I recently ran into a small business owner that I used to frequent. She is really creative and has wonderful stuff, but her customer service skills were terrible. It would take her weeks to return emails; you'd run into her at a festival and place an order and never hear from her again; and even though I'd met her a million times and given her numerous referrals, she never remembered my name. Even her marketing emails about sales were in disarray: she'd send the same email twice, or forget to include the location of the sale...
It all got to be too much, so I stopped patronizing her about six years ago. Although the potential business she lost from me wasn't that much (I probably would've spent about $200 more since I had most of her pieces), I imagine the business from referrals may have been a lot more.
When I ran into her, she wanted to know why I, one of her "best customers" had just disappeared. I explained why; she seemed very surprised but acknowledged that her business had been suffering lately and she'd lost a lot of loyal customers. She thanked me and promised to follow up to see how she could repair the damage and get back the customers she'd lost. I still haven't heard from her.
The painful reality is that if she continues down the same path, it'll mean the demise of her business. If you're thinking of starting a business (or if you already own one), its financial success depends on your ability to create and sustain great relationships with your clients.
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