Sunday, November 01, 2009

Sports Stars Lack Loyalty

I’ve just read about Jenson Button, newly crowned world champion, agreeing to join McLaren and partner Lewis Hamilton in an all-British line-up for the 2010 season.
So Jenson has turned his back on Brawn (now owned by Mercedes), the team built from the ashes of Honda. What would have caused the move? Whether is will be good, racing alongside Hamilton and defending his title, we’ll have to see.

But sport is full of people changing teams, changing loyalties. How can they do that? How can they turn the loyalty they surely are expected to show, on and off? One minute they’d risk life and limb for their team, and then next they could be supporting another team and battling against their former colleagues and object of their loyalty.

Are YOU Loyal?

So what about your loyalty? Do you have any? Are you expected to? How about clients and agents you work for. Wouldn’t they expect you to not work for a competing organisation? Could you attract visitors and customers to one venue and then attract them away and elsewhere the following week?

Are Customers Loyal To You?

How about your customers? Are they loyal to you? You work for them, deliver more than they expect, exceed your brief but next time they book someone else. A competing performer. Is that OK? How does it feel? Are they being disloyal or is it all in the game?

Aren’t they free at all times to be on the lookout for a similar service but one that’s perhaps better, faster, cheaper, more versatile or better meets whatever criteria they desire? What if they met someone like this … would you feel they’d forgotten about you? All the good things you did?

What if you competitors have discovered just how to find your clients? How to spy on the competition (you), to find your keywords and use them in a better way? What if they obtained a list of all your valuable website links and added the same ones to their site? Maybe they have now made contact with your prospects, your clients and customers and learned how to continue communication with them, nurture them so that THEY are ‘top of their mind’ in the future.

Doesn’t this mean your existing customers won’t remain loyal and will exercise their freedom of choice and move to the supplier or team that suits them next season?

What can you do about it?

I’ll tell you … inside APE!

John
Founder APE



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