Perceived Indifference Disease

A neighborhood restaurant we went to nearly every week for several years got a new partner, a long-time bar tender who bought into the business. We’d been spending at least $5,000 a year there, going mostly on their slower nights. We knew all the staff, and had chatty, comfortable conversations with them. We thought we were good customers.

I Don't Care SignSoon after taking over, the new partner changed the music to something I didn’t like. Loud and screechy, in my humble opinion. In a low-key manner I asked if he’d switched the playlist. After he said he did, I said — politely I think — that I thought the new music was not as good as what they had been playing. He responded, “Well other people like it,” and abruptly turned away.

Okay.

He has every right to play whatever music he likes in his restaurant. But his comment and attitude said he didn’t care about me. I paid for the one drink I’d just ordered and left the restaurant without eating.

That conversation was in January and we haven’t been back. We simply disappeared from their list of customers.

I’ve told this story to incredulous friends who know how loyal we were, and they’ve moved birthday parties and dinners away from that restaurant to other spots in the neighborhood. So, the new partner’s interaction with me — and the restaurant’s failure to follow-up — has cost the business at least $7,500 in 2017 revenue.

I am not looking for sympathy or commiseration at being slighted. (Well maybe a little sympathy!) But, mainly I’m telling this story because it illustrates one of the dangers to your business that we explore with you in our business development sessions: Perceived Indifference Disease.

When your customers perceive that you don’t care about them, you’re in danger of losing them. You may never know why they stopped coming.

Our business consulting sessions help you uncover how your interactions with your clients may leave them feeling that you don’t care… even when you care very much!

If you are wondering why you’re not getting the repeat business you deserve, we can help you explore ways of assessing your customer’s feelings toward you and seeing if they feel loyal or repelled by perceived difference.

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Contact us to learn more about the business development options we offer in addition to our traditional accounting services.

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