Short Term Gain

26th March 2015

I spent last Saturday having a fabulous afternoon and evening watching some brilliant rugby. Tries galore, and excitement and uncertainty as to who would lift the trophy down to the last minute of the last match.

Fantastic.

Whilst I was disappointed that England failed to clinch the trophy, I was nevertheless left elated by the theatre of the entire event. However, I suppose the overall feeling I had was that despite a seemingly impossible mountain to climb, in the end England could and should have won it.

The thing is there were masses of positives to take from the match. A huge amount of creativity, lots of effort, determination from all, and a clear desire never to give up. But, there was also a lot of the “headless chicken” approach, which meant that time and time again it was two steps forward and one step back every time the French scored.

The point is that this is something which can easily be applied to many businesses I work with. Working incredibly hard, lots of determination and effort to grow the business, but in their efforts to bring in new business, they forget to look after the clients they already have. In other words as fast as they bring in new business, there is a constant leakage of old, presumably loyal customers, who feel neglected and let down.

As we all know, getting a new customer is hard work. It takes a lot of time, money and perseverance, so once we have them on board; it is a huge mistake to lose any of our established customers. A short term gain can easily lead to a longer term loss, resulting in masses of effort with very little to show for it in the end.

Coming second is seldom worthwhile. So make sure you have all the right structure, staff and systems in place before you start to grow your business significantly. In that way you will be rewarded with new business as well as the steady repeat business of your loyal and happy customers.

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