Most people would agree that the large businesses that service our life can often seem constant, as if their regular presence is guaranteed. Not many of us, for example, genuinely believe we’ll see the end of The Coca Cola Company or Disney in our lifetimes. Yet it’s true that even these examples are not guaranteed to operate forever, and while they certainly have resources to move through mistakes, they are not immune to the effects of them.
So, as you can imagine, smaller businesses can sometimes sink because of a misguided market direction, and often do. When the iPhone came out, Blackberry, despite owning a great portion of the mobile phone market share, dismissed the utility of smartphone apps, suggesting that everything that could be done online could be done through the phone’s web browser.
But it’s not just reading the market incorrectly that can sink even the most reputable firm, sometimes it’s basic human error, which we are all susceptible to. For this reason, fortifying your processes, holding staff to account as fairly as possible, and making sure alternatives exist can be essential steps. But first, we need to know the kind of conditions that determine this sort of response. Without further ado, let’s discuss them below:
Poor Logistics
If a company takes forever to send their products to their consumers, or if its storage and supply solutions are awfully lacking, it’s easy for the general flow of goods, services and people to be restrained. This can pose a real problem, and it’s not easy to untangle this web. Before long consumers move on to a competitor, and then the chance to secure that lead (after you’ve issued a refund), is forever lost. Poor logistics can be troublesome, and tiresome, which is why investing in a capable fulfillment company is so important, as is outsourcing your fleet to a reliable service.
Data Theft
Customer data is valuable, and unfortunately, hackers and bad-faith cybersecurity aficionados understand this. Penetrating your systems via social engineering, phishing, or sometimes just a lack of IT updates on your end can be easier than you think, as was recently shown with Rockster Games, one of the largest, multi-billion dollar video game developers in the world. Not only can losing customer data be hard to recover from, but it may have a real effect, such as personal and financial data being exposed. With managed IT services that ensure cybersecurity is practised as standard, you’ll be in the best place to move forward.
Unprofessional Candor
Clients or customers can sometimes be trying, and tiresome, and seem entitled. They deserve to be, of course, because of their patronage to your firm. Now, this isn’t to say abuse of your staff, foul language or even customer fraud (such as redeeming many free trials on multiple accounts or requesting too many refunds) is acceptable. However, it’s also important to field complaints correctly, to give the benefit of the doubt, and to always thank your customers for their patronage. Training staff and customer support agents to provide professional candor, to always be courteous, and to report incidents correctly to management is key. Otherwise, a firm can gain a reputation for being argumentative and hard to deal with – and you can bet this stains many small businesses most of all.
With this advice, we hope you can avoid the three problems that sink even the most reputable firms.