Customer Loyalty: Barriers to Building Customer Loyalty

Are Your Policies and Procedures Working Against Building Customer Loyalty?

Business owners to sales professionals to those involved in sales management recognize the value of customer loyalty. Winning the business of new clients costs 4 to 10 times more than maintaining the relationships with existing customers.

Sometimes no matter how hard the internal customers (employees) the business still loses external customers and in many cases the business shakes its corporate head in total disbelief. What may be happening is that internal policies and procedures are working against building customer loyalty. Here are some examples.

The most common policy is the Mission Statement. These usually are vague corporate statements that address some very intangible goal such as providing exceptional customer service. What in the heck does that mean? More importantly what behaviors are expected and how will the employees know they have been successful?

This leads to the second common obstacle that being communication. Many times existing policies and procedures are not clearly and consistently communicated to the employees. Again, how can anyone build dedicated clients without knowing what is expected.

Another constant and common internal obstacle is poor job descriptions. Employees are expected to engage in behaviors that have not been clearly identified. Job descriptions have not been written and aligned to performance objectives.

Archaic job descriptions also suggest that other existing policies and procedures need to be revised and in many cases actually committed to writing for the first time. A policy may be enforced just through word of mouth, but may have never been actually written down. This creates inconsistency as to the specific behaviors necessary to develop loyal patrons.

In many cases, there is an inherent alignment conflict between the existing policies and procedures specific to the overall strategic action plan. One of the most obvious disconnects between internal operations and employees behavior can be found within the Values Statement. When organizations have clearly defined behaviors articulated within the Values Statement then it is much easier for everyone to know what to do. Again, this policy must be communicated and the executive team must model the desired values. Sales Coaching Tip: Lead by example

Policies and procedures can build or destroy ongoing patronage. From the automated voice mail (Don't you hate that) to no flexibility in solving problems can make the customer service experience less than desirable.

For example, have you ever heard this statement: "That is not my job?" Maybe the employee issuing this remark is telling the truth, but how does that make you feel? One innovative company, Ritz Carlton, has given all employees a budget to solve guests' problems on the spot. There is no passing the buck by taking the problem up the chain of command. What do you think this policy does? According to Ritz Carlton, even though it may be viewed as expensive up front, they have secured a significant return on investment because guests are being given the utmost response time respective to their complaints. "That not my job" is not a statement to be heard within this organization who truly understands that customers are the only reason for their existence.

If you want to build loyal customers, increase profitability and truly create a culture of high performance for all employees, then invest the necessary time to review all organizational documents. You truly cannot afford not to make this investment.

Loyal customers are the strategic advantage. Receive your downloadable customer loyalty audit.

Chicago Sales Coach Leanne Hoagland Smith achieves your Business Goals because the Real Issue is not "Do they Know It ( Knowledge)," but "Do They Want to Do It (Attitudes)?" Learn more about her latest business book, Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, the Keys to Unlocking Sales Success