As a continuation from the exercise in the previous chapter.  The next question should be, “What would cause your customers to stop buying from you”? Business owners will quickly answer with things like price or a competitor was related to a cousin of the decision maker.  And those things do happen, but the truth is, that's only 32% of the time!  The most common reason customers stop buying from you is perceived indifference!

Approximately 68% of the time people stop buying from you, (both Business to Business and Business to Consumers companies) because they think you don't care about them as a customer! Almost all businesses care immensely about their customers, but perception is reality.

How do you change perception?

Take a sheet of paper with 15 bullet points printed on it, into a room with NO media or opportunity for interruption. Strategically think for 15 – 30 minutes about all of the reasons a customer could stop buying from you. Looking at your completed list, then think about the things that you can do to improve your service and eliminate the reasons you listed. I bet you found something that could fundamentally change the way you approach customer service and your interactions with your customers. Investing this time to identify the reasons customers leave gives you a game plan for solidifying the weak areas of your business. The happy byproduct of this exercise? If you identify the reasons customers could stop buying from you, it is easy to develop a list of goals.  Prioritize areas for improvement and then share them with your team so that everyone is on the same page. 

Remember:  For an average company it costs six times more to gain a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. Your current customers already know you, like you and trust you.

How would your business change if you came up with a list of 10 to 15 different opportunities to make your business bulletproof?
What would be the impact on your customers?