Any home business relies upon customers or clients to fuel their business. Owners spend a great deal of time and effort to attract them but ,as hard as you work an equal amount of effort is needed to retain them. This is imperative for repeat business and a source of future referrals.

And that is where many home businesses fail. There are many reasons why a customer walks away after being initially “hooked” but, here are some of the most common:

Failing to Understand Customer Expectations: Setting and living up to customer expectations is about 90% of the true secret of success. Home business owners often run into problems here by overstating their abilities and underestimating a customer’s reaction to a broken promise.

For example, a freelance writer is asked to deliver an assignment by Friday. Wanting to impress the client they rashly promise it on Wednesday instead. Things get hectic and the project is not finished until Thursday, but, thinks the writer, that’s OK because Client X originally said Friday so it was still delivered ahead of time.


Not true. The writer led the client to expect their work on Wednesday. In the client’s mind the provider set an expectation and then failed to deliver, end of story.

Assuming the Customer Will Speak up when something is not right: Some people are quick to complain when something is not quite as they expected but, the vast majority of people do not. Many unhappy customers will simply walk away without a word to you but, they will tell four or five of their friends.

To prevent this from happening make sure you have a good feedback system in place and encourage your clients and customers to come to you as soon as they feel something has gone awry. If you appear ready and willing to help in this way the chances are that you can make the occasional inevitable slip up without losing a potential source of revenue.

Failing to Follow Up: You made the sale, you got paid, the customer got what they needed and that’s about it right? Wrong again. Follow up is crucial if you want to build a repeat customer base or a great source of referrals. If you fail to communicate with your customers after the sale is made you risk losing them next time to someone who has made them feel wanted. A simple follow up call or even a quick email can make all the difference.

Keep in mind, without your customers/clients there is no business. Customer satisfaction is just as important to a home business as it is elsewhere.