Loyalty, we demand

We demand and expect loyalty in every segment of our lives. Whether it’s business or personal relationships, loyalty is a virtue that is always appreciated and demanded.

In insurance business, where products are intangible and quite similar in many ways, competition is tough and only few clicks away, it’s difficult to attract and retain clients.

The true test of loyalty comes when our clients are offered similar products with lower prices elsewhere. The key question we can ask ourselves is ‘what stops our clients from leaving us? Are they receiving more value in exchange for what they are paying and they couldn’t find it elsewhere?’

Loyalty equals value and appreciation. Are we providing enough value to our clients that supersede and sustain price pressure either from us or from our competition? Apple customers are loyal to Apple because they receive prestige and value from owning an apple device even if it’s more expensive than an Android or Windows based product in the market. Apple takes the lead because an Apple watch or an iPhone is not just the product, it’s a statement, it’s fashionable and trendy to own one.

In return, Apple promises to provide a quality product with a remarkable customer experience. They keep their end of the bargain and clients keep theirs by staying loyal to Apple brand year after year.

Now, if we think for a moment, and ask ourselves, what are we doing differently to deserve our client’s loyalty? What promises are we making to our clients in our ad campaigns? Are we keeping our end of the bargain or we have become greedy along the way.

Providing fast and efficient client service with a smile is not enough, just the first step in the race to win client’s loyalty. Our competition can do the same and even better than us, thanks to AI.

Clients can sense insincerity and greed from miles away. If our client feels that we have forgotten our promise to them and become just like any other Insurance broker or vendor in the market, then client says fine, I will shop by price and order Google to bring the cheapest insurance products available in the market and Google, like Aladdin’s lamp genie, will bring 10 different companies in the blink of an eye. Then we wonder, why our client left us, what went wrong? and blame the client for not being loyal to us.

I agree there are some clients who are purely price focused, they will switch if they find same product elsewhere even few cheaper.

I am talking about those qualified, loyal clients who came to us because we promised them something unique, a great personalized service, unique product, or something else, which they couldn’t find elsewhere but they had to pay more to have it, but once we had them as a client, we started to take them for granted.

Loyalty is two way traffic, we can certainly demand loyalty, but we must be ready to reciprocate by keeping our end of the bargain. Being more human, more caring and more trustworthy. It’s the personal and human relationship that wins loyalty, not the automated, mechanical and transactional interaction because it’s easy and anyone can do it, even computers.

Ehsan’s pick of the week: Today, I picked one of my favourites, all time best seller  “How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie. I believe this book will be of great benefit to you.

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