Six Easy Ways to Make Sure Your Customers Hate You

Last week, I had the distinct pleasure of being a guest on Adam Toporek’s blog, IntenseFence. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know Adam over the past few months and I really enjoy his insights about marketing and customer service. You should recognize Adam because he was a guest here a few weeks ago.

Without further adieu, below is an excerpt from my post. I think you’ll like it! To read the full post, you can check it out here. Enjoy!

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Every business thinks they are excellent at customer service.

But, most are dead wrong. And maybe you are too.

Sure, you might take care of the big, obvious things. Your staff might be friendly, and you have real people answering the phone. But, I’m willing to bet there are some things you are doing that are silently frustrating your customers.

And, you have no idea.

Sure, there are the squeaky wheels out there that love to make noise about how you’ve wronged them. However, the silent majority stew about their irritating experiences with you.

Sometimes, the smallest things make the biggest impression. If you want to want to keep your clients and encourage them to refer your business to others, make sure you don’t commit these offenses:

1. Miss deadlines

We often have good reasons for not getting the job done on time. Maybe you were sick or buried under other deadlines. However, your clients don’t care. They want the job done on time as promised.

If you’re unable to reach a deadline, give your client the heads up. They will be much more forgiving if you let them know you will be behind, especially if you have good reason for it. But, whatever you do, don’t let this become a habit.

2. Arrive late to meetings

Occasionally, unexpected things come up that prevent us from arriving somewhere on time. However, meetings running long or difficulty finding parking are not good reasons to be late. That’s just bad planning on your part.

Give yourself some cushion between meetings should things run long and allow enough time to travel to your next appointment. If you’re going to be more than a few minutes late, be sure to call and let them know you are on your way.

Want the rest? Better head over to Adam’s blog to read the full post.