Wanna make your customers and clients trust you, and remain loyal? Be consistent!
Perceived Consistency (PC) produces great trust and loyalty among your customers. Do you have a friend, client, family member who is always living in chaos? They never show when they say they will, they bring information to you that is in disarray, their information is inaccurate, their information is late, etc. You tend to perceive them as untrustworthy. And if they are untrustworthy, then you become uncommitted to them, or disloyal.
As the PC factor goes up, then trust and loyalty goes up. And it works the other way too (doesn’t it always?).
What consistency am I talking about? Let me give some examples from my firm. I ALWAYS send out a semi-annual update to my clients, some time in May and then some time in December. ALWAYS. My clients come to expect it. They feel a level of comfort when they receive it. The tax packages we prepare for our clients must ALWAYS look the same when the client comes to pick up their information. We are going to implement a new process in our firm at the beginning of the new year. It’s an area where I have some marketing cushion, and I need to take advantage of it. We will begin sending out new client information packets to all new clients. I usually talk with the new clients about their respective needs, but the new information packet will be an opportunity to talk about all that we do, who we are, what our theories behind business are, etc. We will ALWAYS do this from now on. We will work the PC factor in this area and build trust and loyalty in our clients. You see, my firm gives off good vibes when I confirm my customers trust again and again and again… we are consistent and that makes my clients trust us. And if they trust us, they tend to remain loyal too.
Running your business in a chaotic way hurts you more than you think. It might be hurting you and you don’t even know it. Your PC factor is going down… maybe slowly, but it is probably declining. Consistency in the way you do things, the way you present things, the way you return your client’s calls, the way you talk to your employees, the way you pay your bills, the way you bill your clients all build solid trust and loyalty… or not.
Consistency matters. Work on the PC factor in your company.
Thanks, Jason M. Blumer
4 comments
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December 18, 2007 at 11:48 pm
Liz Fuller
I think this is a great point. It is actually better to be consistently average than to alternate between brilliant execution and terrible execution. One might think that customers would be so pleased with the brilliant efforts that they overlook the poor ones. But not so. Since they never know which you’re going to deliver, they are irritated by the inconsistency, even when things go well. At least if you are consistently mediocre, they know what to expect and don’t feel frustrated.
That’s not to say you should aim for mediocrity - consistent excellence is obviously the top choice.
December 19, 2007 at 12:22 am
Thriveal
Liz-
So true. Clients are not too forgiving. They expect consistency to feel comfortable.
As you mentioned, even inconsistencies between good and bad can be a detrement to your business efforts.
Thanks, Jason M. Blumer
December 21, 2007 at 9:24 pm
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