In business, a lot depends on lasting relationships, which
grease the bond, nurture & maintain the relation, maintain peace & calm at home, workplace & in friend circle. In any fusion of relationship, long-term benefits to both sides should be kept in view. Small irritants should not be allowed to affect the ties, built over a period of time. The employees also want loyalty to their company. Similarly customers may have (& may switch) their loyalties. Definitely loyalty can lead to financial success. Therefore we should build bonds of relationship & loyalty. The book identifies the simple rules, points & checklists, & provides the tools for implementing the principles of loyalty. After extensive research into some start-ups & established companies, six principles of Loyalty have been stated. Loyalty is defined as the multiplication of love, courage & perseverance. As per Chapter 1, Loyalty could be that of the customer, employee, supplier or investor etc. Customer satisfaction test, customer & employee retention rates, & Loyalty acid test survey can measure loyalty. Bonds of loyalty will help in outperforming the competitors. We have to find the right role models, i.e. organizations whose
leadership has consistently put the interests of customers, employees etc. ahead. The Chapter 2 gives profiles of some organizations, which adopted loyalty based strategy, decentralized the organization, adopted high-tech practices & made employees enterprising. Periodically one must carry out the Loyalty Acid test, & bridge the gap between the principles & practices. As per Chapter 3, we must not have a feeling of satisfaction at any stage & we must continue to discover new levels of excellence. We should focus our resources, energy & investment on those areas, where we can be the very best & achieve leadership, e.g. on small sectors, in which we could offer outstanding service to the customers at remarkably low prices. The company must retain existing customers, acquire additional customers, & adopt win/win strategies for the right customers. As per Chapter 4, people being the strongest source of competitive advantage, their strict screening & selection are required. Special employees deserve special opportunities. They must earn their promotion or lay off, by dint of their performance. The weaker performers must not be retained, if their performance is not improved, even after providing opportunities. Customer selection & acquisition also need to be managed with proper analysis, i.e. for those who are likely to have lifetime association. It is equally important to choose the vendors, dealers etc. through their loyalty, capability & performance.
As per Chapter 5, now rapid learning & rapid response are required for effectiveness. All changes in procedures, forms, pricing structure etc. should be simple, & in the interest of the customers. Also the business partners should know the progress, with simple & trustworthy systems, for proper focusing their energies. Those functions, for which we cannot provide outstanding customer value, should be outsourced. Also we should have a small size headquarters, simple hierarchies in the organization & small teams of young managers. As per Chapter 6, we must measure the right things, & pay on right results. Business partner value, customer value, customer retention etc. should be measured, to influence the course of the organization. Incentives & rewards should be encouraged to build customer, vendor & employee loyalties. The interests of employees & customers, should not clash. The author provides details of some of the techniques adopted by five organizations, for aligning incentives & rewards. Best case studies should be made available to everyone in the organization. A reasonably low amount of basic pay should be guaranteed, with opportunity to earn more by performance alone. The organization positively needs the loyalty of star performers. As per Chapter 7 the key to success is effective
communication, e.g. in CISCO, honesty & trust are at the core of communications, leading to an extraordinary environment of teamwork & cooperation. There should be a two-way openness, based on listening, learning, acting & explaining. News should never be manipulated or filtered. The information obtained through the daily conversations with the customers in call centers & surveys, should be used for corrective actions. We should create the right forums, for better communication with the customers & partners. Chapter 8 states that we cannot preach, unless we practice what we preach. Sermons should be given in writing, along with ways & means for putting the principles into practice, through case studies & story telling. Also organizations should select their own heroic models, who could narrate their stories. Such leaders should help others in their organizations, to do something worthwhile in one’s life, for which they will be remembered. Among special features of the book are, case studies, action checklists in seven chapters & proformas of loyalty acid test consumer survey, loyalty acid test, and employee survey in the Appendix. With the help of case studies & formats of surveys, the author illustrates effects of ensuring loyalty. It provides information in a simple language, which the reader can understand easily & implement. It is considered very useful for CEO’s, business managers, executives, consumer organizations, students, customers & the general public at large.