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.

This is likely true: it’s harder today to get attention than back in some prior era’s good old days. BUT, we have communication tools they didn’t have. It’s tough to overcome customers’ excessive focus on price when battling a tough economy; but somewhere in every bad economy is a new chance to serve in a new way. People need to spend money smarter, not cheaper per se; and in that truth lies opportunity.

Is loyalty dead? No. Is it harder work than it used to be? Probably so. So what should we do? Complain about the passing of the good old days, or work harder to find and execute creative ways to build loyalty? What are the steps?

- Execute flawlessly

- Care obviously

- Communicate regularly

- Serve creatively

- And never let ‘em see you sweat; even when times are tough.

 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.”

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.

On the face of it, neither position seems unreasonable, but the world is a competitive place. He found a site that had meticulously listed the brands and model numbers of virtually every hot tub known to man. The buyer’s job was to deliver the right brand/model, not precisely measure the hot tub. And the rest of the hero-company’s website felt friendly and provided a host of helpful information.

They were not the lowest price, although competitive; and they easily earned his business. Why? It felt like he would have a caring partner AFTER the sale … which would be one of the emotional keys that support loyalty building. The other competitors created this emotion: “Wow, if they’re that hard on me when I’m not even a customer yet, how would they treat me if they had my money?”

Obviously we need common sense policies. But it’s painfully common to penalize all future prospective customers because of the misdeeds of a handful of unreasonable customers. Client Path mentality would argue for declaring those losses a cost of PR or Marketing and maintaining a cheerful, helpful attitude toward the good folks.

But what if the sales process is really obnoxious?

On reflection, this is a common situation, and companies make their own strategic decisions — or maybe just let it happen without thought. 

My wife and I went shopping for a flat screen digital TV. We tried a couple discounters where prices were good, but help was dismal; and we felt the need for some information to make a solid decision. So I said, “Let’s go to _______________ (prominent area electronics retailer that promotes itself as a place where top-notch professionals help you make good decisions).”

On the sales floor, our guy began well. He asked a couple questions about where the TV would be located, how far away our viewing chairs were…seemed like good, customer-oriented salesmanship. But then he launched, unprovoked, into a highly technical discussion about the differences between the two primary alternatives. (I think he was pitching LCD, but I’m a bit fuzzy on the technical side). Whichever it was, we soon headed toward its part of the store; whereupon he launched into rationale for our needing at least a 47″ TV, maybe 52″, but surely not the pathetic little thing we had been considering. 

Bottom line: at the discount place, the pathetic little thing looked okay to us and cost about $475. Now we were looking at alternatives ranging from $1250 up. We tried to rein him in. “Listen, we aren’t communicating,” I tried to explain. “This is for our hearth room. It’s small. It’s where we do our casual viewing. If we want to do any heavy-duty watching, we go to the basement where our big-screen is. We can shop this area when it’s time to replace the big guy.”

He pressed on, apparently not wanting to wait until our big screen conked out. I told him, “Whoa,” that we were more in the $500 price range, and were pretty sure we could be happy there. He pressed on,  eventually telling us that he couldn’t really live with himself if he sold us a piece of junk like that, and (by inference, not very veiled) we were a pitiful pair if we could possibly consider it. 

At that point, I lost a bit of my Irish temper and walked off, heading toward the parking lot, leaving my wife alone and unprotected with a guy who had just earned my vote as worst sales person I’ve ever encountered. She joined me in the parking lot, a bit miffed at me, asking “What was that all about?” But upon review of the experience, she sided with my judgment if not my chosen style of exit. 

Here, though, is the key question: Is that well-known retailer using good judgment? Their tactic was clear, and I don’t doubt that the sales guy’s approach was consistent with the strategy: Sell up, and sell hard.  It’s high-risk, I would argue. If it works, I hopefully become satisfied through time, maybe even loyal; because the high-priced TV was, indeed, higher resolution and might delight me after the pain of $800 extra wore off.

But if the tactic failed, which it did in our case, the odds are EXTREMELY high that I’ll never set foot in that store again, and I’ve already told the story several times, not counting this time. So the odds of my ever becoming a loyal customer have declined to near zero; I’m spewing negative word-of-mouth; and I once thought highly enough of them to seek them out for help.

For my money, selling that strong is not a good idea.

Epilogue: We drove straight to Fry’s, spent $439, and are very happy with the product.

   What’s your view?

Not-for-profits often utilize volunteers, and the value of Client Path Thinking is equally clear; striving to increase engagement and personal investment, in the hopes of eventually having an active recruiter of new volunteers.

And of course many non-profits, like their business counterparts, serve individuals or organizations and strive for an increasingly closer, more valuable relationship. So, on reflection, the Client Path concept may apply better–at least across more categories of relationships–than is the case in many businesses.

As we stress regularly, all of this is meaningless theorizing unless someone tailors a communication plan accordingly and makes it happen. The micro-marketing concept certainly makes it possible; and common sense says that we should speak to a ten year veteran differently from a newcomer.

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.

There are a variety of possibilities, some easier than others:

- Just assumptively ask for the information at the start of the selling process, as if it’s simply part of the way you do business. Some browsers may balk, and you need to decide how hard to press; but many will provide the information, and some browsers will pre-qualify themselves as not really very interested if they won’t make themselves known to you. The “just ask” approach is particularly valid if the early selling process involves some investment of work (say sketches by a designer). In that case, a valid Prospect should provide information as a reasonable quid quo pro, and refusal is likely a valid reason to declare this Prospect as less than solid gold.

-Ask for the information at the end of the selling process, if it’s clear a sale on’t be made. There can be a variety of plausible reasons: “Can I stay in touch with you in case some new products (features/whatever) become available?” “Can I stay in touch with you in case there’s any kind of change in price (terms/whatever?” Or simply “Can I put you on our mailing list, just to stay in touch?”

-Also effective can be a financial incentive: “Can I put you on our mailing list?” We have a monthly drawing for a free ________; and you’ll know about all our special offerings.”

Some business people — even some sales people — are uncomfortable in this process, but it’s best to find ways to overcome the reluctance. There is solid gold invested; and there is a real chance for improved marketing efficiency and revenue. If you have a sales team, an incentive for “most mailing list signups” can help overcome shyness!

The argument becomes more compelling if we think about some of the things that may be happening with our lapsed prospect.

- There might be some good old-fashioned cold feet that leads to unnecessary paralysis. The right kind of communication, perhaps offering more information, or an offer to discuss further, or an affordable incentive will thaw the cold feet.

- There is OFTEN competitive issues at play. We might have misread the Prospect’s actual need, perhaps selling an alternative more expensive than they needed, and a competitor read it right and has beaten our price. In this case — especially if there is real interest in dealing with us — the follow up can offer a chance to readjust our offer and price, and save the deal.

- The Prospect may simply take longer to decide things than makes sense to us; a lot of people are like that, especially in tight economic times. If so, patience and continuing touch keeps us at the front of the list when the buy time is right. Even if we’re in a dead heat with a competitive alternative, our continuing display of interest can give the competitive edge that makes the difference.

Bottom line: there are an enormous number of good reasons to stay in touch with lapsed Prospects. Yet few do! It’s an opportunity.

At the end of our fervant one or more touch selling process, one of two things happen. The prospect buys, or the prospect slips away. And here’s where, in a Client Path Marketing sense, common sense can take a hike. It’s very possible, depending on costs of advertising, sales force, selling materials, showroom, etc. etc. that we have major bucks invested in that prospect; indeed, visualize a solid gold human being.

But often (very often) that solid gold person walks away, and we invest a new pile of gold in advertising, selling, etc. etc. to try to attract a new wave of solid gold prospects.

Surely it makes more sense to invest a few bucks in staying in touch with the “lapsed prospect” (a common Client Path Marketing stage when we help people define their processes). And today’s technology makes various kinds of personalized touches both possible and affordable.

I know think this is the second most common marketing flaw in Small Business USA. We’ll talk the most common soon.

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!

Our credit union wins a brand new customer who has been attracted by one of several available product lines. Step one is Warm Welcome to a new customer, accomplished by a personalized postcard that also seeks immediate satisfaction feedback. In my experience with small business consulting, this very basic step is often overlooked; bad for two reasons:

- A great chance for planting the seed of loyalty is missed. People enjoy being appreciated, and a simple expression of thanks is basic but effective.

- If anything went wrong with the first transaction — from minor to major — an early touch and a request for satisfaction feedback provide the opportunity to learn of the problem and to rectify it. Of course a problem with the initial transaction is a setback in the search for long-term loyalty, but it keeps you in the game, and if smoothly handled it can show that you are an unusually customer-oriented company.

Here’s an important reminder: people know that things go wrong now and then. The mere fact there’s a problem does not doom us. In fact, the way that winners differentiate themselves is often in how they handle the problem: no quibbling over right and wrong; no haggling over a few bucks; just be sure that a potentially unhappy person is as happy as possible.

It can be the stuff of long-term relationships; even word-of-mouth positives in the face of a potential negative.

Next blog: The next step: Up-sell / cross-sell.