Customer Service Tips - Is Your Business A Leaky Bucket?

Customer service and customer service training are vital for any business.

But, is your business a leaky bucket?

This is a question I always ask small business owners who attend my marketing seminars.

The reason I ask is because many businesses are so focused on attracting new customers they forget about retaining and providing good customer service to their existing clients.

Many are also unable to quickly identify who their most profitable customers are.

In the leaky bucket example we have two businesses in the same industry. Both businesses attract 10 per cent new customers each year. Not a bad effort considering the increasingly crowded and competitive industry they operate in.

Business number one has a 95 per cent retention rate and 5 per cent slippage, while business number two has a 90 per cent retention rate and 10 per cent loss of customers.

Not bad figures to have, but after 14 years business number one has doubled in size and business number two has stayed the same size.

This business is just treading water because it suffers from a 'leaky bucket' with too many customers slipping through the holes in the bottom of the bucket.

Much of this is due to poor customer service. And they don't even know it!

For example, the research shows a typical business does not hear from 96 per cent of unhappy customers.

For every complaint there are 26 others with the same problem and the average person with a problem tells 9 or 10 others. Thirteen per cent will tell more than 20 people.

So that is the cold hard reality of poor customer service.

But it is not all bad. If complaints are resolved those people tell 5 people and it is usually a positive message.

For example, complainers are more likely to do business with that company again compared to non-complainers, and this rate goes to 95 per cent customer retention if the complaint is dealt with quickly.

Everyone makes mistakes, the key is to learn from those mistakes and act on them quickly and you will have even more loyal customers.

Keeping your customers happy will help fill the holes in your leaky bucket and lead to a more profitable and successful business.

Thomas Murrell MBA CSP is an international business speaker, consultant and award-winning broadcaster. Media Motivators is his regular electronic magazine read by 7,000 professionals in 15 different countries.

You can subscribe by visiting http://www.8mmedia.com. Thomas can be contacted directly at +6189388 6888 and is available to speak to your conference, seminar or event. Visit Tom's blog at http://www.8mmedia.blogspot.com.

More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Customer Service Information:

Related Articles

Stay - Say - Pay
Would you like to have customers that stay with you anddon't buy from your competitors?Customers that say nice things about your business to otherpeople; pay you on time and accept the fact that you might be a bit more expensive thenother suppliers?Of course you do but how do we perform this miracle? It'sdead easy really; you only have to consider two factors: be Reliable and be Likeable.It almost goes without saying that it's vital to have areliable product or service.
Is Your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) System Doomed To Fail?
"Right, People. Let's blast out that mail campaign we've been planning for so long.
How Do You Create Customer Loyalty?
Another sad fact of life is that these days, very few customers are loyal. Most of their loyalties lie with their bank accounts, and you can't blame people for watching their shrinking dollars.
How to Easily Increase Your Profits
Do you remember the last time you went into a shop and the person 'serving' raced over to you, greeted you with a lovely smile, heaps of enthusiasm and said, "Welcome to our store, what can I help you with today?" And then listened attentively to what you had to say?Doesn't happen very often does it? In fact, while I was writing this, I couldn't recall when I had experienced it. I'm sure I must have yet it would have been so long ago, I can't remember.
Your Career Plan--Think Like A CEO
You've been going 6-to-late; exhausted by running the supersonic treadmill of life and wish you had a different job. But you can't because you have no time and you're left spent at the end of every day.
Say It With Humor
When you own a business, you may find yourself in situations that may be a little tricky to handle. Dealing with customers who steal is one of them.
Cheap To Keep
You've heard it all before when it comes to stats about customer retention. Acquiring a customer costs five to 10 times more than retaining one.
Breaking the Ice and Winning Over the Client!
Wherever you turn these days you'll find articles covering every business strategy and tactic available to man, from how to make a great presentation to strategies for success all the way to negotiations and prospecting and getting a client to commit. But hardly anyone touches on the subject of breaking the ice with a new client and winning them over.
Listen to Suggestions
If you are up to your ears in a stressful situation, it becomes difficult to think clearly. Sometimes, it is best to walk away from a problem, and think about it, rather than try to solve it with an instant solution.
The Importance of Good Customer Service
Do you have good customer service? Even for your free giveaways?I have been thinking over the past couple of weeks why some WAHP's have trouble growing their business. They host chats or do online parties.
Making The Most Of Newsletters
Newsletters can be wonderful tools for communicating with your customers or prospects. Because of their format, they're often infused with more credibility than traditional brochures.
Customer Service Consultants
When all else fails in your company to meet the needs of your customer consider a customer service consultant. If you find that agents in your company are constantly having misunderstanding that result in loss of customers bring in a consultant.
We Sell For Less and Our Stores Are a Mess!
What kind of image do you present when marketing your products? Are you professional and well organized or does your store/site/whatever scream, "sloppy!," to those who matter the most: your customers? Let's see how one leading retailer is winning the sales war, but losing an important battle: store organization.WalMart is dominant in so many categories with the various products that they sell.
CRM For Beginners - Customer Relationship Management Basics
In order to maintain a successful business, the business must understand and maintain a positive relationship with its customers. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is the process of bringing the customer and the company closer together.
Dealing with Difficult People
1. Don't get Hooked !!!When people behave towards you in a manner that makes youfeel angry, frustrated or annoyed - this is known as a Hook.
Whats Love Got To Do With It?
Customer Loyalty, we all want it. Don't we?Some people say it's dead - they say that customers are fickle, that they don't want loyalty, that they just want the lowest price and the fastest way to get it.
Find Out Where Your Firm Stands in Today's Customer
Looking For Ways to Improve Sales and Customer Relationships?Find Out Where Your Firm Stands in Today's Customer Touchpoint Management (CTM) Revolution by Taking the CTM Quiz(San Rafael, CA) What could be more important than improving sales and your customer relationships? Today, there is a fast growing movement, a revolution, among organizations interested in improving their customer-centricity through a better understanding of customer interactions, or "touchpoints." Called "Customer Touchpoint Management" (CTM), the goal of this new movement is to improve customer experiences, and as a result, improve customer relationships.
How CRM Software Works -- Creating Customer Satisfaction with a Click
When people ask, "What is CRM?" the literal answer is, "Customer Relationship Management," but that doesn't really convey much in terms of what all CRM does for a business. This CRM definition is too narrow to really explain everything the system does if it is working to its fullest potential and is user-friendly enough to expand and grow as a customer-client relationship changes and grows.
Keeping Clients Happy Keeps them Coming Back
Whether you are a seasoned small business professional, or you have just opened your doors to new clients, your marketing strategy should not only involve bringing in new business, it should also include keeping your current clients, your most important asset, happy and coming back for more or referring your services.Top-notch customer service is the most important contributing factor in the success of your business.
Customer Service and Marketing that Works
Go into many businesses today and try and get service, its sometimes impossible! The customer service officer is on the phone talking about personal issues, there is not enough staff, and they are disinterested and distracted.The old days of customer service is where you the customer were viewed as valuable and important and you received service from a person and not a machine.