Here is a great example of how to lose a customer.
“Hello. This is Cindi from XYZ Corporation. I am calling to let you know that a major mistake on our part needs to be corrected by you, our customer. I know that you pay us quite a large sum of money to provide a service, but we just wanted to let you know how much we don’t care about you and want to make your life as difficult as possible.”
I am exaggerating the conversation a little, but on my end of the phone that is what the conversation felt like. Where in the customer service manual does it tell you to call your customer and tell them that they need to drop everything they are doing to fix a problem that you created?
Naomi Dunford of Ittybiz posted a blog post talking about a similar situation she encountered on the plane ride to Las Vegas. In both Naomi’s and my situations we encountered the same mistake that large companies make when trying to streamline a customer facing process; big companies love to make it more difficult for a customer to give them money. In Namoi’s case, the airline could have been out $10. In my case, the company I am dealing with is leaving about $80,000 of receivables in limbo. Multiply Naomi’s example by ten thousand customers or my by two or three, and we are talking real money.
In case you are wondering, yes, this does affect you. Big company or solo entrepreneur, anytime you are offering a product or service online, you have to consider the method that you will bill your customer. Do you only accept PayPal? What about checks? What if the person only has cash? The method of payment you choose might scare away some potential customers unless you can offer them all.
So maybe you are one of those companies that let people pay anyway they like. How do you get your customers to the point they have to pay? Do you hide your prices from your customer behind an icky sales letter? How about requiring your customer to beg for a quote? What other hoops do you have in place to make your customers jump though in order to give you money?
Here are some examples of ways you make it difficult for your customers to do business with you:
- A Loyalty card that is required for special pricing (Grocery Stores)
- Having a contact form to request a price quote (Web Designers)
- Asking your customers for too much information before providing an estimate (Technology Service Companies)
- Sending your customers information about pricing changes in legalize (Phone and Cable companies)
- Developing pricing plans that mathematicians can’t figure out (Cell Phone companies)
- Hiding product information behind sales letters (Marketers)
- Waiting to inform customers of customization and delivery expenses (Car and Furniture companies)
- Provide information to browse offerings (Real Estate companies)
I understand that you want to make your internal billing process easier, get leads, and lead people to make rash purchasing decisions. That is OK, but you do not have to do those things at the sake of the sanity of your customers.
Put yourself in the shoes of your customers. Are you someone that is easy to do business with? If not, how can you make it easier for someone to engage you? I know that this is an area I need to work on. What about you?
If you liked this post, then you should also check out:
