I think the most obvious way to increase customer loyalty is to have more of it. One thing that is often overlooked is the importance of the first contact. It’s not enough to have a website or a Facebook page. You need first-rate customer service in person. The time someone spends in the company’s presence will influence their decision to return.
In some ways it sounds like there is no loyalty at all. Customer service is hard and takes work. I know this, because I’ve worked with some great customer service organizations. As a result, I have a pretty good idea of how bad customer service can get. Customer service is about doing the right thing, but I also know that sometimes it can be the wrong thing, or at least not what you really want to do.
The other part of the story is how the company can get you to choose which product to sell. It’s important to remember that if you want to try a new tool or pattern, you have to buy it. And, as a result, some of the top customers are often very, very good, but others just don’t know how to use it.
The problem with buying stuff that you don’t really need is that you’re always going to be paying for it in some form, whether it’s in the form of a cashier, or a free trial, or credit, or a sales pitch. That is why when I was starting my business, I was pretty much going to be buying all the equipment I could.
This is why I do a lot of my tech consulting. Some things are just so useful that they NEED to be in the hands of every employee, regardless of skill level. I have been told by a lot of folks that I am the worst tech guy they know. Well, it turns out that this is also why I have a lot of respect for people who can make their products sell themselves. It’s not just that I can make a piece of software seem like a piece of software.
The same goes for the other big selling point for a company like Microsoft, Apple, or Google. No matter how much the company’s products suck, if people are willing to buy them, they will sell. It doesn’t matter if it’s a company’s first product or a huge company like Goldman Sachs or Microsoft.
We have some thoughts about what will happen if Microsoft gets its act together and starts making its products seem really good. This isn’t just a matter of whether or not Microsoft can convince consumers to buy its products, but if it can make them seem good. It will be interesting to see how Microsoft handles this.
I think that we need to have a look at how other companies behave when they are not doing well. It wont be surprising if Microsoft keeps losing market share to the competition but this is also good news. In fact, I think this could be good news for Microsoft if it can continue to attract consumers to its products. But I predict that this will be a good thing for the rest of the industry as well.
The same applies to web design, architecture, and the ways that you use web pages, and even if you have done the same for a website, it will likely not be as effective. The next “three levels of self-awareness” for web designers will likely be the point of this blog post. It will be very interesting to see how other companies behave when they are not doing well.
This is important because it’s also a good thing to be proud of your work. You can’t get that kind of experience off of your own shoulders. You can’t be happy when your work has been criticized or lost. As long as it’s well written and well thought out, it’s pretty much worth it.