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Small Business – Customer Loyalty

How does your small business maintain customer loyalty?

Just recently I have been slowly reading my way through a book called The Cluetrain Manifesto by Rick Levine and others. It's been a slow read for me because it is full of concepts and ideas that I want to stop and think about.

Even though it was written over five years ago it is still relevant for today. In fact five years ago it was probably a bit far out on the fringe for most people but what the authors were talking about then is really beginning to happen now and so it's extremely relevant to any business large or small.

Here is a little excerpt about customer loyalty from the end of chapter three. The authors have been talking about how a business communicates with it's clients.

"Customer loyalty" is not a commodity a company owns. Where it exists at all -- and the cases in which it does are rare -- loyalty to a company is based on respect. And that respect is based on how the company has conducted itself in conversations with the market. Not conversing, participating, is not an option. If we don't engage people inside and outside our organization in conversation, someone else will. Start talking.

I hope you find it as challenging and thought provoking as I did and if you want to read the whole book just check the link in the right hand column.

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25 Sep 2005

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