According to a 2014 article in Harvard Business Review, “Acquiring a new customer is 5 to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one.” To launch this new year in a positive direction towards building a #LegacyCompany, think about what your company can do to invest in customer loyalty; then implement it. Here’s a clue… focus on strengthening relationship…
The #CustomerFirst difference….
Last week, my father-in-law was in town and we were celebrating his milestone birthday. Wayne likes to tell stories and the grandkids love to hear them. Heck, I’ve heard most of them about 20 times by now and they always put a smile on my face. One story turned out to be a great business lesson. The grandkids paid attention and I am sharing it with you.
Wayne worked at The Boeing Company for 35 years. He sold airplanes… Lots of airplanes. So many that he once calculated the Net Present Value to be approximately $.5 trillion. He believes that consciously investing in customer loyalty was a key ingredient that kept buyers coming back for more.
As this story goes, an airline customer placed an initial order for a few planes with a custom interior configuration. After the order was placed, outside circumstances required The Boeing Company to increase spacing of the exit doors on this model by 6 inches, which unfortunately didn’t match up with the custom interior design. The buyer (CEO of airline customer) was unhappy and asked Wayne for advice. Wayne replied, “I recommend you write a letter to the CEO of our company and let him know that you will cancel this order if we do not completely meet your needs.” #CustomerFirst!
The Boeing Company CEO did the get phone call and stopped by to have a visit with Wayne, who explained the situation. As a result, Boeing invested millions of dollars at their expense making things right for their customer. The production team fell slightly behind as a result of this modification, yet Wayne received a performance bonus because he took #CustomerFirst action. Subsequently, this airline was thrilled with the result and placed multiple orders for dozens of additional planes.
Now it’s your turn!
So, what’s the business lesson? Simply put, “Invest in giving customers what they want, and they will reward you with their loyalty.” The inverse is true too! The business advice is simple…. “Empower your employees to bring a #CustomerFirst mindset to their jobs.” Taking care of customers is a #TeamSport; there is no easier way to #WIN in the game of business!