Loyalty is arranging a four-hour layover at Dulles Airport to ensure ample time to rent a car and drive roughly thirty minutes to the House of Dynasty restaurant for a favorite dish. Of course with nearly three hours before the connecting flight you not only have time for a leisurely lunch, you also can take an order to go. Making your fellow passenger’s stomachs growl is a great way to break the monotony of a long flight!
Are you loyal to a particular brand or business? Would you go out of your way and past a competitor with a lower price for a more professional, pampered or personalized experience? What makes people so loyal, willing to pay more and go farther? Anyone can copy a product and build good quality, it is really the service that makes the difference.
This post was featured on the Carnival of Personal Finance hosted by the fabulous MoneyRelations. Please follow the link to see a bunch of other great articles on personal finance.
Some companies do a better job of serving their customers well and building long-term relationships. My observations suggest that companies which not only provide for your needs, but exceed your expectations gain the highest levels of loyalty. With loyalty comes a greater level of customer retention, finances (lower costs, higher sales and profits), and stronger growth.
If a company can improve performance, generate more sales and drive more customer growth by creating loyal customers, can you?
With few exceptions most of us have many customers. As an employee we have an ethical obligation to serve our chain of management, the owners and or shareholders. Your boss, in a way, is your customer. The better job you do the more likely he is to be loyal to you. With loyalty comes greater levels of customer retention (job security), finances (income), and stronger growth (career path).
Our co-workers are our customers. We provide a service to them and support them in their roles. Better service results in greater levels of customer retention (relationships), finances (opportunities), and stronger growth (networking).
We also work to provide for the care and comfort of our loved-ones, so in a sense, they too are customers. Serving our family better results in greater levels of customer retention (relationships), finances (earning, saving and investing), and stronger growth.
Like a business we can and should strive to better serve our customers. We can make the effort to learn more about each one, their wants and desires, and work towards helping them achieve their goals and objectives.
Like a business that caters to their customers to gain greater levels of loyalty, we can gain loyalty too. Friends, family and coworkers will work harder for you if you work harder for them. With loyalty from a boss you have greater job security and opportunity for advancement. With loyalty from friends you have someone to help you move the heavy furniture or play a game of ball with. With loyalty from family, you have partners that work with you to achieve personal goals.
Investing in your relationships, both personal and professional, like a good business would invest in their customers, will pay dividends in your future.
Readers: Are there any companies that you are crazy loyal to and why? How about the people in your life, are they really loyal to you? Would they go out of their way for you? If not, what are you going to do about it?
If you like to be challenged to see things with a fresh perspective, if you like to learn new ideas and different concepts, sign up for my RSS feed or enter your email address here to receive updates directly to your in-box.
photo by Andrew R. Whalley
Full Disclosure: This is not a paid post! I really do love House of Dynasty that much!
Daily Yakezie Short Carnival
Graduate Debt Free! by BibleDebt
6 Ways to Find Free Money by Redeeming Riches
Why You Shouldn’t Pay for your Lottery Ticket with Your Credit Card by Young and Thrifty
These posts have been chosen as one of their best post by the bloggers who submitted them or hand selected. Please check out each of them and let me know what you think!
So are you getting ready to start a business? This is all good timing for me anyway–it will have me thinking.
As a customer, I’m fairly fickle unless someone really wins me over. Usually, that happens by being excellent at a reasonable (not necessarily cheap) price and then being happy to do it. There was a restaurant in the town we used to live in that was like this. They realized that people were suffering from ‘hard times’ and they started a happy hour and made sure to keep some simple, cheap dishes on the menu. The owner would sit out front at one of the tables and said “hello” every single time we went by–she remembered us–she remembered everyone.
They were full every-time I went in there. Once I even saw an entire family have grilled cheese for lunch. My husband and I began to see this bar/cafe as an asset to our village–because, hey, what is a village in France without its cafe? So we broke our generally frugal habit of not eating out or going out for drinks just to make sure the business stayed in good steads.
.-= Simple in France´s last blog ..Value of Education at SIF and Money Funk =-.
I think I am exteremely loyal to Palm. In fact, when I found out they were bought out yesterday, I breathed a sign of relief because I now feel more comfortable buying another one of their phones. I guess I couldn’t imagine keeping track of everything without my palm. I know it is somewhat sad but somewhat reaffirms one of your point… Loyalty is a powerful thing. It most certainly can get one to part with his or her money.
.-= Roshawn @ Watson Inc´s last blog ..A Secret Weapon To Your Financial Plan =-.
@Simple in France – I am always thinking of business; mine, yours, a new one or a dead one. I am fascinated by the variety of business models and ideas out there!
What a great story about the cafe. It illustrates how a good business actually has a symbiotic relationship with its community, otherwise it will kill off its customer base.
@Roshawn – I once saw a government study that indicated it is 15 times cheaper and 5 times more profitable on average to serve a repeat client than to conquest a new one. I have always doubted the “5 times” especially, but I do believe a loyal customer will spend more and spend more often.
For me it’s not loyalty as much as it is familiarity and a sense of “good enough, so why bother”.
.-= Early Retirement Extreme´s last blog ..The first step out of consumerism =-.
@Jacob – Interesting perspective and something we don’t consider enough in business and marketing. Often people patronize businesses that are simply the path of least resistance. And sometimes employers keep employees because it is easier than getting a new one.
Being in the business of you, making yourself stand out may not pay off at times, but when it does will make the effort worthwhile.
I read recently that Gen Y employees were more loyal to their soft drink brand than their employer. It’s important to remember that loyalty works both ways.
[…] from Eliminate the Muda presents Money and Loyalty , and says, “To be successful in life maybe we need to take a page from business and build […]
[…] from Eliminate the Muda presents Money and Loyalty , and says, “To be successful in life maybe we need to take a page from business and build […]