Loyalty

There is an enormous payoff for companies who move customers from satisfied to loyal on the spectrum because you'll get more business with higher markups. Identify a list of ten satisfied customers with big potential and talk to them. Find out what you would have to do differently in order to qualify for the gift of loyalty.

Reward loyal customers for their continued support.

• Have an event to thank them
• Send a thank you card signed by everyone in your company
• Send out a small appreciation gift
• Mark significant anniversaries like the tenth year of a partnership

Account Retention - Part 3

Satisfied vs. Loyal

Most customers fall in the satisfied category. One study estimated 80% of all customers are in this range. Satisfied customers like you, but not enough to pay a higher price for your work. Usually, they don't have  strong sense of what sets you apart from the competition, and often they're buying out of habit.

The best customers are loyal customers and the best advertising for your company is their word-of-mouth. Loyal customers fit this profile.

• They make regular repeat purchases and pay a premium for your services
• They purchase all offerings that apply to them
• They refer others
• They are immune to the pull of competition
• They tolerate an occasional lapse in quality or service without defecting

Account Retention - Part 1

Assessing account potential naturally leads to assessing account retention. Account retention is based on customer happiness and happiness falls on a spectrum:

Unhappy --- Dissatisfied --- Satisfied --- Loyal

Unhappy customers actively shop for other options, so watch out for these warning signs.

• Fewer quotes come in and total volume decreases
• Access to the customer base decreases
• The flow of information about future projects dries up, and the salesperson is unaware of the customer's long-term plans
• The customer stops buying certain services altogether

More on account retention on Friday.

The Loyalty List

Take a piece of paper and divide it into two columns. In one column, list to your satisfied customers and in the other column, list your loyal ones. Study your list and try to decipher the reasons behind why certain customers are satisfied and others are loyal. As salespeople, it's our job to find ways to convert those who are satisfied into those who are loyal.

The Truth About Loyalty

Facebook + Loyalty Programs

I recently read a great article in Ad Age about how Facebook for established brands serves as a loyalty program rather than a customer-acquisition tool.

Check it out: http://adage.com/article/digital/brands-facebook-a-loyalty-program/229561/

Good reading and good selling!

KeFactors Friday: Customer Service or Bust

Years before the Great Recession, I was alarmed to see a change in behaviors: as if a strange malaise had overtaken the working world, most organizations were becoming indifferent and even punitive toward their customers. Incivility marked the way work was handled between internal customers.

During economic lean times, it’s easy to take an “every man for himself” attitude but a couple generations of consumers were altered by the recession.

My prediction? Recession-weary consumers would become exacting and more demanding about how they’re treated by their suppliers. This has come to pass.

“Relationship” and customer loyalty will be more important than ever. Your granddaddy’s “the customer is always right” has evolved—thanks to the Internet, social media, and m-commerce options—into questions like: How consistent is our branding?Do we have the right interaction mix so customers can easily find and stay engaged with us? Will our call center folks respond knowledgeably when queried by a customer who’s just pulled info off our Web site?

Ask not how to make the customer more accountable to you; ask how you can be more accountable to your customer. How easily can your employees see a profile of each customer they’re talking with? An associate told me he stayed with his mobility provider because even after he’d called to explain why payment would be late, they were understanding and never failed to thank him for 15 years of patronage. How well have we been using analytics to understand our customers’ values and purchasing behaviors?

Do you have a strategy for becoming a preferred supplier? Just getting enough work to make revenue goals is not enough. Customers are shopping for relationship now more than ever, and it takes a whole different set of ideas and behaviors to garner preferred supplier status than to merely “make nice” with one’s customers. How good’s our ability to give our customers an intelligent, customized response?