How to Lose a Customer in 15 Easy Steps

Be aware of how your business, and the people that work there, come across to your customers. These are 15 signs that tell a customer they may not want to frequent your establishment and to take their business somewhere else.

1. Talk on the phone to a friend or family member, the whole time the customer is checking out, so you never converse with them at all. This not only makes the customer feel invisible, but makes them feel they are not worth your personalized attention.

2. Snap at the customers. You may be having a bad day at work, or personal problems, but you should set these problems aside when dealing with your customers. Present a pleasant person for them to deal with.

3. Make stocking shelves and putting merchandise out, more important than helping a customer. This is a major mistake. Helping a customer should be high on your priorities. Yes you do need to keep a well stocked store, but it is pointless if you have no customers to sell your merchandise to. One on one contact with a customer leaves the most lasting impression. If you have to, stock the store at off hours, otherwise be willing to stop what you are doing for a few moments to help a customer.

4. Don't look a customer in the eye while you are on the floor working and make them feel like they are bothering you. Shopping in your establishment should be a pleasant experience all around. The customer needs to feel that his or her concerns and needs are of concern to you. Stopping to make eye to eye contact and acknowledging the customer makes them feel they are important to you.

5. Have no one manning your customer service or information booth. The point of having a customer service booth is to provide assistance to your customers when they need it. If they have to go looking all over for someone to answer simple questions or get help, they may leave in disgust, when they can't find any help.

6. Send them off to someone else to get help and leave them wandering around looking for help all over the store. Stop what you are doing and take that extra step to help a customer. If you can't stop, make sure they get to the person who can actually help them. Don't just brush off your customer.

7. Forget to say things like, "May I help you?" and ,"Thank you for coming, please come again". Simple courtesy is seen as a sign of respect for your customer. Basic manners in any venture, commercial or not, are the basics for diplomacy in any situation.

8. Keep them in really long lines when you have a group of employees chatting up front on store hours.
A customer's time is valuable. Remember they are using some of that time to frequent your establishment. Make good use of your employees time too. If they are chatting on free time, encourage them to do it in an area that does not draw the customers attention to workers standing around while they stand in lines waiting to be served. Keep the lines moving and get extra workers to the registers. You won't make money if the customer can't get their merchandise purchased.

9. Complain to the next customer about the previous one.
Again diplomacy is key. Yes you will get rude customers, but sometimes you have to smile and take it even when you know they are wrong. The next customer should not have to hear how you can't handle yourself under duress, or think that you may be complaining about them when they leave too.

10. Don't apologize if you make a mistake. We all make mistakes. Simply acknowledging them and apologizing can smooth a lot of ruffled feathers and is a basic courtesy too.

11. Tell your customer something they shouldn't have to deal with to get service. If you or your employees are having personal problems, don't bring them to the workplace and make them affect the quality of your work. Don't use them as an excuse for not getting things done in a timely manner for the customer.

12. Don't ever get merchandise that they have rain checks for and never inform them when it comes in if you have rain checks. A customer should not have to beg for merchandise you are advertising for sale. If it is not available due to some snafu or shortage, all employees should be notified and notices prominently displayed where the merchandise is displayed. This lets them know the details and how they can be resolved, if they can. If you offer rain checks, make sure you follow through and let them know the merchandise has arrived or that it will no longer be available. Getting a reputation as a store that never has what it advertises, in stock, is not good for business.

13. Ignore negative reports or wrongdoings. If a customer comes to you with a problem they are having with another customer, or they are reporting something they see that could affect your business, don't discount what they are saying. If they are showing enough concern to even tell you in the first place, they have made an extra step for you, so acknowledge it.

14. Treat them like they are lying when they return defective merchandise. Most customers return merchandise for legitimate reasons. Don't give them the third degree when they have to return it. A polite and simple question like "What was the problem with the merchandise?" answers your questions. That way you know how to deal with it, but doesn't make the customer feel their word is being questioned.

15. Don't answer the store phone. If you are going to have a business phone, make sure there is someone to man it. Offer a variety of solutions via the phone. Prerecorded information like store hours and location are fine, but make contact with an actual individual possible. In fact that is preferable, if there is that option. No one likes dealing with machine recordings. Sitting through recording after recording and finding out they still don't have the answer for which they were calling, will just frustrate and anger a potential customer ,and make them look elsewhere. Leave an informative recording on for after store hours so they aren't reaching an unanswered phone.

The old adages, "the customer comes first" and "the customer is always right", have some validity. Of course they are not always right, but you as the merchant have to do everything in your power to make the shopping experience as easy and pleasant as possible for your customer, or you won't have customers left to serve. Diplomacy, basic manners and courtesies are key to repeat customers. If they don't feel you care about their individual patronage, they will go elsewhere where the experience is a better one for them.

Make your business stand out, not only for its particular merchandise, but for the people who run it . They are the ambassadors representing your business. A happy customer is a repeat customer and they will also spread the word around to other potential customers. If their experience is unpleasant, they spread that around too, which will keep others from frequenting your establishment. Word of mouth is a powerful advertising tool. Don't just give your customers good merchandise. Give them a well rounded shopping experience.