Gift Basket Business Blog

Are Gift Basket Professionals Loyal to Their Customers?

January 17th, 2010 at 08:30pm Lorie Obernauer

In the January, 2010 issue of Target Marketing, author Denny Hatch points out the internet, and social networking in particular, has made all businesses more vulnerable in terms of  customer satisfaction. Nowadays, customers can voice their delight and displeasure  with a particular company in an instant through Facebook and other social media web sites.I just heard a story on National Public Radio last week about something similar: ski resorts, that used to advertise about “great conditions on the slopes” have to now be very careful about their reports…anyone on the slopes can transmit real-time ski conditions to their friends and millions of others! If the “real experience” doesn’t match the advertisements, skiiers will stop showing up!

So what’s this have to do with loyalty? When we hear about “loyalty” in the business arena, we most often think about whether our customers are loyal to us. Recently, I overheard a business owner talk about how a long time customer had “left them” to buy a product for a nickel less from a competitor.

But according to Michael Schrage (Financial Times, May 1, 2007), maybe we shouldn’t be talking about whether our customers are loyal to us, but if we are loyal to them.  Are we doing the best we can to offer the best value, product and price? Have we gone the extra mile to resolve a problem for a customer? Based upon research conducted by a hotel chain, it was found that “their most persuasive ‘word of mouth’ support comes more from individuals who have had an unpleasant problem happily resolved than those who simply enjoyed ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ service. The willingness and ability to see a difficult situation through to success despite cost and risk is what defines loyalty.”

So maybe we need to stop talking about how loyal our customers are to us and concentrate on what we can do to demonstrate our loyalty to them. Providing consistently good service (which includes such simple things as being polite and respectful), offering products at a fair price and taking care of problems in a timely, positive manner would be a great place for us to start.

Entry Filed under: Business Tips, Customer Service