Do we know too much?
I have just returned from yet another conference on loyalty, this time amongst high net-value customers, in Johannesburg. I begin to wonder why people are still flocking to these events, spending big money on being presented with … the obvious. All the tools are out there, ready-made or in need of some customization. All the knowledge is out there, too, plentiful. Yet companies, and particularly those attending the conferences, seem to look for a quick fix, this magical formula up there in marketing heaven.
Luckily, this latest conference made it patently obvious that this magical formula just doesn’t exist. Regardless of topic presented, the one message that came through again and again was: all that really matters is you! You, You and …. You!
Basic stuff, isn’t it? But how come this is the only aspect in our all-so-smart strategy that we never think of? Ourselves. How come all is in line and well prepared, turbo-charged to the extreme, and hype abound, yet we are the weakest link in the chain?
Scrap your fancy loyalty programmes, your elaborate strategies and all your other plans for increased market share, share of customer, share of wallet, scrap it! Scrap it all if you aren’t fit, if you don’t practice what you preach! In a market increasingly critical and cynical, your customer simply won’t believe you anymore if you once again tell her that you are to be trusted, yet proof of it is nowhere to be seen or found.
Funny that I mention that word: trust. It’s the same with respect and … loyalty. Once you mention it, you’re bust. Trust and respect — loyalty even more so — grow over time and are unspoken, unheard. Or would you trust someone who says, You can trust me? Would you trust anyone that creates a ‘loyalty programme’ — according to the gurus well-aimed at charging you more for your loyalty, rather than less — would you? Would you stay loyal to a company that rewards your loyalty by ripping you off? You wouldn’t. So why do we try it in the first place?
What’s that all to do with energy, you may ask? Well, if you stop lying to yourself, your body, mind and soul, you will automatically stop lying to your customers. And guess what? Business will flourish. Why? Because there aren’t many of you out there. But tying in with the above paragraph, enjoying loyalty may sometimes mean less business rather than more. At least this will be true for individual cases. However, the long-term prospects for new business through loyalty all point to the sky. And as you well know, the sky is the limit — but only if you are fit.
So do we know too much? Yes, we do. We know it all, yet fail time after time to recognize the basics of business, the basics of human life and social interaction, be it with customers our family. (Did you know that the only difference between customers and family is that the former pays you?)
Living and surviving in the new economy means getting back to the basics. It means getting physically and mentally fit, abstain from (social) drugs, and revive the one element we all seem to have lost: common sense. If we than apply that day in day out in our business, we will soon see that we can make more money, spend less time at the office, and still be held in high esteem by our customers, who, surprise, surprise, tend to be far more loyal to us than before. One wonders why.