Customer Loyalty: Not Something We Can Assume

Picture in your mind your favorite shopping experience.  It might have been the look of the store, the merchandise, the sales person or the fact that you finally fit into that smaller size.  Whatever the reason, you look back on that experience and it puts a smile on your face.  In fact, you enjoyed spending your money there so much, that you plan to go back again. 

Now think about the worst experience you’ve ever had:  never acknowledged in the store, a missed deadline, product or service wasn’t what you expected.  I’ll bet you felt you spent too much money, right?  The value wasn’t there.

Now think about your customers.  Which experience do you want them to have in your place of business? 

Whether you work in a retail store, or provide financial, legal, or real estate services, you sell exercise equipment, piece of mind or makeup – we can all point to a client or customer that we’ve worked with that everything just clicked.  Am I right? 

They say things like:  that was the best ever.  Or – you were a life saver.  Or – you made it seem so easy.

That is the beginning of customer loyalty.  Just the beginning.

You see we all have competition vying for that customer that we so desperately want to help.  Depending on your customer’s buying cycle, it may be two weeks or two years before they require your help again.  In the meantime, they may have forgotten your name or even get your location confused with another similar business.

What do you do to stand out in your customer’s mind so they remember the experience, refer you to their friends and then they return for more?

How can you EARN your customer’s loyalty?