step off the project and let someone more in tune with this particular customer take over. \u00a0Often an honest conversation with the client can lead to more openings about company, client relationships. \u00a0This can eventually lead the customer back to your side.<\/p>\n
One thing to keep in mind is that customer turnover is a part of business. \u00a0Don’t sweat it when you can’t win back a customer. \u00a0Sometimes there are factors beyond your control that lead a client to “move on.” \u00a0If your do your best to understand the what, where, why, and how about your client, it really increases your chance of getting them back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An article in Entrepreneur magazine raised a point about sales and business that isn’t often considered. \u00a0What do we do when our customers walk out the door? \u00a0Unfortunately there are dozens of factors as to why a customer might leave you. \u00a0Some of these things may be beyond your control and others are things where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":396,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391\/revisions\/396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}