Is Loyalty Dead?

When I was a young guy working in a large corporation, the old-timers were always saying, “Things sure aren’t like they were in the good old days; back then you could build relationships and they would last” (or words to that effect).

A few decades later, I was listening to an old-timer complain that “Loyalty is dead as a door-nail…nothing like the old days.” Here’s an educated guess: a few decades from now somone will be complaining about the passing of the good old days. So here’s some common sense truth: today is tomorrow’s good old days, and we’d better make the best of it. AND someone today is figuring out exciting ways to build serious loyalty, not just with the new-fangled like Twitter and Facebook, but also in well established fields.

Loyalty Building is a State of Mind!

In my previous post, I wondered whether obnoxious selling can hurt the overall loyalty-building process. Of course it can. Loyalty is earned through time by sending all the right signals. This is a place that treats me right, gives me good value for my money, solves problems if they come up. In short, they’re my kind of people doing business in a way I appreciate.

Sending Every Wrong Loyalty Signal

A friend’s story is a great reminder that every touch is part of the Client Path process, and our efforts to protect ourselves from problems may create problems of their own:

He needed to replace a hot-tub cover, and used google search to develop a set of eight potential sources. He quickly grasped that the universe of hot-tub cover suppliers includes some truly gunshy people (no doubt based on prior real-life horror stories of their own). These suppliers linked two concepts: The responsibility to provide desired dimensions is yours; and if you mess up the dimensions, you’re paying us anyway, buddy.

Can Selling Strategy Kill Hope for Loyalty?

I had a personal experience that delivered a Client Path angle I hadn’t thought of. Prior general assumption: Selling is selling, and its goal is attaining a new customer. At that point, loyalty building should take over as a primary focus, eventually delivering the new customer to the lofty ground of steady customer, even word-of-mouth advocate.

But what if the sales process is really obnoxious?

Not-for-Profit Fits the Methodology

We launched Client Path Marketing on the assumption it would be ideal methodology for small business marketing, and our terminology has leaned toward business-sector lingo. But the CPM approach works well for any organization that pursues relationships that gain value through time. The non-profit search for donor support is a perfect example: beginning with Strangers, moving to active Prospects, then first-time donors…hopefully on their way to enthusiasts for the cause that inspire others to give.

Throwing away Gold, Part 3: Data Capture

Our previous two posts have argued the great illogic of spending major bucks to develop Prospects (visualize solid gold people) and allowing them to drift away if we fail to close during our normal selling process.

Note an important truth. to achieve systematic follow-up, we must have actionable marketing data: name, address, email. For some businesses, this information arrives routinely as part of the getting acquainted process; insurance, real estate, etc. Businesses that make estimates and sales calls at the Prospect’s home have no problem. For many B2B companies, the information can flow naturally as part of an information-request process (perhaps a web-form) or is accessible on the Internet. But if this contact information is not easily available, and if we realize that these Prospects are solid gold, we’ve got to find a way to capture it.

Thowing away Gold, Part 2

The previous blog talked about the logic flaw of investing major bucks in attracting new Prospects rather than investing a few bucks to stay in touch with those that eluded our initial, “official” selling process. The math is compelling: depending on industry we can spend a hundred, perhaps several hundred, dollars to generate a real live active Prospect – solid gold. Statistically, that Prospect, even if “lapsed” rather than closed on a timely basis, is much more likely to buy than any of the Strangers we’ll soon be expensively advertising to. Surely a few more bucks to stay in touch makes sense.

Throwing away Solid Gold

We wouldn’t do it on purpose, right? But for a remarkable range of small businesses, it happens every single day. Here’s the marketing scenario: We advertise expensively to bring people into our store (or into whatever our active selling process might be). We sell fervantly; trying our best to close the deal. Often this is a single encounter on a retail floor or in the prospect’s home or office; sometimes it’s a two+ set of touches designed to close the sale.

Case Study, Part 2: Up-sell / Cross-sell

In the previous blog, we talked about a two part process of enhancing the relationship with a first-time customer. Part 1 was an official Thank You, accompanied by an active effort to secure satisfaction feedback; with appropriate corrective action if necessary.

Our case study company offers a variety of products and services; the new customer has purchased only one.  Part 2 is a time-phased communication campaign (in this case also executed with personalized postcards) that communicates one up-sell  / cross-sell opportunity per communication.

It is remarkably common, and painful, to have long-time customers say, “I didn’t know you do that (sell that, etc.).” The systematic communication of additional offerings addresses this possibility, generating two obvious benefits:

- A deeper, more entrenched customer relationship.

- More revenue!

Launching a Customer Relationship

My company’s roll as small business marketing consultant yields opportunities to help implement the live programs that separate Client Path Marketing from raw theory. It’s an action concept, with action based on finding ways to make the journey between Stranger and Loyalist more efficient. We’re working with a credit union that has a marketing opportunity that it shares with a variety of companies in a variety of industries: