Divided loyalties
You must win their hearts and minds
By Allan J. Katz
Customer loyalty is dead!
In fact, the current research shows that the average consumer belongs to four
competing loyalty programs at any given time. In the beginning they were able
to create a competitive advantage, but that has long disappeared.
Today loyalty programs all look alike and those that are different aren't
creating enough differential to separate themselves from their competitors.
Yet, the focus today must still be on the customer. To retain the right customer
become aware of the five leverage points in the sales cycle.
What drives customers today to your drycleaning plant instead of your
competitors is exceptional customer service. Research by the Loyalty Marketing
Institute shows that good customer service does not build loyalty.
When a drycleaning customer has a problem and you resolve it to their
satisfaction, you build loyalty. Problem-solving successfully builds loyalty,
not just good customer service.
Acquire the right customers
Every drycleaner today wants to acquire new high value customers and retain
them. But who are they? What drives the high value customer today?
They appreciate exceptional, not just good customer service. They enjoy a sense
of community; a feeling that they are a part of your business, by the way you
communicate with them. They love it when you delight them with unadvertised
specials.
According to Pam Danziger, author of Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses As Well As the Classes, “Companies need to embrace a customer-centric definition of luxury. They want
specialness, something they can be involved in. The reason they dig deeper into
their pockets is because they have an expectation of superior quality,
workmanship and design. But at the end of the day they want something that is
special to them.”
Qualify the right customers
People qualify customers differently. Some people simply look at what a customer
is spending today.
Others see the potential of a long term relationship; a third simply look for
the most prestigious customers. Still others look for customers who will become
enthusiastic about their service and recommend you to anyone who will listen.
It goes back the 80/20 rule. Eighty percent of your business comes from 20
percent of your customers.
So if you’re not weighing your customers as accurately as you’re weighing your laundry, you’re headed for trouble. Business as usual does not build loyalty.
Convert the right customers
You have to stand for something. Be different, maybe even outrageous, and that
will set you apart from the competition. Forward thinking drycleaners today are
getting on the “green” bandwagon, giving proceeds to charities important to their local communities
and empowering employees to assist in these efforts.
Keep the right customers
There are two types of customer personalities. One is the indifferent
personality, people who look at buying as a chore. These people want the best
payoff between price and convenience.
The second personality type is the engaged personality, people who pursue an
outcome of your service as something meaningful and valuable to them.
To keep the right customers, your advertising message and the culture of your
company must exude this meaningful and valuable difference. Quite a task, don’t you think?
Multiply the right customers
Customers climb the loyalty ladder, each on a different rung reaching for that
exceptional customer experience that will elevate them to Advocate status — the highest rung on your ladder, the place where the 20 percent of high-value
customers live.
Creating advocates happens when companies create an opportunity for the customer
to have an emotional experience, when your service is meaningful enough for
them to recommend and talk about, beyond just getting something because it’s a chore. And that requires a trust relationship focused on issues.
Allan J. Katz, aka The Loyalty Coach, helps drycleaners attract new customers
and keep them loyal. He is the author of the Ultimate Marketing System for Dry
Cleaners, a complete marketing system for attracting and keeping customers at
www.CleanerMarketingResults.com. A free white paper on “Attracting New Customers and Keeping Them Loyal without Constant Discounting” is available on his website or by calling his office (901) 435-0424.
