The biggest reason may surprise you

According to well documented studies your business loses customers for the following reasons:

1%   die

3% move away

5% leave because of a recommendation from a friend or relative

9% leave because they percieve that another company has better products, serivces or prices than you do

14% leave because they are dissatified with your product or service

Add all of those together and you only have 32%.

That leaves 68% of the customers who defect to your competitors unaccounted for. What other reasons could there possibly be for why customers defect?  It is not what you think.

Buckle your seat belt because the answer will knock your socks off. Here it is. Sixty-Eight (68) percent of customers who leave your company and start doing business with another company do so because they feel taken for granted by employees who display an attitude of indifference.

That’s right they don’t feel appreciated, valued or cared for. It is the same reason why many employees leave jobs and why many wives leave husbands. William James, the father of modern psychology, said that the greatest human emotional need is the need to be recognized and appreciated.

In Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs the need to be loved and cared for is the third most basic human need behind the physiological need for food and water and the need for shelter and safety.

In our fast paced dehumanized world employees and customers are starved for a little personal attention that validates their existence.

What are you doing to teach your employees how to value and appreciate your customers?  Do you have a customer and employee appreciation practice at your company? Do you really care enough about your customers and employees to make the effort to change?