Interesting piece on Smallbusiness, the American blog to which I drew your attention last week, about small business and customer retention. Guest columnist Laurence Haughton says:
"Right now somewhere between 32 and 94 per cent of all customers are thinking about ditching their current supplier for the competition."
That's quite an error margin but it points to a very real problem.
The Internet, arguably, hasn't helped. If you trade on the Net then yes, I can buy from you - and it's the work of a few keystrokes to check your competition as well. There are few basic strategies that might help, though - and these are drawn from personal experience, mine and those of my friends:
* Earn yourself a reputation for delivering on time. * Use a good courier. I had a delivery due last Tuesday but was called away unavoidably (and as I work from home there was no-one minding the place in case of couriers). The delivery man turned up and left a card - but later he returned on the offchance that I was in, saying he imagined I'd need the goods I'd ordered quickly. * Deliver within reasonable times. Goods that turn up in the middle of the evening - as has happened to me - interrupt one's personal life if you're a home worker, and won't find anyone there to accept them at an office. * Check that the goods are intact when they leave you.
Haughton has further thoughts to share on the blog.
