Customers. Without them, our businesses would basically stop. They would die. Without customers we have no income, no reason to do what we do – we simply wouldn’t have a business at all.
But why do some of them have to be so, well, difficult?
Why do some of our customers make us feel like crap?
Why do some of our customers make us want to run & hide when we see their number come up on our phones, or their email appear in our inbox?
Why do some of our customers suck all the joy out of our day like our own personal dementor?
Just WHY?
Well, ask yourself this question – could it be because they are no longer the right customer for you?
A customer audit is a vital part of running your business – it’s part of doing your business MOT each year, your regular business service – just like you would service your car. You need to be regularly reviewing and revising what is going on in your business and that includes looking at your client base.
Working with your super client is something I have talked about before, and something I talk about all the time with my coaching clients, but reviewing your customer base allows you to look at how you interact with those clients.
Sometimes, you & your business develop & change, and some of your customers don’t take that journey with you. You leave them behind. But equally, sometimes neither you, or they, realise it.
Common reasons for some of your clients becoming your own personal dementors are:
- You’ve changed your product or service & you no longer provide what they originally signed up for
- You took them on at a price point you no longer offer
- You are not communicating with them enough & are frustrated they are not up to speed with what you are doing
The great thing is, you can change all of that – you just have to decide if you want to. There is no rule that says you have to continue to work with every client you have. You just have to be objective about how you review them, how you manage them, and ultimately how you move them on if they are no longer the right customer for you.
My 5 Step Customer Audit Plan helps you do just that – it helps you look at the key steps to carrying out a customer audit:
- Getting it all together
- Get rating
- Get sorting
- Get changing
- Get moving
And even better, you can grab your own copy of the plan right here