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Customer Loyalty:
How to Earn It, How to Keep It
by Jill Griffin
each stage of growth. By recognizing each stage and meeting an advocate. Once you reach the advocate stage, your job is to
those specific needs, a company has a greater chance of keep the person buying and referring. A company can enjoy real
converting a buyer into a loyal customer or client. profits once the customer has evolved into the latter stages of
Stage One: Suspect. We believe, or “suspect,” they might the Profit Generator process. Failure to grow a customer to an
buy, but we don’t know enough yet to be sure. advanced stage robs the company of profit and valuable referrals.
Stage Two: Prospect. A prospect is someone who has
a need for your product or service and is able to buy.
Prospects may know who you are where you are and what THE BIG PICTURE
you sell, but they still haven’t bought from you. The Profit Generator system can put the importance of
Stage Three: Disqualified Prospect. Disqualified customer conversion and loyalty into perspective for every
prospects are those prospects about whom you have learned employee in an organization. Until recent years, completing
enough to know that they do not need, or do not have the a sale was the end of the process for too many marketing
ability to buy, your products. strategists. Little or no time or money was allocated for creating
Stage Four: First-Time Customer. This person can be a a special relationship with the company’s best customers. Most
customer of yours and a customer of your competitor as well. companies—whether selling goods or services—failed to grasp,
Stage Five: Repeat Customer. Repeat customers much less calculate and record, the lifetime value of a customer.
are people who have purchased from you two or more Most focused on making a sale rather than concentrating
times. They may have bought the same product twice more marketing dollars on having that sale lead to a long-term
or bought two different products or services on two or profitable relationship.
more occasions.
Stage Six: Client. A client buys everything you have to sell
that he can possibly use and purchases regularly. In addition, GROWING LOYALTY AND PROFITS
however, an advocate encourages others to buy from you. THROUGH CURRENT CUSTOMERS
Stage Seven: Lost Customer or Client. Someone who An up-to-date list of your current customers is the most
was once a customer or client but has not bought from you valuable list you can own, because, by definition, it identifies
in at least one normal purchase cycle. people who have already made it into at least the second stage of
the Profit Generator cycle. You can use the list to help motivate
your current customers to buy more frequently and to spend
PROFIT GENERATOR SYSTEM more when they buy. In other words, your customer database
An organization funnels suspects into its marketing system, moves you from a reactive role in business building to a proactive
and each is qualified as a high-potential prospect or disqualified. one. You no longer have to wait for your customer to contact you.
Disqualified prospects are filtered out, while qualified prospects The Profit Generator system is about focusing marketing and
remain inside. The sooner a disqualified prospect is fi ltered selling efforts on a company’s most promising future customers:
out, the better for you. Wasting time and money on a suspect those it already has. There are essentially three ways to do
who will not buy or is unable to buy cuts dramatically into your more business:
profit. Focus on qualified prospects with the goal of turning 1. Have more customers.
them into first-time customers, and then repeat customers, and 2. Have more purchases.
eventually clients and advocates. 3. Have more expensive purchases.
The rule of thumb in working with the Profit Generator system The Profit Generator system focuses on leveraging items two
is that the goal for you within each stage of development is to and three. Currently, there seems to be a sense in marketing
grow the relationship into the next stage of development. The that landing new customers (acquisition program) is more
goal of interacting with a prospect is to turn a prospect into a rewarding and exciting than holding on to current customers
first-time customer, a repeat customer into a client, a client into (retention program) or increasing business volume among