Ten Ways to Lose Customers - Poor Customer Service

We all have them, examples of poor customer service. Here are a few examples of what a business owner/manager should avoid:

1. A business is open from 9:00 to 5:00 Monday to Friday with no consideration for appointments or open hours in evenings or on weekends. It's a fact of life, not everyone can shop, do errands or visit your business during the Monday to Friday hours. 
2. Ignore a person who is browsing because you don't think they will buy anyway
3. Encourage staff (and yourself) to take personal phone calls and let those pesky customers wait. After all you life is important too.
4. Always charge full price, sales don't work anyway
5. Ignore your customers once they have made their purchase,  they know where you are so they can find you if they need to buy something else. 
6. Complaints are just a pain, there isn't anything you can do to make a dissatisfied customer happy anyway, so why spend time and money trying?
7. The only thing customers are interested in is how cheap they can buy something so there isn't any reason to find out anything more about the customer. 
8. There is no such thing as customer loyalty so it isn't important to get to know your customers
9. Charge for everything, those giveaways and promotional items are just profit eaters, and the customers don't appreciate them anyway.
10. Don't smile or be friendly, after all it is serious business running a business.

And 10.5    Stay with the customer, follow them wherever they go in the store. If you chat and talk and follow them they will eventually get fed up and leave.

While hopefully you got a smile from the above list, I have personally experienced all of the above to one degree or another...and I'm afraid most people have. To improve your sales and grow your business none of the above can be allowed to live at your place of business.