Only fools are interested in customers

Here is another unbelievable example of companies’ disinterest in new customers.

We have been looking for a new business insurance and contacted three providers through their internet portal. Guess how many of them replied? ONE! One out of three is interested at all in new customers. That’s 33%!

The more of such cases I observe the more I think there must be an underlying system. Perhaps I’m wrong assuming that customers are good for business. The more customers you get the more trouble you have. So it's better to avoid them. Or, the only alternative reason: Companies are incapable of dealing with new customers. How come?

• Poor leadership and frustrated people (strongly correlated, by the way). Nobody feels really motivated to care about clients.
• Unclear responsibilities. It’s not obvious who should take care of which customers.
• Tools without processes. Perhaps the requests through the web interface are just not forwarded internally.

Good news for the only insurance company that replied – very likely they will make the deal. Winning new customers can be so easy if your competitors are incompetent.

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