Many times you hear a salesperson say, “We service the heck out of our customers. They’ll never leave us.” But then a competitor walks away with an account. No one saw it coming or knew what went wrong.

You work hard getting new accounts, take servicing them seriously, and yet they still leave. Why? Think about it this way. You buy a new car and it’s just what you wanted. But after a year or so, you start thinking about the new models. That’s when little things about your current car start bugging you — it doesn’t have this-or-that, there’s a squeak, and the technology is outdated. Before you know it, you’re back in the showroom.

It’s no different with your customers. When competitors come calling, they’re ripe for the picking. All of a sudden, the list of little things that fester over time gets longer. Before you know it, you’re sacked, replaced by a competitor. It’s the accumulation of seemingly minor issues that do the damage and make customers vulnerable. To help avoid it happening, here is a 15-step checklist for keeping customers.

1. Be irritation aware. By themselves little things accumulate in a customer’s mind, tolerated and quietly dormant until something triggers a reaction. “I’ll call you back about that,” but you forgot. “I’ll get on it right now,” but you didn’t. Minor irritations to be sure, but over time, they become a big issue. That’s when the competitor arrives.

2. Meet deadlines. “Sorry, Susan, would it be OK if I got that to you tomorrow?” although he knew the due date well in advance. If it happens once, that’s understandable. Twice and it’s seen as a pattern. 

3. Exhibit self-confidence. Few things raise red flags faster than those who come across as wishy-washy and unsure of themselves. Surprising as it may seem, it can happen to people who take their work seriously and make a point of being thorough. Even so, their behavior can be interpreted as being doubtful and lacking in confidence.

4. Be a resource. Make it a practice to keep your antennae tuned for ideas that may be of interest to customers. Then, pass them along. It’s not only helpful but it’s also a way to let them know you’re thinking of them.

5. Become a better presenter. A regional rep for a steel company signed up for a public speaking class. “I’m not good enough on my feet,” he told the instructor. Months later, he received a big promotion and credited what he learned in the class as making the difference.

6. Get better organized. Smart salespeople know the value of being well organized. Intuitively, perhaps, they recognize that getting customers what they need fast helps being seen as reliable, someone they can count on. 

7. Don’t talk about yourself.  Understandably, salespeople want to impress prospects and customers. Sometimes they try too hard; they don’t do themselves any favors by telling stories about themselves. It’s not what customers want to hear.

8. Ask questions. How many times do we need to be reminded that “telling zxurge is so strong, it gets out of control. Just remember, asking questions works better since it gives customers and prospects a chance to do what they know best: to talk about themselves and what they do.

9. Be attentive. Salespeople know the danger of ignoring customers and do everything possible to avoid it from happening. But some customers see it differently. What they notice are subtle changes in attentiveness: “Have we heard from Lori lately?” or “When was the last time Carl was in?” A picture begins to take shape. Once it starts, it sticks.

10. Be on time. Keeping customers waiting is dangerous at any time. Calling or texting you’ll be late doesn’t cut it. Some may think that it lets you off the hook, but it doesn’t. Customers, including those who don’t say anything, may feel differently. Being late may be ignored, but it’s not forgotten. 

11. Respond rapidly. Those expecting a response have their own perception of “quickly” — not yours. It seems a bit tough, but a good rule of thumb is 15 minutes to one hour for responding to both phone calls and email. This includes simply letting clients know you received their message and when you will get back to them.

12. Anticipate problems. While optimism is essential if you’re in sales, it’s also useful to be a bit pessimistic. It creates doubt, which will help you spot potential problems before disaster strikes. It’s better to be aware of what’s coming so you can correct it, while you still have time.

13. Listen intently. We all find ourselves thinking, “What did I just read? I can’t remember a word!” Our eyes were moving across the page, but we were thinking about something else. It’s the same with listening, including sales situations. The customer is talking and we’re thinking about what we will say next. All it takes to avoid this is to take a few notes, just enough to capture what the customer is saying. Besides getting the message, you will impress customers that you’re focused on them.

14. Write simply. The goal is to make everything you write as easy to read as possible. To do this, some suggest shooting for a 3rd grade reading level. Don’t laugh. It’s difficult, requiring skill to reach that level of clarity. However, a 5th grade to 7th grade level works well for capturing and holding attention. You can check your writing (memos, emails, white papers, proposals, etc.) using MS Word. Go to tools > spelling and grammar to see your scores. This article has a Flesch Readability Ease score of 66.8, fairly easy, along with a 6.8 grade level.

15. Express appreciation. Letting customers know you appreciate their business goes without saying — they like knowing you care. However, tickets to sporting events, gifts, meals at popular restaurants, or contributions to a customer’s favorite charity are thoughtful but weak substitutes for consistent top performance. That’s what justifies relationships.

So, what’s the best strategy for keeping encroaching competitors away from your customers. Simple, see above — points 1 through 15.       

John Graham of GrahamComm is a marketing and sales strategist-consultant and business writer. He is the creator of “Magnet Marketing,” and publishes a free monthly eBulletin, “No Nonsense Marketing & Sales Ideas.” Contact him at jgraham@grahamcomm.com or johnrgraham.com

Marketing is ideally suited for cooperative implementation among small businesses. Cost and time required are the two most obvious reasons that might make it harder for business owners to perform, hire, or contract for these tasks individually. In fact, the U.S. Small Business Administration reports, according to a study by Marketo, that only 56 percent of small businesses (with fewer than 50 employees) have a marketing plan.

One other important, but often overlooked, benefit of cooperative marketing is shared branding. A marketing cooperative can be used for any product or service, though its most popular utilization is in agriculture among growers who sell together under a single brand name. Well-known examples include Sunkist citrus, Cabot Creamery, Land O’ Lakes dairy, Ocean Spray Cranberries, Blue Diamond nuts, Organic Valley, and Sun-Maid raisins. In Central New York, we have Dairylea (now merged with Dairy Farmers of America) — which at its height had over 100,000 farm member-owners united to increase their bargaining power as suppliers. 

As we know, there is power in numbers, pooling resources for cooperative marketing can grow and stabilize an industry by supporting the growth of small producers and businesses. We are seeing a resurgence of interest in small, local, organic growers while at the same time seeing the number of working small farms continue to decrease according to research by FiveThirtyEight’s senior science writer, Maggie Koerth-Baker. Specialized professional marketing services for a local or regional collection of producers such as our local farmers or growers could provide a more affordable and efficient budget line for supplier and sales activities of these producers.

The third industrial revolution that we find ourselves in may hold the key to this next generation of small-scale producer marketing cooperatives, whether in agriculture or another industry. This revolution has led to the evolution of digital platforms as a key component of business operations. An Accenture.com report found that “81 percent of executives say platform-based business models will be core to their growth strategy within three years.” Now, with a $1 million grant from the Google.org Foundation, the Platform Cooperative Consortium at The New School, a university in New York City, will be able to take leaps and bounds towards supporting the development of cooperatives in the digital economy. This will be done through the “development of open source platform tools specifically for cooperatives that are owned and democratically governed by workers and/or users.” 

Beyond developing a cooperative platform for marketing from producers and service providers, marketing professionals themselves can join together to operate a worker cooperative on the alternate side of the cooperative business spectrum. With this possibility, we see the potential development of a cooperative model value-chain in which cooperatively owned producers and service providers band together to create a platform marketing cooperative that is developed and managed by a worker cooperative of marketing professionals.                     

Frank Cetera is a New York State-certified business advisor at the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) located at Onondaga Community College. Contact him at ceteraf@sunyocc.edu.