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. So you walk into a store and it’s dark and cluttered. Wrong signal. The sales person ignores you or browbeats you. Wrong signal. The admin department is curt, rude, and difficult to deal with. It’s hard to get answers to questions. It’s hard to get resoltuion of problems.
These things might not kill a single purchase; some customers will navigate some negatives. But they aren’t likely to support loyalty-building BECAUSE OF THE SIGNAL, not the experience per se. This just isn’t my kind of place. I sure wouldn’t recommend it to my friends.
The idea of conducting your own loyalty-building audit is a solid idea. What are we doing right? What are we doing wrong? Then let’s busily address the “wrong.”
