Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

It's Only Common Sense: Bring the Orphans Home

Editor's Note: To listen to Dan's weekly column, as you've always done in the past, click here. For the written transcript, keep reading...We’ve all done it--we’ve all lost customers despite our best efforts. Sometimes it's our fault and other times it's not--just really bad luck. It's happened to the best of us and the worst of us. Some very good board shops lose only a few customers a year; others shops are more concerned with growth and revenue and, because of those priorities, customers get hurt. To paraphrase, “Stuff happens."

Losing customers is not always the shop's fault. They could have gone to a contract manufacturer and let that company buy boards for them; they may get a new buyer who comes onboard with his favorites, the board shops he likes to deal with; or they could have just gone out of business, been bought out, or decided to buy boards offshore. There are all kinds of reasons why we lose customers--it just happens.

Should you just forget about these lost customers? Should you just assume they are long-lost orphans and move on to other, hopefully greener, pastures? Or should you make a concerted effort to bring those orphans home? I say do everything you can, whenever possible, to bring them home!The good thing about former customers is that they've already bought from you in the past, which means they know what your company can do. When trying to increase your sales (something you should always be doing), start with these orphans. It's much easier to contact these companies instead of placing cold calls--they probably still have you in the system as a supplier. Makes sense, doesn't it?

First, perform a triage of the customers you've lost in the past three years. Find out who they are, what they were worth in business to your company, why they left, and, if it makes sense, go after them. Pick the low-hanging fruit first: Companies you had a problem with--they were good customers, but you encountered a series of problems and they just left. Start with them.Then, contact those companies who went offshore or to a contract manufacturer. Call them to see if anything has changed. Maybe they have not been happy with their decision, or maybe there's now a type of business that you could do for then. You never know.

Then, contact those who went out of business: Find the individuals who used to work for the company and see what they're up to. Chances are they got jobs with another company (actually, if you were smart, you helped them find that new job and they can return the favor). Contact these guys and visit them--once again, much better than a cold call.

Let’s go back to that low-hanging fruit, those who left because you screwed up:

1. Find out everything about why they left. What was the problem? How did you mess up? Are you better now so that it won't happen again if you get them to return as a customer?
2. Check back on the company and how much business you were doing with them. Is it the type of business you want to get back? Will it be worth the effort? If they were more trouble than they were worth, maybe it’s best to leave them be. If you really want to re-establish a relationship again, develop a good plan.
3. And the plan must be this: Know what the problem was in the first place and be prepared to discuss it with that customer. Talk about what went on in the past and why it won't happen again.
4. Give them proof that those problems will not be repeated. This is the key!
5. Atone for your sins: Tell them you're sorry and then show them why this won't happen again.
6. Recruit all the help you can. If you think it would be helpful for the president of your company to talk to that lost orphan, put him on the phone with the right people or, better yet, bring him to the meeting.
7. Develop a re-entry plan. This is a step-by-step plan that will make it easy and comfortable for the customer to return to your company. Offer some sort of incentive like a discount on the first two or three orders to lure them back.
8. And finally, perform, perform, perform. Show them your company has improved, that they are no longer dealing with the same company that messed up before and that this time things will be different.

Don't assume this process will be easy, because it won't. There's a reason they left and it’s going to be very hard to overcome the resentment they may be harboring. But it is certainly worth the effort; it's worth trying to bring them home again. It’s only common sense.