Lost Sales: Business Flaws that Make Customers Buy Elsewhere

The downfall of a company may be related to faulty products, a lack of demand, improper pricing or other common issues. However, even companies that have a great product that is priced right may falter and even fail for other reasons. Some of these reasons relate to a poor business strategy or issues with execution. Through a customer’s own bad experiences with your company in these areas or through word-of-mouth commentary from other dissatisfied customers, demand for your offerings may decline dramatically. These are some of the more common issues that may make customers take their business elsewhere.

Slow Delivery or Long Wait Times

Today’s world is one of instant or quick gratification. Customers do not want to wait for an extended period of time for a product to be available or for it to be shipped to them. In addition, customers often expect rapid service. This includes service in a showroom as well as support over the phone. Customers may assume that you do not have the infrastructure to provide great service, or they may assume that your company does not care about customer service if they have to wait a long time. Both of these assumptions can be detrimental to your business.

Payment Processing Issues

Regardless of whether you accept payments in a brick-and-mortar environment, via a mobile payment terminal or online, payment processing issues can make your company look unprofessional or even dishonest at times. For example, if your mobile payment terminal is down and your team is forced to only accept cash or checks, this can be a huge inconvenience to customers and may impact your company’s image. As another example, if your company uses online game payment solutions that are second-rate, double-billing or other issues could make your company seem untrustworthy.

A Stressful Warranty Claims Process

Offering a warranty on your products is an excellent idea because it tells your customers that you stand behind the quality of the products. It gives them some assurance that they are buying a good product. However, if your company develops a reputation for having a difficult warranty claims process or for not honoring warranty claims altogether, the benefits of a warranty are nullified. More than that, your company may get a bad reputation because of this, and it may be difficult to improve your reputation.

You can see that your company’s operations and overall execution are just as important to its success and profitability as the products or services offered and your pricing. A smart way to determine if these or other issues are impacting your company today is to conduct a customer survey. Be prepared to take action quickly if you identify these or other similar problems.