Why Loyalty is Key to Success in American Business

Never underestimate the value of loyalty. It is a necessary factor for company success. Without loyal clients, your firm will not develop, and without loyal staff, it will falter. You need people to trust what you say, believe in what you give, and follow your direction. Building a loyal audience is never simple. It takes hard effort, persistence, and the ability to earn people's trust. Failure to follow through will cause the people in your life to lose faith in you and your business. Consider the most successful enterprises in history. Perhaps one was a hotel franchise, and the other was a local restaurant. Two completely different types of businesses, but both are quite successful. What was the common denominator? Loyalty. They worked hard to earn their customers' trust, and in response, those same consumers returned over and again.

Their businesses expanded as clients referred them to relatives and friends.

Similarly, similar businesses would not have flourished if the staff did not believe in what the founders were doing. They believed in their aim and worked hard to attain it. In the end, both employees and management felt the greatest sense of success. You can apply the same principle in your commercial operations. Be the type of man who your staff admire and your customers trust. Be fair. Be honest. Be a team player. This does not imply that you have to be everyone's "pal" or that you should not advocate for yourself and your business. It does mean being a person of integrity. Your primary obligation is to be the type of leader that others look up to. Never take shortcuts in business, and always be fair. Sure, you may be able to get a better bargain now, but at what cost to tomorrow? People notice and respond to these kind of acts. When that big deal comes up, the individual you treated fairly during those difficult discussions will be on your side. Don't be the person who seeks to profit at the expense of others. Treat people with indifference and disrespect, and they will remember you for a long time, and not in a good way. Instead, be the type of salesperson, boss, or business colleague who others recognize, turn to, and appreciate. People with integrity can weather life's storms, whilst those who are only looking out for themselves tend to stumble and fade away.

Invest in the people around you and get the benefits, both in business and in your personal life.

Every day, hundreds of small business owners and C-level executives review their profit and loss accounts (P&L), financial records, and sales data. Searching and scanning for gains in sales, orders, and earnings while expecting to reduce cost of goods sold or other direct and indirect costs. Despite this, they are most likely omitting one figure that does not shown on financial records. Also, do you know what that number is? And the answer is: relationships with your loyal consumers! Was that the answer in your head? Did you think of anything else?

Because this quantity is not clearly described in any of the usual reporting metrics, existing problems are simply symptoms disguised. The solutions then fail to achieve long-term change because the root cause is not addressed. For instance, does your company suffer from: Have you been experiencing poor sales? Are there any issues with training? Employee turnover? These are only a handful of the many symptoms that most businesses experience because they fail to understand the objective of their business: to attract and retain loyal customers. The fundamental issue is client loyalty, or lack thereof. For instance, customer service research indicates that: Retaining 5% of loyal clients might result in a 25–100% boost. Acquiring a new customer costs 5 to 10 times more than maintaining an old one.

Up to 75% of clients who left you deemed themselves satisfied.

Small businesses and Fortune 500 organizations must abandon the 20th-century model of customer happiness in favor of the 21st-century paradigm of customer loyalty as the most important metric for business success. To take such aggressive action, small business owners and C-level executives must understand the following: Average Client Acquisition Cost Average customer value. Average Transaction Value Total Revenue Opportunity (Based on Customer Lifetime Value) Customer Loyalty Score Employee Loyalty Score Once these metrics have been identified and an action plan has been developed by the Senior Executive Management Team, targeted activities will cascade down across the business. As a result, assessing client loyalty will become considerably easier. The firm will then have a far clearer image of what it genuinely takes to be successful. Take action! As a small business owner or senior executive, take the time to consider relationships as well as profits. What measures or benchmarks can you set up to ensure that you measure both? About the author. Leanne Hoagland-Smith coaches small businesses, large organizations, high school students, and entrepreneurs to double performance by narrowing the gap between today's results and tomorrow's objectives.