28Sep/114

Customer Satisfaction v. Customer Loyalty

The other day, I was talking to one of our sales trainers who told me about a great conversation he had with one of his clients about the distinction between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. It seems members of their sales team were confusing the two. It made me realize that I might be doing the same thing, too.

  • Satisfaction happens when a salesperson (or company) fulfills a customer’s needs, wants, or expectations.
  • Loyalty, on the other hand, occurs when a customer offers consistent support or allegiance to a provider (or salesperson).

Satisfaction is dispensed by you to your customer. Loyalty, on the other hand, is a gift from your customer to you. You satisfy; they're loyal. Satisfaction typically occurs sooner than loyalty.

Simply providing customer satisfaction doesn’t necessarily engender loyalty. A customer who is merely satisfied won’t necessarily remain loyal. After all, satisfaction -- simple fulfillment -- can probably be supplied by virtually anyone.

It's also easy to slip up. In fact, in his book "Generational Selling Tactics," Cam Marston says that 75% of members of younger buyers (those born since about 1977) will switch to a competitor after just a single bad customer experience.

On the other hand, loyalty, is generated after providing consistent and successful satisfaction. It's a process. Here's how we, here at The Brooks Group, think it looks:

  • Suspect (Completely unaware of you)
  • Prospect
  • Qualified Prospect
  • Opportunity
  • Customer
  • Preferred Customer
  • Loyal Customer
  • Advocate
  • Zealot (Fiercely loyal)

At each stage, you’re earning more commitment from your customer. It proceeds from the stage where you aren't even known all the way to the time when your customer tells everyone they know about how great you are.

Notice that we’re talking about individuals here. This level of engagement is given by people, not entire companies. Remember that, both B2B and B2C selling is really about P2P!

However, you're not going to gain loyalty from every single customer. You're seeking -- at least -- satisfaction. After all, it's impossible to earn zealousness from everyone you encounter. Indeed, there are even people who don't like Apple! (I know, can you believe it?!)

So, how can you effectively satisfy your customers? A good start is to simply learn what satisfaction means to them and do your best to provide it.

@JebBrooks

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17May/114

What if you really do offer excellent customer service?

Since everybody says, “we’ve got GREAT customer service,” it just gets drowned out. It ends up meaning nothing, right?

So, my question becomes:

What do you do if you really DO offer excellent customer service? How do you prove it?

Here are two ways. Perhaps there are more you could help me with…

1. Prove it by the way you behave during the sales interaction.

  • During a prospect’s buying experience, you have the opportunity to differentiate yourself AND represent the upcoming ownership (or service) experience for your prospect. The best way to do this is to promise a lot and deliver more. In other words, follow-through on everything you commit to. And, when it’s possible, offer a bit more. Although, you’d better be certain your soon-to-be-buyer actually experiences what you’ve promised.

2. The other way is to procure as many testimonials, references, and other third-party “validators” as possible.

  • Prospects expect you to make claims about your offering, but they’re impressed when someone else does. The secret to a great testimonial is similarity between its writer and reader. In other words, if your prospect is a VP of Sales from a mid-sized medical device company in Poughkeepsie, NY. Find someone with as many of those characteristics as possible who can verify that you deliver excellent experience. The same, of course, is true of a reference or case study.

How else can you rise above the noise and prove to a prospect that you really do offer excellent customer service?

@JebBrooks

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  • Sales Evolution is a B2B Sales Blog for curious people. We talk about things like sales training, sales management, sales assessments, sales leadership, prospecting, and sales relationship building. I’m Jeb Brooks and I’ll be your host. So, please sit back, relax, and join us!

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