Eleven Great Ways to Lose Customers as a Business Owner

by Skip Cohen

I shared the bottom half of this post two years ago before any of us had ever used the word "pandemic." 

SARCASM ALERT: This post is dedicated to those who seem to make a hobby out of losing clients and then blame the trend on everything and everybody except the face in the mirror, here's an updated list.

1. Hunkering down on your business: Hunkering down is all about your health and physical distancing, but there's no reason for you to disappear. Keep in touch with your clients through social media and the phone. Business will come back, and there are already some creative business trends taking place around the country in imaging. Don't ignore your target audience.
2. Answer emails quickly: It's human nature to think people don't care when they don't get back to us, especially via email.
3. Answer your phone: I've actually heard photographers complain about getting calls lately. The impact of downtime is different for everybody, but don't let complacency interrupt that dream you had for a growing business.
4. "Why should I keep writing blog posts? Nobody's buying anything." Your website is about what you sell, but your blog is about what's in your heart. The pandemic has only changed your level of personal interaction, not the importance of your presence with your target audience. Share content involving your expertise, photography. Help your readers to be better photographers with tips and suggestions. Share ideas about new products from your lab, giving clients new ways to present their images.
5. "I stopped sharing posts about things in the community when the pandemic shut everything down!" Well, it's time to start sharing things again. Remember, people like buying goods and services from companies they perceive as giving back to the community. Live activities are limited everywhere, but the need to get the word out about the community's needs has never been greater! Start making calls to the non-profits in your area and the Chamber of Commerce. All you have to do is ask, "How can I help you guys?" Then, sit back and listen.
6. "Why should I talk to other photographers? They're in the same mess I'm in!" It's the old line of together we stand, divided we fall. We're an industry known for sharing ideas and working together on finding solutions. Phone calls, IMs, and participation in the various forums is going to help you stay focused. Plus, you never know when a new idea might come up in a conversation with other artists.

Wandering through the Internet several years ago I came across Desk.com and a list of "Five Annoying Customer Quotes" written by Allyson Stone. Today the site is called Salesforce.com and it's loaded with a lot of good content. Reading her five quotes, I wanted to put them into perspective for the business of photography. 

• "Please go to our website!" - Your website should be about your services and what you sell, but instead many of you are managing by the exception and have filled your site with policies. I've been on a few that were written with all the finesse of an IRS audit, with material about cancellation and refund policies. Save those topics for the contract discussion and utilize your site to show your best qualities as an artist. Stop scaring customers away!
• "I'll have to transfer you." - Take responsibility for the answers your customers are looking for. Even more important, if you have staff, whether part-time or full-time, train and give them the ability to make decisions. There's nothing wrong with saying to a customer, "I'm sorry I don't know the answer, but let me call you back in a few minutes." Customers know it's not a perfect world and they can accept mistakes. What they can't accept is feeling like they're not important.
• "That's not our policy." - Rules for any business are important, but there are times when circumstances warrant a modification. If you're looking for everything to be black or white, you're doomed. You've got to be able to define the gray areas and find solutions, not fall back on a statement blaming "policy." If that's your only way to do business, then you're going to be far more successful working for Comcast!
• "Sorry, there's nothing I can do." - Whoa, that's the end of the road, because right after you make this comment, the customer decides to not only NEVER work with you again, but to tell their friends about you. There's no more significant statement that defines you as a jackass. The truth is, there's ALWAYS something you can do. Just make sure whatever you're doing to resolve the situation is always the BEST you can do.
• "Hmm, I don't know." - It's not the fact that you don't have an answer, but the interpretation of the statement itself. It's like a surgeon saying "Oops!" on the operating table. You're expected to be the expert, and if you're going admit to not knowing the answer, then you need to temper that statement. Add a few more comments about getting a better answer, looking into it further and giving the customer a sense of commitment, rather than just shrugging your shoulders and walking away.

Here's the thing about excellent Customer Service - it's about your attitude. It's not a department that's part of a large corporation. It's meant to be the foundation of everything you believe in business and about your customers. Excellent Customer Service is about making yourself habit-forming and exceeding customer expectations. Every client needs to feel like they're your most important customer.

We're still very much dealing with the challenges of the pandemic, but so is your target audience. Want to make some great in-roads in building your brand? Remember...

"Your customer doesn't care how much you know until they know how much you care!"
Damon Richards

Now's the time to show how much you care!