The Power of Customer Satisfaction in Small Business

Small business owners need to recognise the power of customer satisfaction and the impact that unhappy customers will have on your bottom line. Customer satisfaction is about satisfying the needs of the customer at all stages of the buying process.<br><br>This means that as a small business owner you need to satisfy your customers who are both happy with your products and services and those who are not. Far too often we see small business owners not address the issues of unhappy clients simply due to the frustration they may cause. This lack of looking after those few who complain will impact severely on your marketing plan and your bottom line.<br><br>Here are some important issues to consider with customer dissatisfaction.<br><br>1. In a recent survey it was found that on average one dissatisfied customers will tell 11 others, and those will tell another five. This results in 55 people being dissatisfied about your service.<br><br>2. With the power of social media, on average one dissatisfied customer who posts on Facebook will tell 100 others which can lead to 1000's being dissatisfied.<br><br>Social media tools like Facebook and Twitter have for the first time put the power of customer service write back in the hands of the customer. Many companies have tried to deal with dissatisfaction by suing complainants however the bottom line is this, the companies have failed to resolve their complaint and have to recognise this is a consequence.<br><br>The bottom line about customer satisfaction is this, 96% of customers will not complain about your product or service, they will simply not use your business again. The other 4% will take the time to make a complaint. Many small business owners will consider their customer complaints as an affront to their business, however if a customer takes the time to complain to you, then you should embrace the customer as a great friend because they obviously want to do business and are giving you the opportunity to fix the problem.<br><br>In Australia on average a small business will lose 10% to 30% of its existing business each year due to poor customer service. At One-on-One Professional Business Training our first aid courses rely solidly on repeat business and that is why we take so much time in trying to ensure customer satisfaction. You need to look in your business as to where you maybe letting your customers down.<br><br>We have also found that customers whose complaints are resolved, upto 83% of those will remain loyal and will recommend your business to five other people. In the world of social media that is even higher.<br><br>When it comes to your bottom line, it has been found that businesses who engage in excellent or outstanding customer satisfaction will be able to charge upto 9% higher than those who provide poor customer satisfaction. <br><br>Customer Satisfaction is easily achieved by simply listening to your customers, providing quality, value and reliability in your product and services and ensuring that when a customer isn't happy you do everything within your power to try to resolve their complaint. There is nothing more valuable in your small business than having high customer satisfaction.

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