Primary HR Outsourcing

Where are your customers going? July 20, 2010

 “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all doing direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” – Charles Dickens

Timeless aren’t they, the words of Dickens. 

Looking back at the last couple of years you can see how the words fit so well.   We saw a global thawing (some think melt down) and yet others found nothing but opportunity.   

In March of this year (2010) the Kaufmann Foundation published a study on entrepreneurial activity in 2009 in the good ol’ US of A.  What was determined in the study is that 2009 saw record entrepreneurial activity; approximately 558,000 new businesses were started per month.  That equates to 194 new businesses every 15 minutes or a new business every 5 seconds.  WOW! 

If you’re a business owner that has to concern you, it’s getting more difficult to market to your customers without millions of new businesses also trying to get their dollars out of their pocket. 

If you’re a consumer then your life just got more “cluttered”.  In 1992 consumers were bombarded with more than 3000 commercial messages care to guess how many by 2006?  And now there’s more than half a million new businesses each month adding to the clutter. 

You might be thinking that 2009 was an anomaly but consider these facts from the study.  While the overall average was 340 out of 100,000 people started businesses, immigrants were starting businesses at a rate of 500 per 100,000 this was the fastest group.  Second fastest group (drum roll) people ages 55 to 64 at a rate of 410 per 100,000.  So here’s a question what are the two fastest growing groups of people in society currently?   Yep you guessed it immigrants and those whose age is 55 to 64 and that trend will be continuing for many years.  It stands to reason then that we will experience higher than normal (if not record) entrepreneurial activity for years to come.

So just where are your customers going?  Perhaps a better question is, what can you do to ensure your customers will keep coming back to you?  Or perhaps, what experience does my customer need to have (with my company) so they won’t feel a need to go somewhere else.  Answer those question then they won’t be going anywhere, will they?  Are there other questions you can ask that will help you improve the relationship you have with your customers, sure there are.  I’d bet you and your team could come up with great questions that when answered will strengthen your company’s position within the minds of your customers.   To coin a phrase by Ben Franklin – a customer saved is a customer earned. 

I am always at you service,

Rick Matthews

We help businesses prosper. 

We help business owners make their businesses more secure, reduce employer liability and increase profits.   www.primaryhroutsourcing.com