These 3 Common Business Mistakes Could Cost You Customers

As the adage goes, "Experience is thing you summation conscionable aft you request it." But arsenic a young entrepreneur, large moments and awesome deals can't ever hold for the instruction to travel — it could lose you customers, aliases moreover worse, everything.

I've gained 30 years of acquisition arsenic the CEO and laminitis of the multi-million dollar entertainment booking agency, and we are often trusted pinch million-dollar deals from our caller and recurring customers that we activity difficult to keep. Here are immoderate of the lessons I person learned astir the astir communal mistakes business owners tin expect and debar — the benignant of missteps that not only costs your clients successful the short word but tin besides extremity you from building the strong, word-of-mouth connections that are truthful valuable to increasing a business.

Related: Common Mistakes First-Time Entrepreneurs Make and How to Stop Them

Provide what you promise

This is captious astatine each level. Take the infamous Fyre Festival for example, an entrepreneurial mini business that promised over-the-top accommodations, gourmet food, and a glamorous acquisition — but couldn't travel done connected their promise. Without delivering, customers will not only locomotion away, but you could beryllium harming your estimation — and early arsenic a company.

In a little utmost example, we often spot mini businesses successful our manufacture "nickel and diming" aft deals are signed. This is simply a elemental 1 to avoid. When my institution quotes a occupation for our clients, we facet successful each the costs associated pinch the booking including artist's fees, flights, edifice accommodations, staging, lights, the various rider requirements and more. Once each parties person agreed to the position of the booking, we are locked into a "turn-key" value astatine that constituent to supply each statement point truthful that our clients cognize precisely really overmuch the intermezo is going to cost.

Certainly, we could maximize nett profits by doing everything as cheaply arsenic possible aliases trim corners wherever we can, but is this really the champion measurement to impressment and support a customer for the agelong term?

Of people not.

One of the astir important rules to travel is to make judge that everything promised is provided successful the first quote and executed astatine the highest level imaginable to transcend expectations. This whitethorn costs a spot much and impact your bottommost line, but building a happy and repetition customer who trusts you for years to travel is acold much valuable successful the agelong run.

Move quickly erstwhile challenges arise

Intuition and the expertise to anticipate a roadblock tin play a captious domiciled successful your company's occurrence — but moving quickly to problem-solve pinch out-of-the-box solutions erstwhile they do originate will put you up of the beginner's curve and beryllium your expertise and value.

When BookingEntertainment.com was hired to book and nutrient Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac for a large infirmary fundraiser astatine The Waldorf Astoria successful New York City, what should person been an easy booking, turned into a readying puzzle erstwhile the room needed for the arena would not beryllium disposable successful time. We strategized that the only measurement done this was to connection Nicks's accumulation instrumentality to the institution that had the room earlier america for free, truthful the cogwheel needed would already beryllium group up erstwhile we sewage the room.

Acting quickly instantly built spot pinch the customer that we could grip immoderate situation that came our way, which led to years of producing large events for the fundraiser.

Related: I Made These 3 Big Mistakes When Starting a Business — Here's What I Learned From Them

Challenge the position quo

Be brave. In an era of immense innovation, each businesses mini and ample should avoid the position quo and ne'er enactment excessively comfortable successful a existent model, moreover erstwhile it whitethorn consciousness safe aliases successful the moment, successful. There will ever beryllium a caller opportunity ahead.

Blockbuster, an manufacture leader, had a immense advantage successful the video rental space, yet remained stuck successful brick-and-mortar stores.

Similarly, arsenic a service-based organization, it would person been comfortable to support the business moving simply connected my rolodex. However, successful 1995, I saw the imaginable of the intermezo manufacture shifting online, and while I had naysayers, my instincts kicked successful and I knew the net would let group to find america vs. america uncovering them.

When you're brave capable to look beyond the position quo, you're opening your business up to the possibilities — and gross — that haven't existed yet. Whether you are starting connected your entrepreneurial way aliases a seasoned CEO, I dream to radiance a ray connected a fewer large avoidable mistakes that, if prepped for and alert of, tin lead you to the way to occurrence and growth. When starting a business, it is the travel that determines your legacy. If you tin expect trends, present a top-notch merchandise aliases work and debar the bumps successful the road, you will person a smoother thrust to the top.