From Marketing Sherpa:
“For B-to-B, loyalty is all about maximizing relationships with particular clients,� says Carlos Dunlap, VP Strategic Services, Maritz Loyalty Marketing. “Discount programs and reseller initiatives (ie: co-op dollars and other rewards) can exist within a loyalty program, but B-to-B loyalty is not based on price or rewards. True loyalty is when your customer is resistant to competitive threat and insider machinations.�
Says Catie Fitzgerald, Contact Channel Consultant, Enhanced Training Solutions, “Think about the printing industry for a minute. Maybe a company used a local printer for years. But thanks to technology, you can send your print job to Fed-Ex/Kinkos via email, have it printed in 24 hours or less, and have it delivered to you at no charge. They save you money, time, and give you peace of mind.
“It’s this combination of quality, customer service, and value that either gets people to change vendors – or makes them incredibly loyal customers.�
Step #1: Segment and profile your best customers
Loyalty programs are generally used to reward the 20% (or less) of customers generating 80% of the business.
Step #2: Benchmark current client satisfaction (and typical problems)
Step #3 – Find out why former customers (really) stopped doing business with you.
Step #4. Launch a loyalty program
When you know what customers really want, choosing what elements would make a high-impact loyalty program are easier. It’s not about the holiday card or the coffee mug, or even a company blog.
Often, it’s service related – giving a “valet-level� of white glove service to customers who count the most.
Strategy #5: Don’t forget to get buy-in from the channel
One of Dunlap’s clients, a consumer package goods manufacturer, wanted to understand more about their end-users in hospitality, hospitals, and office buildings. However, the data resided with distributors who were wary of sharing information with the OEM.
The first thing the OEM did was put together a straw man design of what a loyalty initiative might look like and then asked their distributors, “If you were assured we would not sell directly to end-users and that we would help you drive sales, would you participate in this program?�
Says Dunlap, “95% of the distributors surveyed responded with a ‘yes’ and that they would share end-user data with the OEM as long as the company kept its word. The company ended up rolling out a full-scale loyalty program – and is getting coveted end-user data in return.�
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