Lawrence Vijay Girard guest-writes for Loyalty 360's State of the Industry series:
Ever since the success of Henry Ford's assembly line, people have been trying to figure out systems that improve productivity. And certainly there is nothing more productive in business than the acquisition of loyal customers. So naturally the question presents itself: Is there a system that will nourish customer loyalty in my business?
The answer to this question is yes. But it might not be the yes that most people would expect. Let me explain.
We all know who makes the best food in the world: Mom does. It doesn't matter where you live or what type of food you eat, for most people, mom's cooking is best. Yet we know that not every mom is actually the world's greatest chef. Certainly you could attribute conditioning as a factor in this: you like to eat what you are used to eating. But we all know that the real reason is that mom puts her love and caring into the food as she cooks it. This is a very real part of life. And it isn't just about loving mom's food.
In the 1970's I lived in a rural part of northern California. The closest place to home where we could eat out was a small tourist café a few miles down the road. My friends and I often went there to eat. Inside that small café was a microcosm of how life works. The place was called Toki's and Toki was the smiling, friendly, caring, hard working, always wanting to please wife of a grumpy ex-military man who often pontificated- - whether you wanted to hear it or not -- narrow-minded views on politics while Toki did most of the work.
We often had a debate about whether we would go do eat at Toki's or we would drive 15 miles further into town. The thing is that we loved Toki and her cooking, but we couldn't stand her husband. And there you have it. Most businesses are places that consumers have love/hate relationships with. The secret is to grow the love and caring, and do what you can to get rid of the ugly stuff.
Here is another example of this truth.
It is quite clear that many repeat customers are the result of the number one truth in real estate: Location, Location, and Location. There is no question that convenience drives many customer decisions. I, like many other consumers, have often forgone the search for quality and low price in exchange for time. This is why gas stations sell food and drinks so successfully.
And speaking of food at the gas station, let me make an admission that will bear on our subject. Not long ago I watched an episode of a television show called Undercover Boss. In the show the head of a convenience food store chain went undercover in some of his company's franchise stores. He had discovered that one of the stores was selling a much larger volume of fresh coffee than any other store and he wanted to find out why that might be. In the store he discovered there was one particular person who took care of the coffee area. She was the coffee expert. The boss's first instinct was to look at her system. How did she arrange things? What physical thing was she doing that made such a difference? As customer after customer came in for coffee he noticed that while coffee was being sold, positive, caring, even loving, person-to-person communication was taking place. It didn't take long for the boss to realize that it was the person that was make a difference and not the system.
The truth is that it is always people that make a difference in how life goes. Even behind Henry Ford's assembly line there were people who came up with the ideas and people that made everything work. When robotics came along people were afraid they would make people obsolete. But history has shown us that behind every kind of success is a person. And the more sincerely interested and caring those people are toward their colleagues and their customers, the more imagination, innovation, energy, dedication and loyalty will be manifest by employees and customers alike.
I am not suggesting that systems are not valuable. But I am saying that any system that does not take into account the essential components of positive human interaction will never reach its highest potential.
Loyalty starts at home. Its basis is in our own sense of self: Who am I? Who do I want to be? Am I loyal to my own beliefs? Am I loyal to my family and friends? My community? My country? It is also a response to what we feel from others. We are most likely to be loyal to those who treat us right. And today, people are quick to turn against others because they have experienced so much of people not caring about people under the banner of: It is not personal, just business.
This subject is at the foundation of what I would consider one of the greatest crises in the world today. The truth is that people don't believe that most governments, leaders and even in many churches, actually care about the welfare of others, but only their own self-serving needs. The purpose of business is ultimately people serving people. Whenever we get away from that we start shooting ourselves in the feet and then wonder why we don't feel like walking.
Loyalty must start at the top. The fact is that many companies list as a part of their company philosophy, ideals that they don't actually practice. When CEO's don't just say they care about others, but live a life that proves it, then others all the way down the line are most likely to follow in kind. When management at all levels lives according to the truth that positive human values are the only lasting foundation for professional excellence, then loyalty, all the way down to the customer, has its greatest chance of flourishing.
Often you find, in spite of poor or mediocre leadership, there is a light that shines through an individual in a business, like the coffee lady, or like Toki who has been a lifelong friend. People will go out of their way, even if they have to pay more, to do business with friends. When we treat every customer the way mom treats us when she cooks, then loyalty, like the love of mom's cooking, will bring us back again and again.