What is $1,380 Worth?

Yesterday I was working late and took a phone call from a customer after everyone else had gone home.  Usually these calls are not very productive or profitable but I reluctantly answered the phone.  The call was from a customer that we have done business with for a long, long time but as I looked up in our system while I was talking to her on the phone I discovered we hadn't earned any business from her since 2008.  That was just the beginning of the lessons I learned in a brief 10 minute phone call.

In a few short minutes the customer purchased $1,380.50 worth of merchandise while talking to me and viewing styles on our website (many lessons there).  It wasn't the largest order we got yesterday but it certainly was not the smallest.  I asked why she hadn't purchased from us in a while and she said sh really didn't know that she had missed us at the recent shows and no one had called her to check in recently with her.  WOW!!! and UH-OH!!!

How could we let this happen?  In a market where we are fighting for every dollar and every customer how do we let someone who has good credit, is a long-term customer and apparently has enough affinity for our products to go seek us out on the internet just disappear into the abyss? Carelessness, laziness, taking our eye off the ball....fill in the blank but it violates every customer service rule we believe in and everything we say we stand for.

So whether you work for me, work for yourself or work for someone else here are some questions to consider no matter who your customer is and what you are selling.  I would love your feedback as well - what other questions (and answers) does this bring to light for you?

• Are you really connected to your customers?
• Do they really feel valued and appreciated by you and your company?
• How much does it cost you to take each day to reach out to inactive or lost customers? and How much business have you lost as a result of not doing so?
• Do you have a plan, strategy or goal to reach out to others and offer to help even if they are not currently your customer?
• Others?

Maybe the thought crossed your mind - why all the verbiage about $1,380?  Yea, right! 

• How much business have we lost in the last three years that we ignored this customer? 
• How much business will we earn from her the rest of this year now that we lucked in to getting her back and made a commitment to her that we won't EVER let that happen again? 
• How many other customers have we forgotten, ignored, written off or (gasp) said no in the past that we stopped pursuing?

Wonder if we all shouldn't be going through old customer files and picking up the phone to call them or getting in the car to go see them?  I'll race ya....