When customers return to you for business time and time again, it tells you something: they like your services. However, if they fail to show up repeatedly (or you see them going to the business down the street), it’s a bad sign. It usually means that you’ve done something wrong. 

In this post, we take a look at some of the reasons why your customers aren’t coming back and what you can do about it. 

They Don’t Like Your Staff Attitude

When it comes to engaging with customers, attitude is everything. If your people are pleasant, customers will want to return. If they look cheesed off or disinterested, customers will go elsewhere. 

If you’re worried about the quality of service being offered, observe your colleagues yourself. See how they interact with people. 

If you don’t have time to do that, you can collect feedback from customers directly. Get customers to rate their interactions with colleagues to find out how they’re getting on. 

You’re Not Fulfilling Their Needs

This is another big one: not fulfilling their needs. Remember, most customers want you to meet some kind of emotional need (not necessarily provide them with a product or service). So, for instance, if you offer management consulting, don’t just take a hands-off approach and then dump a big report on your clients’ desks after a couple of weeks. Instead, try to do the stuff that they either can’t or won’t do. Be more active in seeking out what your customers want. 

You’ve Got Bad Press

According to the PR agency Harvey and Hugo, bad press can really put the brakes on your business. The moment people start talking negatively about you online, it has massive ramifications. News spreads fast. 

If you have bad press, find out whether it is warranted. Then hire agencies to manage the potential damage and fallout on your behalf. Don’t allow anyone to denigrate your brand if you haven’t done anything wrong. Prove to customers that the claims are false. 

You’re Inconsistent

Customers will sometimes stop showing up to your business if you’re inconsistent in some way. For instance, if the experience is different at one location compared to another, customers won’t like it. 

Avoid this by making sure that you standardise your approach across all locations and channels. Conduct regular audits to check that everyone is on the same page. Apply corrective policies if they are not. 

You’re Not Meeting Customer Expectations

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Today’s customers have high expectations. They’re used to getting precisely what they want every time. So, if you don’t deliver it to them, then you won’t meet their needs. 

When marketing your business, carefully set the level of expectation slightly below what you know you can deliver. Then, when customers come to you, they find out that you offer a better service than they were expecting, encouraging them to return to you again and again. 

So which of these reasons do you think are causing your customers to stay away? Make sure you find out and save your business.