Companies, like people, have health and wellness indicators. One key indicator of corporate wellness is customer loyalty. Jeanne Bliss examines a group of elite businesses and outlines the five decisions that drive extreme customer loyalty in her book I LOVE YOU MORE THAN MY DOG.

There are no shortcuts in the creation of a solid customer base. Not only do customers need to be made aware of a product or service they also have to internalize a need that generates the initial trial purchase. A positive trial, one that meets the buyer's expectations, has the potential to become repeat business. It is repeat business that is the true customer base of a corporation.
A company that can exceed customer expectations will have extreme fans. Customers are loyal to businesses that are trustworthy, dependable and authentic. These qualities are achieved when a company makes five major decisions: 

A company has to decide to be believable. A company has to decide to be uniformly clear in their objectives. A company has to decide to be real and not compromise their culture. A company has to decide to be there to meet customer needs consistently, not just when it's convenient. Finally, a company has to know how to apologize when confronted with failure. These five elements constitute the decision-making process of elite companies.

Jeanne Bliss highlights elite businesses that include the likes of Amazon, Apple, Edward Jones, Harley Davidson, IKEA, Johnson & Johnson and Trader Joe's. How did they make her list? Harley Davidson decided to believe that they could pair union and non-union workers to build a plant in Texas. The employees were trusted to make decisions that would benefit the enterprise and exemplifies the spirit of Harley Davidson.

Trader Joe's decided specialty food shopping should be a culinary adventure. Everything from the rustic décor to the employee Hawaiian (uniform) shirts is consistent with the recipe of their objectives.

Edward Jones decided to have senior advisers mentor new advisers and have them assume responsibility for veteran accounts. This is the Edward Jones way of providing continuity of service to their clients over time.

Johnson & Johnson decided to "protect the people" in 1982 after cyanide-laced Tylenol killed seven people. It took the company 20 minutes to make the decision to pull 31 million bottles of their product off the shelves. Two months later Johnson & Johnson came back to the marketplace with tamper-proof packaging and set a high water mark for crisis management. Elite companies are all about the decisions they make.

How does a company move from the ranks of ordinary to elite? A solid springboard for beginning the process is answering the questions presented by Jeanne Bliss. Are you transparent with your customers? Do you fan the flames of trust? What pushes your "yes" button? What is your employee retention rate? Do you walk in your customers' shoes? Do you accept the order and the responsibility? Do you accept accountability? Do you have the DNA to say "sorry" and mean it? Do you learn and change from mistakes?

These are only a small sampling of the questions generated from the case studies of elite businesses in Jeanne Bliss' text, I LOVE YOU MORE THAN MY DOG.

The wellness of a corporation can be measured by both the quantity and level of customers they retain as regular repeat business. There is a select group of companies that have passionate and loyal customers, those that rave about a business and drive growth.

This is not a position that can be achieved overnight, but a process that can be started by applying Bliss' advice to your decision-making.

Roy Disney once stated, "It's not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are." Are you ready to be an elite business? The decision is yours.
Jeanne Bliss is a customer service pioneer. She began her career with Lands' End and went on to be a CCE (chief customer executive) with several major corporations. Bliss is currently president of her own consulting firm, CustomerBliss. In addition to this publication, she is the author of Chief Customer Officer.

		A veteran of the publishing industry, Sandra Guinness Lupini is a freelance writer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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