What makes you loyal to a particular brand or product? When I ask this question, most people state that the act of being loyal (or loyalty) is building the trust of a reciprocal relationship. For example: You pay the money to buy the runners, and in return, the product will uphold its branded promise to make you run better, concentrate harder, get in the zone so you can be the best you can be while on your run, walk, jog or doing the sport. Over time, the brand has earned your loyalty by always delivering on its promise.

But this doesn’t happen just by luck. Over time, these brands have got to know you and know what you need and want. They have invested Millions of dollars to ensure their product matches your expectations.

Your customers want you to know them intimately, so you can deliver a product to them that they need and want. It would be a bonus if the product you presented to them saved them money in the long run, but if you’re tailoring your product to them, they’d be happy to pay more money for something that completely suits them. Put yourself in the same situation. If you had a ‘desired state’ and you came to me to get you there, you would pay money for me to help you, but if I couldn’t do the whole ‘job’, then you might think the money you spent was a waste. Alternatively, if I could offer you a solution, which may cost a little more, but you knew it would give you exactly what you came for, then you might feel better parting with your cash.

So, as I was saying, your customers want you to know them because then you’ll offer a product that will suit their needs.

How do you get to know them? By asking questions, great questions. Questions that will help your customer bring our information that is tailored to your product. For example, if you have a product or service that your customer used last year, you want to re-sell them a package for this year, instead of having your c concentrate on what went wrong last time, you want to know what you could change and do better this time.

“What did/didn’t you like about last year’s dinner?”

Vs

“If we could change anything about the dinner last time, what would it be?”

Or

“If you could design the ideal dinner for your delegates, what would it look like?”

You can see that you’re now getting your customers to open up about their hopes and dreams, rather than remembering what they didn’t like about the dinner. When you get the customers to open up, you now start to understand the actual value of their budget. You may now realise that they have a larger budget if they really want all of this in their dinner event.

Customer loyalty starts here; you’re allowed into their inner circle of trust. Sales is all about building trust and relationships with your customers. After all, people buy from people they like. Furthermore, trusted brands generate 2x profit from their loyal customers.

Not sure how to start practising the right mindset in your approach towards customer loyalty? Contact us here and we’ll get you moving!