Are businesses suffering because John Q. Public is pinching pennies and cutting luxuries? Maybe. A number of businesses who have not survived are those failing to place the full measure of importance on those still spending money. Customers are aware, now more than ever, the increasing value of their patronage.
Businesses are losing more money than what can be published in the quarterly or annual profit and loss analysis. While competing business spend thousands, sometimes millions on advertising, turning phrases, making their product or service superior in quality, more convenient, more affordable, they can be oblivious to what's costing them the most; their employees. Employers are not hemorrhaging money in wages or company property, but in the quality, or lack thereof, of the customer service being provided by its employees. The employees are not being held accountable for the mannerism in which they treat clientele.
In April of 2007, MSN published findings from an online survey, inviting people to share their customer service stories, issues and complaints. The published report listed the 10 worst companies from the result of the survey. The companies that rated at the very bottom in customer service polling included the following:
1. Sprint 40%
2. Bank of America 30%
3. Comcast 30%
4. Time Warner Cable 29%
5. AT&T 26%
6. Citibank 24%
7. Wal-Mart 23%
8. Verizon 22%
9. Wells Fargo 21%
10. DirectTV 20%
Bank of America has more than 20 Million account holders, and losing one, is not all that detrimental to the financial giant. But if 30% of those who had an opinion about Bank of America that represents 6 million account holders electing to deposit their funds elsewhere and that would be a significant loss for the bank. One ex-client of Bank of America publishing his experience with their customer service one ex-client stated;