Last week one of my co-workers was put on hold for ten minutes then sent to voice mail. His next step was to visit the organizations contact page on their website—it wouldn’t open. Finally, he connected to a live chat and was given the same phone number he started with. He said, “It’s like they don’t want our business.” I said, “It says something about their commitment to customer service.” Today, consumers have choices; they have easy access to your competitors. If you’re not attracting new customers then beware, you may be repelling them to your competition.

	Attract	Repel
Price	Fair and competitive. Price points in-line with the market.	Overpriced and inconsistent. Preys on the uniformed.
Quality	Product or service does what’s promised.	Lacking in performance, doesn’t meet expectations.
Value	Good balance of price and quality—pays for itself.	Doesn’t fulfill needs, creates problems and added costs.
Service	Responsive and qualified.	Hard to connect and doesn’t solve problem.
Knowledge	Staff knows the product and is able to offer answers and solve problems.	Help desk is lost, makes excuses, and passes the buck.
Personality	Treats customers like people, listens, and is understanding and attentive.	Might as well be a computer. Sticks strictly to script, unresponsive, cold.
Availability	Returns communications in a timely manner.	Haphazardly respond to communications.

Know the Red Flags

Does your lead funnel produce a steady stream of new prospects? If not, it may be more than marketing. It may be you’re sending customers to another’s funnel. It may be anti-marketing. Watch for these negative trends in your business. They’re signs that you may be feeding others from your funnel.

Multiple customer service complaints about specific products and services.
Consistently losing prospects over price.
Clients complaining about a lack of communication, updates, and information.
Customer service positions relegated to unqualified employees or interns.
Massive warranty claims.
Company representatives complaining about “having” to deal with customers.

You’re not OK

Too many companies have waited too long, ignoring the signs of chasing prospects away, by rationalizing they were doing “OK.” But today OK is no longer good enough. Today OK is the first step on the path to failure. Good enough isn’t good enough anymore. People want and expect excellence in product, service, and attention, and if they don’t find it with one business they’ll find it in another. How about your business, are you doing…OK?