Breaking Up Isn’t Hard to Do

Why Companies Lose Customers and What to Do About It — 

Although Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield may have been right about love relationships when they penned their hit Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, but when it comes to business, that notion rings less true. Customers frequently break up with their suppliers, vendors, and partners. And guess what? Most of them don’t find it hard.

Are breakups inevitable? Not always, but businesses need to understand the 4 reasons customers leave — and how they can avoid them.

Reason #1
BETTER PRODUCT
Sometimes customers decide to breakup because they find a better product. They discover something that addresses their needs that’s faster, easier, healthier, more effective, more enjoyable, or improved in other ways that are important to them.

Are you buying the exact same things you were buying 20 or 40 years ago? Have you any use for a Walkman? Probably not. Smart companies listen to what their customers want, think beyond those demands, and push themselves to innovate and improve.

Relationship Extenders
• Pay attention. Know what you’re selling, what others are selling, and how your customers are using what they buy from you.
What problem are you solving?
What would customers buy if you weren’t around?
What did they used to buy instead?

• Challenge the status quo. It’s easier to innovate when you’re not being reactive. Don’t wait for a customer exodus to motivate you. Challenge yourself to innovate before you’re faced with no choice. What could you do better?

Reason #2
BETTER PROCESS
Leaving for a different product isn’t the only reason customers tell companies goodbye. Good processes count, too. Without them, the customer experience suffers.

For instance, imagine a movie theater with great films, state-of-the-art sound, pleasant employees, and clean facilities. So far, so good.

Now pair that vision with long lines, staff members who can’t figure out to work the cash registers despite their good manners, double-booked theaters, and so forth. Would you risk taking someone you cared about to such a place, or would you choose to avoid the headache and go somewhere else?

Most people would prefer to opt for a breakup and avoid potential pain and problems.

The lesson? at a minimum, doing business should not be hard. If you’ve got processes in place that inflict pain on your customers, don’t be surprised when they bolt the minute they find an acceptable alternative.

Relationship Extenders
• Make doing business easy. Walk in your customers’ shoes, and experience your business the way they do.
What are you making difficult?
What could you make easier?
Where are you wasting their time?
What used to make sense but doesn’t anymore?

• Borrow from others. Process improvement ideas are everywhere you look if you know how to find them. When you are interacting with other businesses, ask yourself what they are doing well and what you can adopt or adapt.