So they say the economy is not so good right now. And some companies are having a hard time staying afloat.
But others are doing very well – because they know how to take advantage of other companies’ mistakes. When times are tight folks are naturally more careful about how and where they spend. And it’s not necessarily about cut-rate prices.
Maybe you have all the business you can stand, and your bank account is overflowing. If so, here are four good ways to thin out your customer base.
1. Ignore them. Don’t pay any attention when a customer lets you know about a problem or concern. Instead of trying to correct the situation right away, wait days or even weeks before you attempt to resolve it. Don’t acknowledge people when they come into your store, and teach your employees to continue personal conversations while customers wait for service. Also, make sure you take a very long time to answer prospects that come to you for information about your business.
2. Mislead them. Nothing is ever your fault so there’s no need to tell a customer if there’s going to be a problem with his or her order. And since you never make a mistake make sure the client understands that whatever he is unhappy about or needs changed is totally his own fault. After all, you are doing him a huge favor by accepting his hard earned money even if he doesn’t get exactly what he paid for.
3. Whine and fuss about your troubles, especially problems with other customers. After all, people don’t really come to you for help with their own issues. Everybody wants to hear about your traffic tickets, frustrations with misbehaving children and irritations with your spouse. And prospects especially enjoy hearing how dumb most of your current and former clients are. They will love to know that you’ll probably speak of them the same way when they aren’t around.
4. Make promises, and then break them. Tell your customer that you’ll get the job finished in 3 days even though you know it could take up to a week. Vow to furnish them with the information they need, then forget all about it. Make sure that something often comes up that gets in the way of delivering on time. Your reputation will be sealed.
Your customers want to feel valued as much as they want to get value. If they don’t, no amount of discounts will keep them coming back.
Vanessa Shelton is a web designer, marketing consultant and copywriter with over 20 years experience. She uses “The Right Words – The Right Way” to bring your ideas and vision to the world. With newsletters, article marketing, the website refresh, and more in her arsenal, Vanessa is ready to help small business owners and independent professionals get attention, and get results. Visit https://vanessasdesk.com to see how Vanessa can help you.