(upbeat music)
- Hi, Peter Boolkah here and welcome
to today's edition of The Transition Guy
where we're going to be looking at
The Ladder of Loyalty.
The Ladder of Loyalty is a journey.
It is a journey that you
take your customer through.
Let's start at the very beginning
of the customer journey.
At the very bottom of the ladder
we have a suspect.
A suspect isn't a person running very fast
with your handbag or wallet.
A suspect is somebody that actually
fits your target market, i.e. somebody
that has an interest in
your product, et cetera.
Second we move over to prospect.
Now a prospect is slightly different.
A prospect is somebody that's inquired
about your product or service.
They're actually genuinely interested
that made the inquiry, they're now
into your sales process.
A shopper is somebody that has transacted
with you once.
A lot of people say yeah yeah I've
got loads of customers.
The reality is if you go back
and look at your transaction base
the chances are you've got
a lot of shoppers but
that's all you've got.
Because a customer is slightly different.
A customer is somebody that's transacted
with you on more than one occasion.
That's when you got people coming back,
coming back, coming back.
Now ask yourself your question,
when you're doing all your marketing,
but you spend most of your time,
most of your sales effort down here
on the prospect and suspect
list most definitely.
We will come back a little bit later
on why that's a really bad idea.
Next thing we've got is a member.
A membership, giving your customers
somewhere to be where
they feel they belong.
Now I'll tell you who's
really good at this, airlines.
Airlines are really
good at suckering you in
to their membership schemes.
How do I know that?
I am said sucker.
Who am I suckered in with?
British Airways.
So I use British Airways
for a number of reasons.
Number one, the number of flights
and routes they offer, very comprehensive,
allows me to get to anywhere in the world
where I need to be.
But number two, I started off with BA,
do I particularly enjoy
their level of service
on their planes?
Not particularly.
Do I think they have
the most elegant cabins?
No, not particularly.
Have they got very good lounges?
Yes, absolutely.
It's interesting how they entice you.
So when you first come on board
you are a blue member, you have absolutely
no benefits apart from having a card
that has a membership number on it.
Then you move up to
bronze, silver then gold.
As you move up their tiers your benefits
become far more extensive,
you get more avios points
so you can earn more on your flights.
You get access to different lounges.
I'm very fortunate and pleased to say
that I've got a gold card with them
which gives me access
A to their first class
priority check in which is a great service
but also gives me access to
their first class lounges.
What does this mean?
Because I'm a sucker for the membership
I tend to fly with them where perhaps
with other airlines I
might have a better deal.
Then we move on to advocates.
Now what are advocates?
Advocates are these people that love
to tell everybody about your business.
They love what you do so much
that they go out there and
they're your best marketing.
They go out there and they just sell
your business for you in terms
of they market the business for you.
Where I personally experience this
is with Apple products.
I've been using Apple products
for the best part of 10 years.
I think that their laptops
are absolutely amazing.
Their phones are good, et cetera.
I just love their whole customer service.
So what do I do when I see poor PC user?
I try to educate them on their wrongs.
I always market Apple products
because I trust them
and I love using them.
Then you've got the raving fan.
Where advocates are your best marketeers,
raving fans are your best sales people.
Because what they do is they go
and they get you customers.
They do the sale for you.
You know these raving fans
and you know what they do for you
because you have people
come into your doorstep
and you don't even have to sell to them
they're ready to buy.
You just got to steer them
in the right direction.
So let's look at the
ladder in more detail.
At the top here you're
going to see four areas,
trust, speed, margin and loyalty.
I've said before we are playing
a high trust based economy.
When you're at the raving fan level
there is a very high trust bank
that's been built up.
The customer has huge trust in you.
Down here at suspect level, guess what,
suspect, prospect, trust is really low.
They don't know who you are.
You've not earned the right.
At raving fan level the speed
of doing business is extremely fast.
Yeah you're not having to wait
for a decision et cetera.
More or less the decisions
are instantaneous.
Down at prospect, suspect level
it can be quite a slow arduous process.
Margin, what you tend to find
is further up the ladder
the higher the margin
because the clients just
don't question the prices.
They trust you to give
them the right deal.
Not to rip them off, but they trust you,
they trust the price you have.
Down at the bottom guess what
you keep hearing?
Well you're too expensive,
you're too expensive,
because there's no relationship.
And then you've got loyalty.
Too often people out there say
well I've lost this customer,
I've lost that customer.
The only reason that you lose customers
is because your relationship
with your customers sucks.
So you go up here, raving fan, advocate,
loyalty is pretty strong.
Suspect, prospect, loyalty is really weak.
What you've got to ask yourself is,
in the business how are you moving
your people through the ladder of loyalty?
Because the majority of business owners,
they focus their marketing efforts
solely on prospect and suspect.
Especially if you need high business,
you need money coming in quickly,
focusing on your prospects and suspects
is gonna criple your business
because speed is slow, profits are low
because there's no relationship,
loyalty is weak, so your competition
can come in and nab them
before you've got them
and the trust is low.
How often do you actually
say do you know what
I've got a marketing campaign
but I'm gonna be
marketing to my customers.
I'm gonna get my shoppers to come back
and become customers.
I'm gonna create a membership scheme
where my customers feel they belong
to my company.
I'm gonna move them to advocate
and I'm gonna create raving fans.
Because if you're not doing that
and most people are not doing that
then what you're gonna find
is business is gonna be a hard slog
for as long as you're in it.
So I want you to think about this.
You get a shopper that's
bought with you once,
the chances are a shopper will probably
give you a suspect or maybe a prospect.
A customer will give
you a prospect for sure.
However, we don't know
how warm that prospect is
so you've still got to do quite a bit
of selling and taking them
through your sales process.
A member, someone that belongs
will give you a warm prospect,
an occasional shopper if you're lucky.
Advocates is when it
gets really interesting.
Advocates will bring you
in a shopper for sure
or maybe a really hot prospect.
Raving fans, well they bring you shoppers
and they bring you customers.
A lot of you, you've
got tons of sales people
out there and you're moaning and bitching
how they're not performing for you.
However your strongest sales team
are your customers.
Get them up the ladder of loyalty.
Get them to raving fan status.
The chances are you're not gonna need
as many sales people.
So to wrap up, look at your business,
look at your ladder of loyalty.
Do you have one in place?
Do you not?
Do you want to have one in place?
Because if you do want
to have one in place
why don't you head over to Boolkah.com
and get in contact.
Let's see how we can put
the ladder of loyalty
into your business.
And remember failing to learn
is learning to fail.
(dramatic music)
