The Customer Loyalty Investment – Dig Your Well!
Guest Post by: Rory Fatt (Royalty Rewards)
CRS is proud to offer a series of guest posts to our Blog written by Rory Fatt a leader in the field of Customer Loyalty. Rory Fatt is a member of the Royalty Rewards team, a leading Customer Loyalty program with proven results! Rory is passionate about helping retailers tap into the goldmine that is their customer list in order to increase Customer Loyalty and help businesses succeed.
I often ask retailers what is their greatest asset? I usually get a variety of answers though they fall into these general categories;
- Location, Location, Location!
- Employees/staff
- Store Reputation
- Product Line/Inventory
I think retailers are forgetting about their greatest asset. Let me illustrate my point by telling you a story.
There was a popular and successful seafood restaurant in Maine that I read about that was owned and operated by a larger than life personality. The restaurant was riding the popularity wave and was getting busier and busier. It wasn’t unusual to see a line up outside of the door at lunch. In the evening you always needed a reservation. Everything was going great! Then one night there was a horrific fire in the kitchen. The owner was able to count his blessing that at least fire happened when they were closed and no one was injured. Once the smoke had cleared the reality was his restaurant was more than 70% damaged. It would take months to rebuild.
It took 8 or 9 months to rebuild once he had dealt with the insurance companies etc. He decided to build a new restaurant in the end. This larger than life entrepreneur said the smartest thing he did while riding the popularity wave was take some sage advice from a wise old marketer. The advice he was given was…
Dig Your Well Before You Need the Water!
So what did he mean by that? The wise old marketer was saying don’t forget your greatest asset… your customers! See everything else can be rebuilt and replaced. It is not so easy to replace you customers.
What this street smart entrepreneur did was collect his customer’s information. So after the fire he was able to go to his customer’s well as he dug and built it before. He communicated with his customers on regular basis giving them periodical updates on his insurance claim, the design of his new store, new customer and staff innovations, created contests and told his customers about his progress, his triumphs, setbacks and challenges of rebuilding his business. He also always talked about his Grand Re-Opening plans. Nine months later after sending invitations to all his customers he reopened his restaurant to a FULL HOUSE, and once again the restaurant was riding the popularity wave. There was a line up outside of the door at lunch, and in the evening you always needed a reservation.
Please remember to dig your Customer well before you need it and don’t forget the greatest asset any business has is their customers. A business with no customers is just an empty store.
If you are interested in learning more about how to leverage your customer list to increase your bottom line let us know! CRS will be hosting a Webinar with Royalty Rewards on September 22, 2010 and we would love for you to join us! Email CRS today to reserve your spot, spaces are limited.
