Loyalty in business: should I remain loyal or try a new business?
Business loyalty. Should I stay or should I try a new business? Can you imagine how many times you would lose business when the next opportunity rolls out the red carpet for relationship building? It’s hard to reconnect lost businesses, especially when you realize that the only way to reconnect is by creating a better package that might not be the smartest investment for the consumer.
Doing business in your own backyard is just the beginning to learning how to relate to others. Simply put, you have to sell yourself to everyone. From a new client, to forming a client or even a neighbor. I’m sure your eyebrows were raised when you read ex-client, but the truth is, you have to stay in front of your ex-client to keep your business or ask him to go back to business. Especially if you have changed companies and want to look for them as your new client.
Recently, I came across a previous business relationship at a networking meeting. We had lost touch in the past few years and as soon as we met again, and almost immediately, I thought about reconnecting my business with her because there was a customer loyalty that had developed many years ago. But as quickly as that thought came to mind, I changed my mind just as quickly. Why? Within seconds of reconnecting, I was asked to trade my current relationship for a new one with the assumption that I wanted to change and a career to beat up on her old employer with the recent merger. Fortunately, I have loyalty to the original relationship that was established years ago and the only dissatisfaction I have is the mergers that have taken place in recent years, however, each merger has been smooth and consistent, with the downside of change being the only challenge. . . Next, the question was never asked, I just assumed it would want to change.
Reconnecting with a former customer does not mean that you are immediately focused on regaining the business relationship. There needs to be a system in place to find out if they are candidates in your new business connection.
Some simple suggestions that offer the invitation to reconnect with a former customer.
– In the first 30 seconds of reconnection, do not ask your former client to change arms and legs.
– Learn about them again and what is happening in your life.
– Find out about their business and what they are doing, how they are growing and know what their needs are.
– Ask questions, show interest and this keeps you in control of the conversation.
Invest in the relationship and ask how you can meet your needs in something else, not what you have already established in the past.
– If you do not know what the needs are, you will not connect and not connecting means that there is no possibility of change.
All this to remind you that business starts in your own backyard. New jobs come up frequently, sometimes unexpectedly, but losing an old customer’s site can be dangerous to your new business. The expectation that they will approach you directly as a customer should not be an expectation, but rather recognized as commendable.
For the customer who establishes the verbal link to reconnect, think before jumping to the aid of a former business partner. Ideally, wanting to help and engage may be the best thing for you, but you will always be bouncing from one relationship to another and missing the key components to creating long-term loyal relationships.