Lack Of Consistency And Customer Focus Is A Business Risk

Your customers are the major asset in your business. They are the people who pay all your wages and expenses and your staff all need to recognise this.

Plus when you consider all your marketing, advertising, time spent networking and selling, your customers cost you money to acquire.

We all hear comments like "how lovely work is when there are no customers". What are they thinking! Or are they thinking at all?

Some of the scenarios that can cause a client to looke for another supplier elswhere.

• The messages that do not get passed on. • The failure to provide quotes and to follow them up. • There are many service companies where appointments are made and ignored. I can't even think about the number of trades people who promise to come to put in some more power points or fix that leaking tap then never turn up. Hopefully they don't want that job, because they are unlikely to get it. • Cleaning companies sometimes have an issue with cleaners who fail to turn up for an out of hours cleaning service leaving the clients to arrive to find an uncleaned office, full bins etc. The simple procedure if a cleaner is ill and unable to attend is to phone or text their supervisor as soon as they know so that alternative arrangements can be made or at the very least, the clients called first thing next time to apologise and make alternative arrangements. • Stop for a minute and think about your business, then work out where similar things can happen to upset your precious customers.

Contracts are another danger area that can cost you a lot of money. Think about the contract that was verbally changed with no paperwork going to accounts or with the changes being recorded. This requires a consistent approach to all your paperwork.

In the computer store that my family used to own some years ago, we had a situation like this on one occasion. A family came in to buy a computer and there was clearly a difference between the husband and the wife about the amount to be spent. The contract was signed, deposit paid and the job started.

Then two days later they phoned to change the order and reduce the memory and hard drive size to lower the price.

We put the build on hold until they came in a signed a variation form. After the sale they went off happily until two years later…

We had a legal summons charging us with fraud because we had sold a computer with less memory and a smaller hard drive than they had paid for. When we looked up the paperwork, the variation form was stapled to our copy of the quote, the invoice,the workshop checklist and packing slip - thankfully. The client had a red face and was deeply apologetic. The only paper he had kept was the original quote.

Our reputation could have been damaged by this as well as involving us in a great deal of extra expense..

This is what Quality systems like ISO 9001 are about. They are aimed a providing consistency and customer satisfaction, which in turn attracts and retains your customers

The thing is that all business interruptions cost you money because they consume time that could be used more profitably. Having a good staff culture where all your people are working from the same page and are all clear on your business objectives more than makes up for the time spent developing your staff training and procedures in both the short and long term.

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