How to grow… anything.
I had a very wise boss one time who said to me, “To grow something you have to keep what you have and add to that”.
It is true.
Once I was involved in a business and we were tied for first place in our industry. Sounds good doesn’t it. Except we were tied for first with four other companies.
Our challenge was to grow.
So for the longest time we went out and tried to get new customers. We tired and we tried.
And we became excellent at getting new customers.
Excellent. Outstanding. Great.
But our business didn’t grow.
Head scratcher.
We didn’t, “Keep what we had and add to it”. We just added, without “Keeping”. In other words we were losing customers as fast as we could get new ones.
The focus then shifted to why did we lose customers? It was not just one thing. It was several. And there were lots of squabbles as people began to “protect their turf” because they didn’t want their department to be blamed for losing customers.
It turns out that “keeping” was more painful that “obtaining”.
That is no exaggeration. Compared to Adding, Keeping was harder.
One of the areas was “Customer Service”. We had trouble answering phones. We had trouble helping people. So we had to work our way through that and it was painful. The people in customer service were very defensive. Their boss was protective. Change was hard. As I recall no one lost their jobs. It just required some changes.
We also had trouble in product reliability and consistency. One of the areas was that sample of products came out of the labs. These samples always worked great. However the production materials that came with regular orders were different and new customers were often disappointed in the differences.
Additionally we had wide variations in our product(s). The production folks objected to this representation. But we had to face it and fix it.
We had to fix all that and more.
When we did we grew to be the undisputed leader in our industry.
We were able to KEEP.
We were able to ADD.
We were able to Keep what we had and add to it.
But it was painful.
If you own a business and you want to grow this may be something for you to think about.
If you are a church and you want to grow maybe your issue isn’t being more welcoming and more attentive to visitors, maybe it is understanding why people are leaving. Or maybe it is some of both.
In the business circumstance outline above, I was tasked with going to visit lost customers. It was interesting to go into a company and explain that we were not necessarily there to try to get their business back, but instead understand why they departed.
Our biggest data base of information was the people who had “voted with their feet”.
I would suggest that if you have a growth problem that is where you look first. Who left and why.
Maybe you have a club and you can’t keep members. Go ask departing members whey they don’t belong anymore and LISTEN to their answers. You will have to interview many.
Do is not make it personal. Don’t blame them. Don’t blame yourself. Don’t blame others.
People leave for reasons. This isn’t about you. It is about expectations, it is about needs, it is about understanding listening and delivering.
Sometimes you lose customers, clients or members and you should have.
A lady recently told of a person who came to her church that was deaf about a church more suited to her needs. Her church did not provide deaf language interpretation so she suggested a different church that did.
You may run into a customer whose needs you cannot meet. Or maybe you don’t want to meet because of the cost implications for your concern. They would be better served somewhere else and you and they are better off if you get to that discovery sooner rather than later.
So here is the point… the “take away”.
Adding new customers, member, attendees, (whatever) is good and desirable. BUT, if you find that it doesn’t result in growth. Stop. Take a deep breath. Look at what you are not KEEPING.
Keep what you have and add to it.
©David L Arment
April 25, 2024
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