Poor service? Is it closed during business hours? Is it failure to deliver? There arevid excuses everywhere these days: taped onto the doors of closed businesses, heard on call center messages, typed into company emails. Customers are over it.
Peter Boolkah, a small-business coach in the U.K., says that a Covid excuse shirks responsibility while communicating the problem in the form of an excuse. It has never been okay to blame the epidemic for poor service.
Business experts don't like excuses because they're not the bailiwick of successful entrepreneurs. Rod Robertson is the managing partner of mergers and acquisitions firm Briggs Capital and author of Winning At Entrepreneurship. Over a hundred firms we advise. Financial Armageddon never materialized for most, and many companies went on to rapid recovery. Consumers know this.
The Covid excuse creates a messaging problem because it is likely deceptive and customers are aware that supply chain, safety, and staffing challenges are well-established market conditions. Andy LaPointe, managing partner and director of marketing at Traverse Bay farms, says it creates the habit of stretching the truth a little. Customer and supplier trust must be maintained no matter what happens when running a small business or dealing with customers.
The rule of thumb is that excuses are not ok. Customers should be told that employees are in a hospital or that a manufacturer is in a state of lock down. These are legitimate situations that can be communicated in a way that positions you as savvy. Customers should know that there is a shortage of X, Y, Z in the area. Adam Lyons, a small-business advisor, says customers stop shopping around if you are an informative authority.
An excuse is not helpful to you and the customer. Jessica Tappana, who runs two small businesses, says that people still need the services she provides, and that they just want to know that they are able to provide those services. Both of my businesses are still responsible for any issues with customer service.
Whatever the business conditions, the solution is to focus on customer needs. Boolkah says it is all about making sure customers don't suffer. He says that customers will leave for competitors once they are gone.
Continuation of customer care is what most businesses focus on. Diana Rodriguez-Zaba, president of water damage-restoration company ServiceMaster Restoration by Zaba, says that if you are understaffed, figure out a way to maintain the same level of customer service. If you need to, answer emails at night. When things get busy, I do that. If you need to pivot services, be ready.
Market turmoil gives small businesses an opportunity to stand out. This is a great time to use the advantage of personalized service that smaller organizations can offer. Lyons suggests new services that are not dependent on products from a shaky supply chain. For example, a clothing store could say that this is a great time to add custom tailoring or online styling sessions. He suggests price stacking, by offering a range of inexpensive-to-expensive services such as car or pet washes, or even renting out the space to pull in income through a dry patch. It is all doing, rather than excusing.
