Perceived Indifference

Did you know that 68% of your customers will stop doing business with you because of perceived indifference?

In 2008, John Gattorna published the following figures on why businesses lose customers:

4% Natural attrition (e.g., moved away, passed on, etc.)
5% Referred to a competitor by their friend
9% Competitive reasons (e.g., price)
14% Product/service dissatisfaction
68% Perceived indifference

You have a bigger chance of losing a customer because they don’t perceive the value of being there any longer, or you do not recognize their value to you.

Perceived indifference can best be summed up as the feeling a customer gets when they think you do not care about them or are not important to your business.

It does not matter if this is not true.

The customer’s perception is their reality, and if they perceive that you do not care about them, they will take their business elsewhere.

To combat perceived indifference, ensure you always treat your customers with respect and show that you value their business.

In today’s growth tip, we discuss ways to combat perceived indifference.

This Week's Growth Tip

68% of your customers leaving because of perceived indifference is a staggering statistic.

Most people will describe it as a lack of caring about your customer, but I think it’s more than that.

Are vendors, supplies, agencies, businesses, etc., happy to take your money and run?

Absolutely.

It can be challenging to distinguish between indifference and a lack of caring.

I think a lack of properly setting expectations can also cause perceived indifference.

What kind of expectations are you setting? Is everyone clear to everyone what is being worked on? What isn’t covered? Who is responsible for what? Are expectations and reality skewed?

Too often, we’re trapped because the perceived indifference is caused by our own doing.

This starts during the marketing and sales process before a customer is even sold.

When a sticky situation arises, we must ask ourselves, is this a cut-and-dry situation, or is there something I can do differently next time to prevent this from happening again?

Perceived indifference is a conflict of interest.

The goal is to set the proper expectations from the start to minimize confusion and perceived indifferences.