By: Nathan Evans
In the hit NBC show The Office, there’s an episode where Dwight, the office manager’s slavish devotee, has a potential job offer at a competitor company. “I feel like what I’m getting paid for here is my loyalty,” he says. However, in an aside to the camera, Dwight intones gravely “But, if there was somewhere else that valued that loyalty more highly…I’m going wherever they value loyalty the most.”
Jokes aside, many of your customers may feel the same. You can build a business on manipulations (incentivizing people to buy your 
product or vote for you or share your content) but real loyalty comes from a totally different place. To get someone to complete not just one transaction with you, but two, five, twenty — to come back over and over and over — you have to have more than a nice jingle or a discounted price.
Loyalty is Crucial in Downturns
Southwest Airlines has a reputation for low-cost flights and having fun on the job. In the months and years following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York City, airlines were mauled by a drop in flights and extra security measures. Several airlines filed for bankruptcy. Southwest, on the other hand, was receiving personal checks from people all across the country. Completely unbidden, Americans who liked Southwest’s LUV-ing spirit, were satisfied with their low-cost flights, and admired their way of doing business (or could we sum all that up as loyalty?), were sticking by the company in their hour of need.
That’s loyalty you cannot buy, trick or manipulate.
How does one foster this kind of loyalty?
- Be authentic. What that means is that every choice you make, every product or service your company puts out, should be in line with why your company exists. As Simon Sinek says in his book Start With Why, “people don’t buy what you do…they buy why you do it.” You can review our Get Smart Group “Why” HERE Â
- Treat customers like people. We’ve all had that customer service person who really made us feel special — so special we went online and wrote a review, or told friends about it. When customers stop being potential marks or conversions and start being living, breathing people we do business with, they will see us as more than vending machines.
- Be respectable. Think back to a mentor, teacher, boss, or friend who you’d walk to hell and spit through the gates for. Loyalty is the word, but your respect for them is the why. If your customers don’t respect you, they won’t stick with you when someone else offers them BOGO.
One-Offs vs. Long-time Relationships
Some businesses are transaction-based. There isn’t much point in fostering loyalty among voters when you’re running for President, which is why candidates can make all kind of campaign promises (the business term is manipulations) and get away with them. On the other hand, business that rely on repeat customers cannot afford to engage in one-off sales tactics. Take a look at the manipulations the U.S. car manufacturers were using before the 2008 financial crisis. They work in the short-term, but when times got tough, car-buyers weren’t mailing in free checks to GM saying “hey, you were there for me.”
If you’re not fostering loyalty, all you’ve got is a bunch of Dwights.
Are we giving you the kind of loyalty you expect? Shoot us an email and let us know how we are doing.
