Cultivating love is the number one customer loyalty and retention strategy for any business. Tim Sanders said so in his first book, Love is the Killer App, and I said so in both of my books (and in all my speeches). We’re not making this up, you know, and, in fact, the L-Word is becoming more and more pervasive in the overall business discussion.
Case #1: Look at these articles in FastCompany (and note the title of the section–hint: it’s right after “2006 Customers First Awards”).
Case #2: Read Mike Sansone’s post about his love affair with Panera Bread.
Case #3: Think about this comment posted by Mark Fechner in another section of this site (under “Provide Proof”), which says, in part…
“I’ve [also] been using Love in my communications with clients and I’m starting to see the proof that this actually works. As an example, I’m flying to Las Vegas for a trade show and sent out a mass e-mail to invite previous trade show attendees to a company sponsored reception at the event. Would you believe that I’ve gotten nearly a 6% response to that e-mail? And that’s just one e-mail. I can’t wait to use the principles in both books for the face to face interaction that will happen during the show.”
Yep, love is in the air. And it’s becoming increasingly clear that your customers will either love you,
or they’ll leave you.
What are you doing about it?
Phil Gerbyshak says
09/08/2006 at 1:19 pmGreat topic Steve! I try to call my best customers at least once a month to check in and make sure there is nothing we could do better for them. Often they give us great suggestions. We also have a posting of each member of my team, with a casual smile, posted to our intranet so people know who they’re talking to when they call us, and they know we are real people who really care about them.
A handwritten thank you never hurts either.
Larry Hendrick says
09/09/2006 at 7:18 amSteve, the first time I heard you say this on the teleconference, and put it into context, I thought, WOW! Why didn’t I think of that. It’s the perfect concept, if followed, for customer loyalty. Just a little bit of love goes a long way. Great job!
ann michael says
09/15/2006 at 3:52 pmHi Steve – great post.
In case anyone is really interested in Tim Sanders (Love is the Killer App). There is an article you can read on the Fast Company site:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/55/love.html
And Tim has a blog now (just started last month):
http://sanderssays.typepad.com/sanders_says/
(Mike Sansone’s Panera story has me ready to abandon Starbucks. I tested Panera coffee this weekend and I was not disappointed!!!)
Phil Gerbyshak says
09/08/2006 at 9:19 pmGreat topic Steve! I try to call my best customers at least once a month to check in and make sure there is nothing we could do better for them. Often they give us great suggestions. We also have a posting of each member of my team, with a casual smile, posted to our intranet so people know who they’re talking to when they call us, and they know we are real people who really care about them.
A handwritten thank you never hurts either.
Larry Hendrick says
09/09/2006 at 3:18 pmSteve, the first time I heard you say this on the teleconference, and put it into context, I thought, WOW! Why didn’t I think of that. It’s the perfect concept, if followed, for customer loyalty. Just a little bit of love goes a long way. Great job!
ann michael says
09/15/2006 at 11:52 pmHi Steve – great post.
In case anyone is really interested in Tim Sanders (Love is the Killer App). There is an article you can read on the Fast Company site:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/55/love.html
And Tim has a blog now (just started last month):
http://sanderssays.typepad.com/sanders_says/
(Mike Sansone’s Panera story has me ready to abandon Starbucks. I tested Panera coffee this weekend and I was not disappointed!!!)