Customer loyalty? Yeah right!

Customer loyalty is a rare commodity I'm starting to believe. From what I've seen what is more common is customers picking the brains of salespeople making those salespeople unpaid consultants. Has this been your experience too? -Thomas

Customer loyalty is a huge factor for automotive sales. Key part is making yourself stand out from ALL other sales people. Do something to set you apart so they remember you and like doing business with you. I have customers that have been enticed by the competition on the same type of unit for 2-3k less then what I was selling it for and still buy from me because 1) they were loyal and 2) they loved the service. -jrboyd

Instead of "customer" let's use "prospective customer". In the world of automobile sales are prospective customers loyal or is that the exception not the rule? -Thomas

Thomas

Wouldn't a 'prospective customer' be someone that has yet to purchase from you. They couldn't be considered loyal until they repeat purchase! jrboyd's point I think, was that people buy from people they like, trust and remember, not necessarily the cheapest.

There is certainly such a thing as 'customer loyalty'. The 'offering' (service, value, product, price, support) is one component that impacts it. -marky

On a daily basis I am lucky to meet a client who was rfeferred to us. Each client starts the conversation off by stating I know you are the most expensive but you are also very good at what you do.Customer loyalty is huge. I love my cheerleaders they make my job fun and enjoyable. -rich34232

The term "customer loyalty" usually refers to an account that continues to do business with a company or salesperson over a period of time.

Prospects do not have to be loyal. They're trying to serve their own best interests. They will attempt to get information from any source they wish to better their situation. By and large, prospects do not care about salespeople, they only care about themselves.

So I would recommend that you quit looking for "loyalty" from prospects. Instead, focus on making sales to them. The better you are at the skills required to make your numbers, the less you'll worry about prospects being loyal to a salesperson they've never bought from. -Skip Anderson

My terminology isn't right but I get emails every day from people who say they are thinking about buying but need more information. They ask for the taxes, rents, utilities, fees and all that jazz for every listing they saw advertised that they thought was 'purdy' and they aren't even in town right now. They're thinking of buying sometime this year and are just starting to do their research. I send them follow up emails to let them know about new listings and price reductions. This emailing or calling goes back and forth for months and then the trail goes cold and they won't return my calls or my emails. I've been used and people complain about salespeople? I'm about of the mindset to start acting in a way that is in my best interest. My new motto is "All is fair in love and sales. Protect yourself at all times." -Thomas

I can feel your frustration; even anger perhaps. Here are some thoughts:

1. No matter what you do, you'll have people "use" you. Accept it.

2. Your focus should be on converting more of these leads to sales. If you're not selling enough to meet your expectations, you need to figure out why that is. Making that determination in a forum like this is probably not feasible, but working with a sales coach or someone else who can help you would be advisable. Assuming there are people that are successful (or more successful than you) in your industry, then you've got to figure out what you're doing that's contributing to not converting this leads into customers at the rate which you desire.

3. Just because a customer asks for something doesn't mean you have to give it to them. You need to have a sales process that works...and rarely does giving out boatloads of free information work. The challenge is to LEVERAGE that information into revenue for yourself.

4. I believe anger is never helpful to the salesperson. It's a damaging emotion that prevents salespeople from doing what they need to do to be successful. It gets in the way. Work to control it. Anger is not your friend.

5. In the many threads you've expressed frustration with your prospects here at SP, I've always felt that your opportunity for improvement is in the area of needs assessment. Like many salespeople, you probably need to do a much better job of determining what will product/service details are important to the prospect, and if met, will make him comfortable enough to buy. NOTE: this is not necessarily what the customer is tell you; you need to put on your investigator's hat!

I know those are generalities, Thomas, but hopefully you'll find some tidbit here helpful.

Skip -Skip Anderson

I wanted to add to your reputation Skip but the message said, "You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Skip Anderson again." I'll go spread some love and catch up with you later.

Part of me wants to scream about prospect's behaviors. It is as if they never do anything wrong and salespeople are the bottom of the barrel. That's a load of you know what. :gre

Isn't it about time that prospect's get called on the carpet for their dishonest and manipulative behavior? -Thomas

As does the positive experience you create for the customer. -Ace Coldiron

I know a guy who has been with the same credit union for +20 years. He was always talking up the CU and how nice they were and how easy they were to work with. Then, after +20 years, he had his kid who was now grown up call in to start an account. The CU messed up and lost the debit card then the password and it was just a big mess. Anyway, the guy was pissed that his kid wasn't getting the service he expected since he had been with them +20 years so they opened an account somewhere else. That's a true story and that is how fickle a customer's loyalty can be. -Thomas

This discussion look like it has run its course so I am closing the thread. -Jeff Blackwell