You’re a loyal customer and you keep shopping at a certain store because you are loyal and you love the way they treat you. You come back and you spread word-of-mouth about the company because you have been a loyal customer for years. Picture that company (or more than one company) in your mind right now…you know who they are.
But today is different…you just got slapped (not physically of course) by your favorite company! When you went to see the business today, they had a big banner on their door (and on their website and social channels) that said…
“First time customers take an extra 20% off and get a free gift with your first purchase.”
When you see it do don’t really react to it at first since it is pretty common place today. But then it hits you right in the face…you are their best and most loyal customer and the one they count on day in and day out to help their business grow…and you don’t get this discount??? What is up with that…are they really saying they will reward you more if you have never paid them a dime than if you have paid them thousands of dollars over many years? You try to calm yourself down by saying, “This can’t be right…there must be an even better reward for existing loyal customers and I must have missed it…I better ask.”
So you ask about it and get the most common response in the market today, “Oh I’m sorry, that offer is ONLY AVAILABLE to new customers.” You understand that this particular offer is for just new customers, so you then say, “No problem I understand that’s your offer for new customers but I am an existing loyal customer so I was curious what my reward is because I’m sure it will be better than your offer to someone who has never spent a dime with you.” Then you get the blank stare of deer in headlights and they say…
“I’M SORRY, THERE IS NO REWARD FOR YOU, OUR MOST LOYAL CUSTOMER.”
While this example might sound ridiculous…it actually happens all the time in both B2B and B2C companies…every single day. And I would venture a guess that it either is or has most likely occurred in your own business!
Marketing departments are notorious for creating this situation…because they are charged with “finding new and more” rather than “leveraging” existing loyal customers. Their primary goal is ACQUISITION, not RETENTION and WORD-of-MOUTH. They are focused more on casting the nets to the wide open ocean and bringing in more fish of any kind…as long as it’s more fish…and leadership has charged them with this activity.
From my perspective, both as a strategic advisor and a customer, this sucks! This is just flat out wrong and is actually insulting when you think about it for very long.
But what if leadership had a different plan…
What if instead of telling marketing and the organization to just get more fish, leadership said, “Identify our best customers, the ones we have created our business to serve, and find ways to reward them and design ways for them to bring in more of their peers that are JUST LIKE THEMSELVES.”
This is called “leveraging your most valuable asset…your customers…to help you do your marketing.” All of a sudden the game changes.
No longer are you hunting for anyone with a dollar bill hanging out of their pocket, you are nurturing, building, and leveraging your most valuable assets…your customers. You are investing in your most established and proven asset. The net result is that you will see a greater return in profitability because your overall “acquisition costs” will go down, revenues go up and profit goes up.
And besides making your business more profits you will be making your loyal and dedicated customers even happier. They will see all the things you are doing to help make their lives better and that you are putting all your attention into finding better and more creative ways to help them in their lives. As a result, they will not only give you back more money, they will bring others with money to you…at no additional cost because you didn’t have to spend marketing dollars to acquire them. You invested in your customer and they became part of your team to help market the company.
Now your existing, most loyal customers, your advocates won’t be hearing the most dreaded words companies say today… “I’m sorry, this offer isn’t for you, it’s only for new customers.” When companies stop thinking this way and reinvest over and over again in their most proven asset, the game changes. Which game is your company playing…constant acquisition of new customers with exclusive deals…or rewarding your most loyal and trusted advocates, your customers?
