Going about it all wrong in chasing the loyal ones

After reading the mismanagement of customer loyalty article, i can't help but feel a bit gladwelly about the whole reading.  Yes i did it, i used gladwell to describe a feeling.  But really, Malcolm is the master of looking at the glass and say, its not half empty, its not half full, its something else that he'll see in his mind which will totally make sense.  The article really reminded me of his book Outliers.  Outliers explains a radical way of looking at things and at success and in short he's telling us we're going about measuring and trying to gauge success, potential and talent all wrong.  The article does the same.

Brand's inherently provide value to consumers.  They stand for something.  For some people its quality.  For others it convenience.  But for whatever reason that you almost instinctively reach out for that particular product in a sea of competition on the shelf, you do so because you like what you get, each and every time.  And this is where brand loyalty comes in.

When you identify with a particular brand, everything else seems to get blurred in the background.  And this is honestly how i shop.  I buy Nike sneakers, always and forever.  After i wear out my running shoes, i head down to the closest mall (in the Philippines malls are like parks, they're at every corner) to check out the wall of the sporting goods store named Toby's.  Its a massive wall of different runners segregated by weight, cushion, support etc.  As a Nike addict, I only seem to see the Swoosh standing out as the other fade into the background.  And as always, i don't pick the shoe, it picks me.

Companies have forever attempted to single out the loyal apostles from the herds and shoppers out there.  One thing i noticed throughout the text book was that at each step of the way of formulating our marketing plan, we are always told: resources are going to be scarce, plan accordingly.  True, we will probably want the moon and the stars when it comes to a launch, but will it be an efficient outlay?  Will the dollars spent bring in much more in return?  Should we bend over backwards to get these clients if they're not in it for the long haul?  Of course not.  Thus, the study presented in the Mismanagement of Customer Loyalty sheds light on how to find our target and to seek them out.  In hindsight, of course it makes sense to target customers based on profit and not revenue, but when you're so used to doing one thing, its oftentimes hard to think differently.  Hence, the Gladwell moment.  But in any case, the study helps show companies who to invest in and by how much, and who simply to cut lose and forget about them.

As companies continuously strive to retain customers, grow market share and boost profits, the article allows for a new way of viewing who we should be running after and who, as we say in the Philippines (although the phrase is obviously lost in translation) waste our saliva on.  (It sounds so much better in my language).