Why is listening important?

 - 68% of customer defection takes place because customers feel poorly treated. Source: TARP

 - It can cost five times more to buy new customers than retain existing ones. Source: TARP

- 1% cut in customer service problems could generate an extra £16m in profits for a medium-sized company over 5 years.

- Why customers quit:

1% die
3% move away
68% quit because of an attitude of indifference towards the customer by the staff.
14 % are dissatisfied with the product.
9% leave because of competitive reasons.

Source: How to win customers and keep them for life (2000) – Michael Leboeuf

- For every customer who bothers to complain, 26 other customers remain silent. Source: Lee Resource Inc

- It takes 12 positive service incidents to make up for 1 negative incident. Source: Lee Resource Inc

- The average "wronged customer" will tell 8-l6 people about it. Over 20% will tell more than 20. Source: Lee Resource Inc

- 91% of unhappy customers will not willingly do business with you again. Source: Lee Resource Inc

- 70% of complaining customers will do business with you again if you resolve the complaint in their favour. Source: Lee Resource Inc

- 95% of complaining customers will do business with you again if you resolve the complaint instantly. Source: Lee Resource Inc

- Reducing customer defections can boost profits by 25-85%. In 73% of cases, the organization made no attempt to persuade dissatisfied customers to stay; even though 35% said that a simple apology would have prevented them from moving to the competition. Source: NOP

- 80% of complaints received by an organisation are likely to have poor communication as their root cause, either with the customer or within the organisation itself. Source: Unknown

- 56%-70% of the customers who complain to you will do business with you again if you resolve their problem. If they feel you acted quickly and to their satisfaction, up to 96% will do business with you again, and they will probably refer other people to you. Source: the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC.

- A dissatisfied customer will tell 9-15 people about it. And approximately 13% of your dissatisfied customers will tell more than 20 people about their problem. Source: the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC.

- Happy customers who have their problems resolved will tell 4-6 people about their positive experience. Source: the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC.

- It costs five to six times as much to get a new (first time) customer as it does to keep a current one. Source: the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC.

- Customer loyalty can be worth up to 10 times as much as a single purchase. Source: the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC.

- It costs 6 times more to attract a new customer than it does to keep an old one. Source: “Understanding Customers” by Ruby Newell-Legner

- Customer loyalty is, in most cases worth 10 times the price of a single purchase. Source: “Understanding Customers” by Ruby Newell-Legner

- A typical business hears from only about 4% of its dissatisfied customers. 96% just go away and 91% will never come back. Source: “Understanding Customers” by Ruby Newell-Legner

- 13% of the people who have service problems tell 20 others. Source: “Understanding Customers” by Ruby Newell-Legner 

- It takes 12 positive service incidents to make up for one negative incident. Source: “Understanding Customers” by Ruby Newell-Legner

- 7 out of 10 customers will do business with you again if you resolve the complaint in their favor. Source: “Understanding Customers” by Ruby Newell-Legner