When an agency meets some or all of our expectations we usually say that we're “satisfied.” When an agency goes a few steps further and exceeds our expectations by creating more value than we expected, we might then be “very satisfied” or even, “delighted.” As JoAnna Brandi illustrates in this document, research shows that it's only the customers in the group above the “satisfied” category that remain loyal over time.
On a flight home from Colorado yesterday I got a chance to catch up on some of my reading. One thing that I read really stuck in my mind and made me think: The statement that “Loyalty is dead.”
I don't buy into that idea. Loyalty might be harder to earn then ever before and might even be a thing of the past in companies that don't earn it. In companies that consciously and painstakingly set up processes and mechanisms for creating value for all of their stakeholders — customers, employees, stockholders, suppliers, and communities — loyalty is alive and well, and rewarding them with profits and repeat business.
It's easy to buy the concept that the customer is fickle and loyalty is dead because it frees us from the day-to-day responsibility of performing our due diligence in finding out how to serve our customer's needs more effectively.
As I travel around the country speaking about customer retention and loyalty, I routinely ask CEOs, VPs, and managers how often they get involved personally in asking customers and former customers how they might do business better. Here's what I have found from my informal research: Although many of these managers do speak to their customers, they tend, more often then not, to speak only to their best and biggest customers.
Focusing attention on 20% of the customers that bring them 80% of their business is important. However, I know that these managers are missing a tremendous opportunity by ignoring their smaller and less frequent buyers and, critically, the buyers who recently quit them. There's so much to learn from our customers (and employees) if only we would get in the habit of asking them.
Many companies would benefit tremendously if managers and customer contact people routinely asked such questions as, “How could we make it easier for you to do business with us?” or “What two things could we have done to make your experience with us better?”
Building long-term customer (and employee) loyalty is a process that involves listening carefully to learn our customers (and employee) expectations, how they're changing, and how successful we are at meeting and exceeding them. We all measure service by comparing what we expected with what we received.
My guess is that all your customers don't feel the same way that your top 20% do, and that you might be missing some wonderful opportunities to uncover unmet customer needs simply by talking to customers a little more. In addition to your annual customer surveys, have you designed easy-response customer feedback devices they can use to communicate to you regularly? Do you have feedback mechanisms in your billing statements, delivery boxes, promotional materials, and Web sites? Are each one of your telephone reps told to ask one basic question such as, “If there was one thing we could have done today to make the ordering process even easier for you, what would that be?”
I wish that more people would ask me this question, because I usually have something to say. If the woman who sold me a cellular phone today had asked me that question, I would've said, “You could've made sure that you had the right literature (and that the information was organized in a way that was understandable to the layperson). You could've listened more carefully to my particular needs. You could've asked me what price range I was most comfortable with, and where I would use the phone the most. And you could've let your last three phone calls go to voice mail so that we didn't have to be interrupted so much.”
To the salesperson who didn't sell me the cellular phone yesterday I would say, “You missed the sale by not asking my assistant my level of need (which was urgent) when she called for information. You could've faxed me something in larger than eight point type. You could've followed up the next day, rather than making me phone you back (you were on the phone when I called). If you'd called me back by 5:00 p.m. yesterday, I would've probably bought the phone from you.”
Oh well, you win some, you lose some.