Auto upholstery shops that only compete on the quality of their work and prices of their service may be inadvertently costing themselves business. A recent article published in Restyling Magazine suggests that most patrons who choose to take their vehicles elsewhere do so because of poor customer service.
Why is customer service so important? Well, the Harvard Business Review reports that if you can prevent 5% of your customers from leaving you, you can increase your bottom line profit by 25%-95%. U.S. News & World Report did a study and found that the average American business loses 15% of its customer base each year:
- 68% stop buying from one business and go elsewhere because of poor or indifferent service;
- 14% leave because of an unsatisfactorily resolved dispute or complaint;
- 9% leave because of price;
- 5% go elsewhere based on a recommendation;
- 1% die;
- 82% go somewhere else because of a customer service issue.
The way the data is laid out is a bit confusing. However, the primary takeaway is that most businesses lose about 15% of their customer base each year. Of that group, 82% leave because of issues with customer service – not quality or price.
So, if you aren’t already competing on customer service, maybe you should start.
To read the full article, including an account of how one business overcame its customer-service issues, check out Restyling Magazine.
I became a custom trimmer due to receiving poor customer service.Customer service is key to any good business!
That’s interesting Speedymarini. So you visited a custom trim shop, didn’t like the service, so decided to go ahead and start one on your own?
Yep that’s right Nadeem Muaddi. And it wasn’t just that i didn’t like the service. He was nice enough to tell me that all he worked on was 100 thousand dollar cars and i didn’t have one of those. All i needed was a seem repair and a new panel on the back seat of my boat. So I bought a used machine and it took of from there. The sad thing is i hear it all the time up here that the trimmers are jerks. I have more work than i can keep up with,and I be leave that my customer service is what sets me apart. That’s how it all started for me.