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Some years ago as I was shopping in a lumber yard (which businesses are now almost extinct), I noticed a sign which caught my eye. It read as follows:
81% OF YOUR CUSTOMERS WILL BE LOST TEN YEARS FROM NOW
Under this startling headline the following statistics appeared:
- 1% will die.
- 3% will move.
- 5% will give their business to a friend.
- 9% will be lost to competitors.
- 14% will be lost due to dissatisfaction with a product.
- 68% will quit because of an attitude of indifference of an employee.
The Lord’s “business” also loses “customers” for all these reasons. Death is steadily calling men and women into eternity. In our very mobile society, the local church is constantly affected by members moving to new locations because of employment changes. Those with no real conviction concerning loyalty to the importance of doctrinal purity and of “making all things according to the pattern,” are being led into denominational “competitors.” Others, finding that following Christ requires daily sacrificial, self-denying cross-bearing, (Luke 9:23) will become “dissatisfied with the product” and will drop out.
Interestingly, the greatest loss to business comes at the point of “employee indifference.” Have you ever walked into a business establishment to make a purchase and felt that the salesperson or manager would rather not be bothered? It’s at this point that most customer casualties occur. If there is any lesson a businessperson should consider elementary, it should be to make the customer want to return.
Christians are the Lord’s “salespersons” (Mat. 28:18–20; Mark 16:15–16). We would do well to look into the matter of how we treat those who visit our assemblies. Do we expect the announcer or the preacher to do all the greeting, or do we personally and warmly seek out visitors with a genuine welcome? As we filter out into weekday tasks, do we drive off potential “customers” by our indifference? Do we ever speak a word for Christ and the church? Or worse, when we speak and act, do we forget who we represent? (Many a soul has been soured on the truth by hot-headed, razor-tongued, or worldly-walking members of the church.) Indifference simply means, “I don’t care.” We must care: “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not vain in the Lord” (1 Cor.15:58).
[Note: I wrote this article for, and it was published in the November 13, 1975, edition of the Granbury Gospel, weekly bulletin of the Granbury Church of Christ, Granbury, Texas, of which I was editor.
Attribution: From www.thescripturecache.com; Dub McClish, proprietor, curator, and administrator.
