Very rarely will you hear people talk about the topic of what turns off potential customers, but I think it’s an important topic to cover. If you’re trying to make it as an entrepreneur, and really trying to scale yourself to the highest level, it’s important to get all of the weeds out of the way that are preventing you from having a bigger, stronger relationship with business people.
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So in this video, I cover the following 9 things that can turn off potential customers.
#1: Smoking Cigarettes
This week my father was in town. We have a certain sushi joint here in Dallas that we typically go to, but it was closed, so I took him to a new one. I had looked online and saw that it was only a half a mile from my home. It had 88 reviews and 4.5 stars, so I expected it to be decent.
The waiter came to take our order, and even though he was standing about a foot away from me, there was an heavy cigarette smell. Immediately, in my mind, I checked out. I thought, “I’m never going to this sushi spot ever again.”
You may think I’m judgmental, but that’s not the case. When I’m the customer and I’m buying, I want to feel good about the place where I eat, and I want the service to be good.
I have an imaginative mind, so I immediately began thinking things like Ahh, man. He probably had a smoke break and he probably smoked multiple cigarettes because he smells pretty strong on the cigarette side. And, I don’t know if he’s washed his hands. He may or may not have washed his hands. And he’s going to go out there and carry my plate and he’s going to bring my plate. And I’m going to hold it and I’m going to smell the cigarettes. And it’s going to bother me. I can’t eat the sushi.
We stayed, because it was Memorial Day weekend and nothing else was open.
The bill ended up being $121. I eat sushi twice a week. The other sushi spot that I like to go to is 4 1/2 miles away from my house. This is a half a mile away from my house.
Consider what this sushi spot stands to lose financially. Let’s just say that I go there once a week. $121 times 52 weeks in a year adds up to roughly $6300 per year. If I go there for five years, five times $6300, that’s $31,000 they lost over a five-year period.
When I go to sushi spots, I always take friends and family. So imagine the people that I take to introduce to this sushi spot. They will potentially eat there in the future as well. That adds another $60,000.
Potentially, this restaurant stands to lose between $90,000 and $100,000 and the restaurant owner won’t even be aware of that loss.
If I owned a restaurant, one of my first questions would be, “Do you smoke cigarettes?” Because most customers don’t like the smell of cigarettes.
I’m not trying to harp on this. I did a Facebook Mentions a couple of weeks ago and I brought this up. Somebody got very upset about the fact that I talked about how turned off I am by cigarettes, but it’s important to understand that you can lose a big chunk of business by smoking cigarettes.
#2: Odor
When you’re an entrepreneur, your image matters a lot. Because of that, it’s really important to have good hygiene.
Here are few things to pay attention to:
Yellow Teeth is a turn off when someone is buying something from you or doing business with you. Yellow teeth is typically a byproduct of alcohol, coffee, or cigarettes. It can also be because you’re not brushing or whitening your teeth. It’s a turn off in the world of business.
Another hygiene issue is body odor. The challenge with body odor is that you rarely know if you have body odor because you don’t smell yourself. The good news is, most everybody has a friend or family member that is honest, so ask that person if you have a problem with body odor. If they say something like, “Yeah, a little bit,” great; you know you need to adjust, and perhaps shower more often, or shower with something with a decent scent.
Another problem is an excessive amount of cologne.If you put on too much cologne, you’re overcompensating for something you are hiding. Watch here for my demo on how to properly put on cologne.
#3: Small Lies
The next turn off and reason why you lose potential customer is small lies. If someone is giving me a presentation and slips in a small lie here and there, they lose me. I automatically choose to not do business with them, because if the can tell me three, four, five lies in a row, they’re probably going to give me a big lie as well, right?
#4: Too Pushy
People don’t really like sales people that are too pushy. It’s better to take a little more effort than to try to push me into buying something I don’t want. If you push me into buying something I don’t want, I’ll just cancel it tomorrow, so what’s the real benefit of pushing me to buy something today?
#5: Too Soft
Being too soft is just the opposite of being too pushy. Listen in here for examples of what it means to be too soft.
#6: Look at the Eyes
When doing business, it’s very important to look people in the eyes. When you look people in the eyes, it demonstrates that you’re not hiding anything.
#7: Delivering on Promises
If I do business with someone and they tell me, “Oh, the moment I leave this place, I’m going to send you an email with a draft,” I expect to get it within the next 30 minutes.
What often happens it that I end up getting it the next day, and they start the email with something like, “You know, I got caught up yesterday. . . ” Any reason they give me is just an excuse.
If someone says, “Oh, tomorrow I’m going to have my assistant call you and get all this stuff started.” If I don’t get a call tomorrow from the assistant, don’t bother calling me the next day. If you’re a professional have your assistant call me when you say they will. And don’t blame it on your assistant if she doesn’t call. You need to hold your assistant accountable and if needed remind her or him to call.
#8: Authenticity
Listen in here for an story of what happened to me and my response when a business person lacked authenticity.
#9: Discipline with Health
Recently on a Facebook Mentions someone asked me, “Pat, how much does weight have to do with me being successful?”
Some people accuse me of being insensitive and offensive for bringing up the topic of weight. But being overweight impacts your energy and everything you do. In addition to that, if you don’t have the discipline to take care of the body that you’re going to live in for 80 years, what makes me think you’re going to have the discipline to take care of me as a customer?
I’ve had to pull people in my organization aside and tell them things like, “You know I love you. You know I care for you. You know it’s not just business here. I want to see you win as well. I looked at your numbers, and I’m telling you, every time I watch, you get tired too early. You get tired too early. You give up too quick. Somebody on the phone call says, “I’m not interested,” and you hang up. Every time you go out on an appointment, the smallest thing happens and you can’t wait to come back home. Your weight is an issue. You need to drop around 30 pounds. And I’m telling you right now, if you drop 30 pounds, your income is probably going to go up 50 to 100% next year.”
I’m not trying to embarrass anybody, but weight plays a big role in your success.
To all my sensitive folks out there that are going to say, “Shame on you because you don’t now what it is to be big boned.” I don’t know what it is to be big boned? Maybe I don’t know what it is to be big boned, but I know what it is to not eat pizza. The last time I ate a Big Mac was in September, 1997. How do I know that? Because I finished boot camp. And when I finished boot camp, I went out and ate a Whopper and a Big Mac the same day and threw up all over the place. And I used to work at Burger King. So I had many Whoppers and many Big Macs. I feel lethargic after I eat a Big Mac. I may eat a slice of pizza or two, maybe once every two months. Because I know I’m now thirty some years old, closing in on forty, and when I eat, I feel heavier. My body keeps it now. I used to drop it but it keeps it now. These are disciplines that you actually can do something about. And I guarantee you that people want to do business with somebody where the vibration and energy is high. They feel good about it, and your weight plays a big role in it.
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