Bad habits that can lose you business

Bad habits that can lose you business





There are a number of bad habits and mistakes that can lose you clients. Some are bad personal traits whilst others are common business and marketing mistakes. A few common examples of personal characteristics that can be bad for your business include:



• Being late for meetings.

• Neglecting customers.

• Failure to express gratitude.

• Procrastination.

• A lack of people skills.

• Being unorganised.

• Not having frequent contact with current customers.





We all have ‘down’ days, but always try to keep your personal life separate from your professional life. This means keeping your temper under control, listening to and communicating with clients and taking responsibility and action if you want to attract new and retain current customers.





For marketing messages to work, they need to be directly relevant to your target market. A few of the common business and marketing mistakes made by business owners are:




• Not doing thorough market research before implementing a marketing strategy.

• Ignoring the importance of continuous marketing.

• Not paying attention to competitors’ activities.

• Ignoring reviews and customer feedback.

• Failing to acknowledge mistakes or take the necessary precautions to prevent a mistake from happening again.

• Not knowing when to advertise, to whom or which channels to use.

• Not keeping up with industry and market trends.

• Failure to create a consistent marketing message.





On the other hand, it’s reasonable to say no to a client when:





• You would be compromising legal and ethical standards.

• The deal would not be a win-win for both parties.

• You would be compromising quality standards.





In the end, it is important to remember that hard work, dedication and good ethics will get you where you want to be in business. When it comes to the marketing-side of the business, have a marketing strategy and implementation plan and consistently implement the marketing tactics detailed in your strategy. Hard work always pays off!