How loyal are your customers?

Beyond frequency programs

By Terry McKenna

Terry McKenna is principal and co-founder of Employee Performance Strategies Inc. (EPS), based in Chantilly, Va. You can contact him at (888) 788-9090 or perform@eps-i.com

How would you categorize your customers: un-loyal, loyal, or zealots? Most retailers, if they were being honest with themselves, would rate their customers as un-loyal. If the majority of your customer base purchased all of their fuel, tobacco and fill-in merchandise from you, then they would certainly be considered loyal. Loyalty means sticking with you even though your competitors might be a few cents below you on fuel, and have a more attractive coffee “frequency” program — you know the type; 12-purchases gets you a free cup. I refer to these types of programs as frequency programs as opposed to what they’re more traditionally called, loyalty programs. My experience has been with these so-called loyalty programs is that your customers will be loyal to you until the time your competitor across the street comes up with a sweeter deal. The true path to customer loyalty is through the heart not the wallet. Giving your customers a reason to be loyal to you is certainly a meaningful goal, but what you should strive for is customer zealots.

Customer Zealots
According to Webster, a zealot is: “an enthusiastic, fanatical partisan.” Now this is what I’m talking about! Zealots are the type of customers who will profitably grow your business faster than you or your bookkeeper can imagine. I know what many of you are thinking: Creating customer zealots in the convenience industry is unrealistic. And with that type of thinking, you’re absolutely right.

Consider the department store Marshall Fields based out of Chicago. In the Jan. 17, 2007 online edition of The New York Times, one of the feature articles was titled: “Loss of a Beloved Department Store Breeds a New Kind of Super-fan.” The first Marshall Fields store opened in Chicago more than 150 years ago. Over that time Chicagoans fell in love with the landmark department store for many reasons — Marshall Fields was a benefactor to many of the city’s cultural and educational institutions, along with the fact that Chicagoans could call Marshall Fields their own. In 2005 Cincinnati owned Federated Department Stores acquired Marshall Fields parent company, the May Company. In September 2006 Marshall Fields flagship store was re-branded as a Macy’s — the big New York City rival. The traditional green colors of Marshall Fields were replaced with Macy’s red. And that caused Chicagoans to literally see red. Fueled by civic pride and a heavy douse of nostalgia, more than 60,000 people signed an online petition urging executives at Federated to keep the Marshall Fields name for all the stores. Some Marshall Fields loyalists went as far as to print up T-shirts, sweatshirts and bumper stickers reading: “Boycott Macys” and “Forever Marshall Fields.” One loyal customer, Jim McKay, stood outside the newly branded Macy’s during this past holiday season handing out green leaflets urging passerby to boycott Macy’s. Having lived in Chicago myself for three years, let me tell you, it gets mighty cold in downtown Chicago in December with that wind whipping off Lake Michigan. McKay is certainly a customer zealot, although I bet many of you are thinking “nut” is more descriptive adjective. Please refer back to the definition of a zealot.

Those 60,000 Marshall Fields customers who signed the petition, along with McKay who was busy working the corner, have an emotional attachment to Marshall Fields. Only an emotional connection would cause people to take this kind of action. After all, there are many alternative department stores to shop at in Chicago. Marshall Fields engrained itself into the very fabric that is Chicago — it was part of Chicago’s DNA. Gale Schor, a 40-year old lawyer: “I’ll speak for every Chicagoan and say we’re all heartbroken.”

When you close one of your stores, does your company get the same reaction from your customers? Unrealistic you say? Why? The only thing that is unrealistic is narrow mindsets and flawed paradigms that prevent the impossible from becoming possible.