wearmanyhats

During the most difficult economic times, small businesses begin to close for a variety of reasons.  Most people blame the economy, and there is no doubt that folks have begun to cut back.

 However, there are always a certain number of businesses that fail for violating the first rule of Business 101:  Always provide excellent service.

 Case in point:  last week I found out that a certain local supper club just locked its doors for the last time in October.  Like many people, we had not been out to eat as often as usual, so I hadn’t known they were closed for good.

“What happened?” I asked the realtor friend that told me.

“Lousy customer service,” he said.  “A couple I know came in for a few drinks and dinner one night.  The owner was seated on a bar stool up at the bar and they signaled her that they were ready to order.  She told them in a loud voice that she had already done her rounds in that area a little while ago and that they could wait until she walked back there again.”

I couldn’t believe it, and still can not imagine why anyone so lazy and stupid would kill their own business like that.  Yet I have seen it over and over again.  One couple bought a local greasy spoon and proceeded to cut all of the excellent dishes off the menu in favor of burgers and fries.  They then proceeded to sit and chain smoke any time there was a lull in traffic.  The result:  their normal clientele walked away in disgust.  People who asked them to put in some kind of smoke cleaner were driven away by lack of clean air; old folks who relied on them for a daily good meal went off looking some other place.

It isn’t just restaurants.  One accountant that was known for his knowledge in dealing with corporations was so owly and growly that I stayed with the same accountant seventeen hundred miles away.  One professional in the same town identified that same accountant as made for “people who like to take abuse.”  Another flower shop owner, the only flower shop owner in a thirty mile radius, has so alienated people that clients will drive an hour to find someone else to take their wedding flower orders.  The tales like this are endless.

One of the major indicators of a lack of customer service is to ask the former business owner why s/he thinks that their business failed.  Almost all of them will tell you that it is because of some other problem besides customer service.  They will blame it on the economy, lack of interest in the locals, or new competition, Walmart or whatever.  They will never take a look in the mirror and learn.  And they have no business owning a business.

I encourage people to own or start a business for a variety of reasons.  But I also tell them that if they don’t master customer service, then they can only blame themselves for failing.  It is fundamental; it is basic.   And without it, their business will die.

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