Loyalty Will Forgive a Million Little Mistakes

I’m a big fan of Liza Minelli. (she’s brilliant in the above rendition of Irving Berlin’s I Love a Piano.)

And her mom was no slouch either (Judy Garland).  When I was younger people would say I looked like Liza; same short black hair styled to accent my eyes, big voice, and long legs.  Huge compliment!

I have recordings of Liza from when she was a child appearing on her mom’s television show, memories of her starring in Cabaret, and a variety of other albums and video recordings across her career.  She was a performer extraordinare.  She has my loyalty.  I am a fan.

So when I saw her this morning making her comeback on the View (she is actually performing in a one-woman show on Broadway) I stopped what I was doing to enjoy every note, every dramatic arm fling.

So how was she?  Well, her hair looks the same and she’s lost weight.  Her many face lifts resemble her younger look and her voice?  Shakey, a little flat and unable to sustain a long note.

However as a fan – I saw the vivacious performer selling a song I’ve always loved.  To my ears, she sounded fantastic.  Her song interpretation was dramatic and enjoyable. 

My loyalty glosses over any flat sounds and the fact that she can no longer kick her legs as high as she used to.

Loyalty forgives a million little mistakes.  Our customers are no different.  If they are loyal; they forgive a missed deadline, a faulty product or a sour note.  They want us to do good because of their memory of our past treatment and their faith in our future successes.  We earned their loyalty by taking the time to build a relationship, listen closely and effectively match the right products/services with their needs. 

How do you go about earning your customer’s loyalty?  Building a relationship with your customers no only leads to a great customer sale, referrals, return visits and (if we are having a bad day) a blind eye to our little mistakes. 

Make your customers a FAN!