Top 10 Ways to Lose Customers

• By AllBusiness.com
• On 8:00 am EDT, Wednesday October 14, 2009

It's easy to lose customers. But if you don't want to be among the many companies that appear desperate to get rid them, here are 10 things to avoid.

1. Pass the customer around: Whatever you do, make it virtually impossible for customers to get what they want when they call you. Make them work by asking them to repeat themselves; then get someone who doesn't know how to transfer a call to accidentally cut the customer off.
2. Buy a complicated customer management system: Do like many companies and purchase a "wonderful" (and complicated) system for recording customer details. Your employees' frustration will spread to your customers.
3. Rely on a customer call center: Use a complicated system that makes it really difficult for customers to contact you.
4. Forget about training: Just do what so many companies do today and put staff on the telephone without an iota of training. Better still, make sure they can't be easily understood and are good at arguing with customers.
5. Don't reward loyalty: Forget about all those loyal customers who have been with you for years. Instead, attract new customers with better deals and tell your existing ones they can't have the same discount despite how long they have been with your company and how much they have spent.
6. Ignore the millions of people with speech or hearing difficulties: If you operate predominantly in the consumer sector, ignore all those who may not be able to communicate effectively with you.
7. Ignore customer feedback: Develop the services you desire and ignore what your customers want. Don't ask them; they won't know, so why waste your time?
8. Forget about third parties who work with your company: Don't invest time in companies that work for you and communicate with your existing and prospective customers. Who cares if they can't help your customers? Maybe they'll give wrong advice and you'll get sued.
9. Forget about service; just sell, sell, sell: Don't waste time on nasty topics such as service; customers don't care about this, so why bother? Just give them a keen price and rotten service and they'll come back in droves.
10. Forget cultural differences: Make everyone do things your way even if they can't speak your language or have different ways of saying things.

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