Company Blog

This Is Me Leaving You

by Adam Zack — November 4, 2015

Indifference Will Make A Difference

I’ve always been fascinated in lists and statistics. Give me a great top ten list, a funny compilation of the best blonde jokes, and an achievable to-do list and I’m a happy camper. Lists keep me organized, feel good to be checked off and present an appearance of order amidst the chaos. So as I was sorting through a list of topics for future blogs, I came across one of the more relevant lists for our industry: Why do customers leave your business. It makes sense, but I think it is something that we often can’t wrap our heads around because we don’t actually see it happen. Sure, we focus on the numbers: Sales are down this week. Customer count down. Item count down. You gotta do something about this! We need better ads! We need more sampling! And while you’re at it, you need to cut labor spending because sales are down! Well, I’m here to tell you the reasons customers leave – and they don’t announce it with a “Buh-bye! Thanks for nothin’! You won’t be unappreciating my business again!”, they simply don’t come back. They’ll tell friends, but they won’t tell you.

5 Reasons Customers Leave

1% pass away
3% move
14% are lured by a competitor
14% are turned away by product or service dissatisfaction
68% leave because of poor attitude or indifference by employees

So now you know that over 2/3 leave because employees just don’t care. Not all employees, of course. There are great employees (even in Walmart, I’m sure, I just haven’t found one yet.) in every store. People who go the extra mile to make sure that you have a great experience and a great day. They are “people persons” and their bosses have done a great job of placing them in the right spot to keep those customers happy and coming back. The greatest tool you can give your employees is the empowerment to do what it takes to make a customer happy. Next week I am going to come up with a list of things you can do today to empower your employees to communicate your mission to your customers. I already added it to the to-do list.