The key to business success is the loyal customer-base. Customers who are guaranteed to return is as close to long-term security as many entrepreneurs get. Happy customers stay loyal. The business generates money, not only from sales to that customer, but to anyone they bring in by word-of-mouth.

A business can often be sold for more money just because it has a certain number of clients, even when it is not immediately profitable. Losing customers, therefore, is the worst thing that can happen to a business, even if there are new customers coming in. A hemorrhage of clients is a sign of something wrong, even if the business is presently profitable.

The ways a business can lose its customers tend to be fairly easy to spot.

1. Rude customer service that makes people actively regret visiting the establishment.

2. Not handling complaints from customers and addressing their issues.

3. Not monitoring customer satisfaction or providing a means for customers to give feedback.

4. Not keeping in touch with loyal customers and encouraging them to come back.

5. Not providing a consistent product to customers who know what they want.

6. Apathetic customer service.

7. Providing slow customer service that makes customers feel more inconvenienced than served.

8. Not realizing that even small sales matter, since people are more likely to buy big if they have had good experiences.

9. Clearly having no confidence in the product being sold.

10. Not having a complete understanding of the competition’s product and thus not being able to truly compete.

11. Not maintaining a good record over time and thus not building a reputation for quality either.

12. Not seriously attempting to win over the competition’s best asset: their most loyal customers.

13. Not recognizing that loyalty goes both ways and keeping promises to customers.

14. Not providing a good product and thus opening the door to competition.

15. Blaming the customer instead of trying to correct the problem.

16. Opening the business in a poor location thus making it difficult for customers to get access to the product.

17. Insulting the customer’s intelligence by always assuming that they will accept pretty much anything they are told.

18. Not allowing the customers to feel like a part of the process and providing them with a connection to the company.

19. Not recognizing and rewarding customer loyalty.

20. Fearing change and thus not altering practices to suit the customers.

About the Author: Dr. Fortie is freelance writer and blogs about business. He writes for the online business administration course blog to help people get info anbout online degrees in business administration to let them successfully manage their business skills.