In my spare time I make it a point to drive through the local mall and stroll within its hallways just looking at the endless lines of well instituted pubs and shops. I cannot help but read through most of their labels and brands. One thing I have continually noticed on countless occasions: their business logos which would bear the words “Established in ___ or Since ___.” Looking back at it now, I can only ask myself, how do they do that? Just how do they manage to put up a business then keep it through the years even through the centuries?
In the world of competitive trades and economics it is not a brilliant idea for a budding businessman to slash prices in half every time business opens. This is what one of our internet bloggers recently realized. He concluded, that it is impractical to lower your prices to assume a leverage of some sort from other business ventures as this will surely bring an untimely demise on your business endeavor. Instead, he insisted on keeping one trade secret: encouragement of service culture.
What is service culture all about? It is simply the expounded idea of the age-old rule: give and take. That is, a transaction is considered complete if the services your customers received are enough to motivate them to return. This is encouraging customer loyalty. Customers need to feel valuable. Once they are made to feel that they are needed and that they are important they will come back for more. That is human nature. Besides, loyal customers are the best publicity. As the saying goes:
“ Not only do loyal customers spend more, they also help your business to grow by bringing in more new customers. ”
Creating customer awareness, channeling your principal message and crafting customer loyalty takes time and effort. However with the help of service culture, these can be made effortless. It is best to keep in mind three important steps: first, determine a shared goal between the business and its customers. Second, maintain rapport. That is, keep an open communication. And third, generate positive feelings. Use compliments, and personalized messages to convey gratitude and appreciation. Don’t get me wrong, service culture is not present within the transaction level. It is seen during the time when customers are not with the business men and they are not well within the business area.
Looking back, I have reached a level of understanding about how brilliantly these established businesses created a group of customers and kept them loyal all these years. I can only imagine how intricately they have managed to weave three important factors: the establishment of a common goal, the introduction of an open communication and the building of rapport which are truly exquisite they have kept the business going. Trust, in its most fundamental sense of the word, is a indeed a product of loyalty. Customer loyalty is the key to win the ruthless competition in the alternate universe of a traders’ world.