Without a doubt, customer retention is one of the most important things for a business to focus on. The reasons for a company losing customers are multi-faceted and it can be easy in the daily running of a business for it to become an insidious problem.

We’ve researched two of the biggest reasons customers end up flocking to your competitors, as well as how to avoid it.

Bad Customer Service

This is the biggest (and not that surprising reason) your customers will look elsewhere. A recent Ombudsman report discovered that 28% of consumers spent less or abandoned a company entirely, if they received bad service. This results in a cost of over £37 billion for companies across a variety of sectors

Source: Ombudsman Services

Even more compelling was the finding of a Conversocial report which found that 32% of people found the phone to be the most frustrating means of communication with businesses. Not being able to get through to a representative or getting an unsatisfactory response when customers do get through, all lead to a disenchantment with a brand and will ultimately lead in people taking their custom elsewhere.

The only conclusion to be had from this is that managing your customer service, especially via phone communication, is of paramount importance.

There can be many reasons why your customer service can suffer but it usually comes down to not having enough people to cope with the demand, which is especially true of SMEs.

It’s in these instances where a customised virtual assistant call handling service can revolutionise your business. Not only do your existing customers get the attention they deserve, but your company also has the renewed capacity and time to grow.

A quality call answering service will be able to completely tailor themselves to suit your business needs so that they blend seamlessly with your company.

Don’t underestimate the power of good customer service. Try a call answering service today and deny your competitors a head start.

Not Having a Disaster Recovery Strategy

Disaster recovery is something many businesses don’t plan for as they deem it such an unlikely scenario as to not warrant any forethought.

The problem is that if the worst does happen, a long-term power outage or phone line failure, you can suddenly find yourself unable to function for hours at a time. More than long enough for new and current customers to lose patience and look elsewhere.

A recent study by ESG discovered that 53% of companies can only endure an hour of downtime before it begins to have a negative impact on their business. A shocking figure when you consider that very often when problems do occur of this nature, they can take an entire day away from a company.

Not planning ahead for this eventuality is a very real problem for businesses, and can very quickly lead to a substantial number of your customer base dropping you for a competitor who has planned ahead.

It’s imperative to not be another statistic and adopt a disaster recovery service. A quality service will entail a tailored extension of your company and mean that you have 24/7 communication capabilities for your customers.

If you haven’t got a plan then it’s important to make sure you get one today, because it only takes an hour or two to lose the customer satisfaction you’ve spent so long building up.

Conclusion

As we said, the reason customers take their business elsewhere is diverse, but bad customer service and not planning for a communication breakdown are not only two of the biggest, but two of the most easily avoided. Preparation and acknowledging a strain on your workforce can be the difference between you and your competitor, so make sure you have the edge today.