Who cares, wins

By: The N'lighten team

As the owner of a company myself, I am the first to acknowledge that the primary purpose of any business is to make money. Let’s face it; if your business is unable to accomplish that, it is fast going to end up an ex-business. Consumers know this, and they accept it. That’s why they’re willing to spend their hard earned cash in your store, restaurant or other establishment.

But as soon as it becomes apparent to these consumers that any business regards them as little more than a source of income, they have a tendency to firmly close their wallets or purses and move swiftly along to the next establishment that is willing to give them the service and care they deserve.

What I’m getting at is that while staying in business requires turnover, running a successful business for any length of time is about much more than the money. It’s also about fairness, empathy, good service, and probably most importantly, relationships – especially with your customers.

I recently had the misfortune of being one of those unhappy customers whose business was little more than a source of monthly income for a service provider. Instead of making us feel like a valued client, our audit firm left us with the overwhelming sense that we were just another set of numbers to them. No personal attention, no genuine interest, and definitely no relationship. As a consequence they now have the misfortune of one less client on their books.

The lesson to be learned from all of this (and one that N’lighten’s ex-audit firm learned the hard way) is that if you’re going to treat your customers as little more than a walking wallet, they’re eventually going to treat your business with the disdain it deserves – and step out the door for good. And when that happens, it’s not just one customer you’ve lost, it’s also the potential that customer had to generate much more business for you in the long term - but that’s another whole blog entry in itself.

Fortunately, this unhappy situation is as easy to avoid as it is to create. All that’s required from you as a business owner, manager, or client-facing employee is the ability to value each of your customers as more than transaction and deliver the caring, empathetic, service-driven experience you know they deserve. When you can do that, you gain the ability to create consistently memorable customer experiences that build lasting relationships and result in customers that feel like they’re more than just another boost to your bottom line.

And when you genuinely take care of your customers in this way, you can be pretty sure that the money side of your business will start to take care of itself.