• About Us
    • Our Story
    • Customers
      • Sales Training Case Study
    • Products and Services
      • Sales Training Programs
        • Train the Trainer Courses
      • Sales Management Training
      • Sales Force Training
      • Sales Certification
      • Sales Training Workshops
      • Customer Relationship Professional (CRP)
        • Why You Need to Train Customer Relationship Professionals
        • Why Customer Satisfaction Isn’t Enough
    • Sales News
  • SALES SKILLS
    • 5 Critical Sales Skills
      • Sales Skill #1 – Buyer Seller Relationship
      • Sales Skill #2 – Sales Call Planning
      • Sales Skill #3 – Questioning Skills
      • Sales Skill #4 – Presentation Skills
      • Sales Skill #5 – Gaining Commitment
      • Sales Skills Training
    • Sales Skills Assessment
    • Sales Skills Articles
      • Don’t Make Classic Selling Errors
      • Learn Critical Selling Skills
      • Understand How Buyers Buy
    • Sales Skills White Papers
    • Sales Skills Books
      • Action Selling Sales Book
      • Selling Your Price
      • Questions
      • Masters of Loyalty
      • Sales Strategy
    • Sales Skills Videos
    • Sales Skills eLearning
  • Sales Training
    • Action Selling
    • Sales Training Workshops
    • Leadership Training
    • Best Sales Training
    • Sales Training Articles
      • Business Skills for Salespeople
      • How to Train Salespeople
      • Use The Best Sales Process
    • Sales Training White Papers
    • Sales Training Books
      • Action Selling – Sales Book
      • Selling Your Price – Sales Book
      • Questions – Sales Book
      • Masters of Loyalty – Sales Book
      • Sales Strategy – Sales Book
    • Sales Training Videos
    • Sales Training eLearning
  • Customer Service Training
    • Customer Relationship Professional (CRP)
    • CRP White Papers
    • CRP Videos
    • Masters of Loyalty Book
  • Search
  • Contact
1.800.232.3485
The Sales Board The Sales Board
  • About Us
    • Our Story
    • Customers
      • Sales Training Case Study
    • Products and Services
      • Sales Training Programs
        • Train the Trainer Courses
      • Sales Management Training
      • Sales Force Training
      • Sales Certification
      • Sales Training Workshops
      • Customer Relationship Professional (CRP)
        • Why You Need to Train Customer Relationship Professionals
        • Why Customer Satisfaction Isn’t Enough
    • Sales News
  • SALES SKILLS
    • 5 Critical Sales Skills
      • Sales Skill #1 – Buyer Seller Relationship
      • Sales Skill #2 – Sales Call Planning
      • Sales Skill #3 – Questioning Skills
      • Sales Skill #4 – Presentation Skills
      • Sales Skill #5 – Gaining Commitment
      • Sales Skills Training
    • Sales Skills Assessment
    • Sales Skills Articles
      • Don’t Make Classic Selling Errors
      • Learn Critical Selling Skills
      • Understand How Buyers Buy
    • Sales Skills White Papers
    • Sales Skills Books
      • Action Selling Sales Book
      • Selling Your Price
      • Questions
      • Masters of Loyalty
      • Sales Strategy
    • Sales Skills Videos
    • Sales Skills eLearning
  • Sales Training
    • Action Selling
    • Sales Training Workshops
    • Leadership Training
    • Best Sales Training
    • Sales Training Articles
      • Business Skills for Salespeople
      • How to Train Salespeople
      • Use The Best Sales Process
    • Sales Training White Papers
    • Sales Training Books
      • Action Selling – Sales Book
      • Selling Your Price – Sales Book
      • Questions – Sales Book
      • Masters of Loyalty – Sales Book
      • Sales Strategy – Sales Book
    • Sales Training Videos
    • Sales Training eLearning
  • Customer Service Training
    • Customer Relationship Professional (CRP)
    • CRP White Papers
    • CRP Videos
    • Masters of Loyalty Book
  • Search
  • Contact

Customer Loyalty Starts With Employee Loyalty

Sales Skills Articles

In previous editions of this newsletter, I have talked about what I perceive as the enormous difference between customer satisfaction and genuine customer loyalty.

Most of the things that companies do in an effort to boost customer loyalty—including loyalty “programs” that offer everything from frequent-flyer miles to special discounts for steady customers—really do no more than boost customer satisfaction. A satisfied customer will stick with you until a better, more satisfying offer comes along. And your competitors are always looking for ways to make a better offer. Loyalty programs can be copied. Loyalty itself cannot.

I argue that customers are not truly loyal to you until they have “stopped shopping” for better offers. You are so valuable to them that they have gone deaf to the appeals of your competitors.

I argue further that, in truth, such strong feelings of loyalty almost never attach to a company—a corporate entity. People only feel loyalty like that to other people. It is entirely a matter of personal relationships. This means that if you want true loyalty from your customers, you must rely entirely on your employees. Only they can earn loyalty. Only they can create it, nurture it, and keep it.

How can your company create the greatest number of truly loyal customers? Here is my answer: The underlying purpose of every conversation that every person in your company has with a client should be to create loyalty by strengthening their personal relationship with that client.

Does that sound like a tall order? I assure you that every customer-contact person in your organization can be taught how to act as a loyalty-generator. The “how” lies in extending and adapting Action Selling training beyond your sales force. Our new training program, Action Selling Customer Relationship Professional, is a perfectly natural development because the communications process that makes up Action Selling actually is as much a loyalty system as a sales system.

BUT FIRST, EMPLOYEES HAVE TO FEEL IT.

There is a strong connection, however, between the degree of loyalty an employee feels for the company and the employee’s ability to create loyalty in customers. If I don’t feel much loyalty to the company I work for, it would be awfully tough to convince you to feel any. And my sense of loyalty to my company would be hard to fake.

So what kinds of things can a company do to gain loyalty from its own employees? One key loyalty builder is for employees to feel as if they’re growing in their careers. Research shows that the biggest reason employees leave a company is because they feel they are in dead-end jobs.

One of the best ways to address that concern is to invest in great training that gives employees valuable new skills. If you have ever introduced Action Selling training to some salespeople and seen their skills and confidence flower, for instance, you have also seen their loyalty to your company rise.

In other words, when you use Action Selling training to turn all of your customer-contact people into customer-relationship professionals, you get a free bonus—and it’s a big one. The mere fact that you are extending training to more of your work force means that you are building employee loyalty in more of your work force.

As for the fact that the point of this training is to teach these more-loyal employees exactly how to generate greater loyalty among customers—well, you might call that a virtuous circle.

For information about how to make employee training pay huge dividends, contact Action Selling at (800) 232-3485.

Want your company to start creating customers who are genuinely loyal? Check out my latest book, Masters of Loyalty: How to Turn Your Work Force Into a Loyalty Force.

Share

You also might be interested in

Sales Management: Use TFBR’s to support field sales skills

Feb 10, 2017

The marketing professionals who support your company’s sales efforts can use the TFBR format to help salespeople zero in on ways to present products as solutions that address key customer needs.

Questions: The Answer to Sales – The Professionals Blueprint

Oct 5, 2016

They moved to a small conference table across the room from Harry’s desk. “I’ve been thinking about our conversation last week, and something puzzles me,” Mitch said. “The things you said about my call on Cheryl Gross made a lot of sense. But how were you able to diagnose the problems so quickly? I’ve been trying for two years to figure out what’s wrong, and no luck. When I described that sales call to you it was as if you had a checklist of mistakes in your head and you could just watch me make them, one after the other. It was weird that you could give me the kind of analysis you did so quickly. How did you do it?”

Video: SalesFails #16 – And the List Goes On, and On, and On

Aug 26, 2016

The list of stalls and objections goes on and on and on! Don't make the common selling mistake of not taking care of stalls and objections! How are your selling skills? Find out what sales skills are most important. Assess your selling strengths and find out areas that need improving. Take our Free Sales Skills Assessment.

FREE SALES COACHING

Signup for GREAT IDEAS directly from our Sales Training Consultants!
  • By clicking submit, you acknowledge that you may be contacted by an Action Selling Representative.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

THE NEW ACTION SELLING

The New Action SellingA Quick Read That Will Boost Your Sales -- Guaranteed! The Action Selling series of sales books will help you achieve quota, sell bigger deals, shorten selling cycles and retain your customers.

Shop Action Selling
Action Selling

Since 1990, The Sales Board’s Action Selling Sales Training and Sales Certification Programs have consistently increased revenue, protected margins and improved the sales culture for thousands of businesses worldwide. Action Selling Sales Training Programs Work. Your salespeople will become top producing sales professionals. Your sales managers and sales trainers will become effective sales coaches. And whether your business consists of a few reps or a large, global sales force, the Action Selling process will differentiate your company and products/services.
The Sales Board

14505 21st Avenue North, Suite 206
Minneapolis, MN 55447
1.800.232.3485 | 763.473.2540

Copyright © 2019 The Sales Board, Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service

Prev Next
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Necessary Always Enabled