We all have them – bad habits that is. Or if they aren’t what you’d call “bad,” they’re at least undermining your success in some way. Well, I guess that’s bad.

Outside of the mundane sort of bad habits that run with your everyday existence, it seems that there’s one glaring habit that you just don’t like. And even if you don’t openly admit it, you know it’s there. Worse yet, it affects your business.

How this habit impacts your business can vary in many ways. It’s possible that it merely creates some mild inefficiency. Or perhaps it affects your sales because you’re not doing all you can to market effectively. But there is one area where its impact is inexcusable - it affects your customers.

So what if you’re a little inefficient, or falling down in your marketing? Yes, you ought to address those defects. But more importantly, if your customers are being affected by your bad habit, that definitely must change.

It’s likely that your bad habit isn’t affecting 100% of your customers, 100% of the time. If that were the case you’d be out of business. But even if it only affects a few, therein lays an opportunity for improvement.

So how do you know if your habit is affecting customers? That’s simple. They’re complaining about it. And if not directly to you; then to your vendors, employees or others you know.

It often comes out as – “He does great work, but he’s slow.” “She’s very talented, but she seems to drop the ball and never gets back to you.” “They’re really nice and easy to work with, but their attention to detail is non-existent.” 

It’s possible that you’re doing just fine with your bad habit in tact, even if you’re scaring off customers. But on some level there is a cost. It likely causes stress, or in some way is reducing your bottom line. Whatever it’s doing, it’s probably not worth ignoring.