“Before You Try to Fill the Bathtub, Close the Drain!”

By Action Coach Dave Beam

When I begin coaching a new client, we always evaluate four basic areas of business mastery.  We examine money, time, destination, and delivery mastery.

Today I want to consider delivery mastery and why it is critical to your business success.  If you have delivery mastery, your customers consistently receive quality products and service from your business delivered on time.  This will be evidenced by minimal customer complaints, and you will be current in your response time and product/service delivery.

Often people ask me how I can help them bring in more business.  Typically they want to improve their marketing and advertising to get more customers in the door.  I am all for increasing the phone calls, store traffic and requests for proposals.  But before I jump on the marketing bandwagon, I always ask probing questions about current customer service.  Did you know that it is basically five times easier to sell to an existing customer than to win a new one?  It makes no sense to invest dollars, time and effort to attract new customers in the front door if you are losing your current customers out the back.  It’s like trying to fill a bathtub with water with the drain open!  Close the drain, then fill the tub.

What would your business be today if you had retained every customer that ever did business with you?  What if every current customer was so pleased with your product and service that they sent you a stream of steady referrals?  Maybe you should put your marketing campaign on hold and invest some time and resources into providing a consistent product and service to the customers you already have.  Take care of what you have, and you will be ready for more. 

Building a successful business is common sense that is not common practice.  Do a great job taking care of your current customers and your business will grow.  Do a poor job taking care of your current customers and you will struggle getting new ones.  How do you consistently thank your current customers?  How is your follow-up?  How quickly do you respond to their requests?  How often do you exceed their expectations?  Delivery mastery – it’s a basic principle of success that is often missing.