Five Steps that will Guarantee Customer Loyalty

I've been in the marketing profession for many years, with experience in both the for profit and nonprofit sectors.  I've been on the sales side and on the client side.  Call me a geek, but I love marketing.  I think there is a tremendous payoff, both personally and professionally, when a marketing strategy succeeds.

However, after years in business, what bothers me most about my own profession is how little respect other marketers have for it. 

I recently read a blog post by an author who was advocating for greater certification in the marketing profession.  What a great idea!  I think that it would weed out those who have little concern for the customer or the company.  A more educated, informed and accountable a marketer is more likely to enhance the profession and improve his/her performance!  Marketing is a talent that requires skill, creativity, ambition, and innovation.

However, while there is definitely a science to marketing, when push comes to shove, I believe successful marketing only requires you live by five simple rules:

1. Ask the customer what they need or want
2. LISTEN to the customer's response
3. Give the customer what they need or want (not what you want to sell them)
4. Negotiate a fair price
5. Thank the customer for their business

That's it!  If you do these five things I guarantee you will gain and keep far more customers than you will lose. 

Do I have the data to back up this bold claim?  Yes, it's called "every successful sale in the history of mankind".

How you execute these steps is up to you.  I recognize that there are any number of variables that can impact the process.  But if everything you do from a marketing standpoint is built on the foundation of these five simple principles, you will succeed. 

So why is it that so many marketers and sales professionals fail to follow these five easy steps?  Simple.  Because they're either uneducated in marketing 101 or they're lazy.

It really doesn't take brain surgery to figure out that the best way to sell a product or service is to ensure that it meets the needs of the consumer.  Failing to appreciate a customer by attempting to force them to buy something they neither need nor want, only results in working twice as hard as you need to, while damaging your reputation and all but eliminating repeat business.

After all, everyone knows that keeping a customer costs much less than acquiring a customer...don't they?