Loyalty Like Sunshine

Let’s talk loyalty 101 – are you loyal to your clients and vice versa? If you’re not entirely sure how to answer this, ask yourself these questions:

• Do I see my clients and pay attention to them? 
• Do I deliberately reach out and check in on them? 
• Am I usually too busy to take the time to care enough to look?

In an era of likes, followers and instant information, it’s very easy to learn so much about people’s personal lives – without actually knowing them.

Loyalty isn’t a given, it’s built. Just like trust. In order to build it, you need to know your clients’ stories, where they were and are currently at.

It’s not a transaction. You’re intentionally building relationships.

Now, I just returned from a trip to Nashville to participate in the Storybrand Workshop. There, we talked about strategy and stories. So, in hopes of showing you what I mean about loyalty – let me tell you a story:

Do you know loyalty like Sunshine’s?

I slept in the guestroom. It was the first time in almost 25 years of living with my husband that I couldn’t take one more minute or I was likely to harm him in some way.

It was the third night in a row that I couldn’t sleep because his snoring was so loud. He was sick with a cold, and I felt bad for him… but I was also so ridiculously frustrated and aggravated that I could not sleep.

I picked up my pillow, quietly left the room and headed down the hall to sleep elsewhere. I crawled into another bed and began to relax, when I suddenly heard a thud.

A few minutes later, there was movement in the guestroom – and then complete silence.

Suddenly, the sound was back, louder than before. As I looked down the side of the bed, I saw Sunshine trying to get up. My sweet little pup had jumped off the bed in search of her mum.

It felt so good that she missed me and came searching to find me.

Do you know that feeling…? Hang onto it.

Loyalty is crucial for your business to thrive

Now, what does this have to do with business?

Two important things:

1. Do your clients care enough to follow you?

Recently, I made the decision to stop all of my group coaching programs with the exception of the “Ask Me Anything” calls I do in Thought Readers.

It was an agonizing decision for me to make because I care deeply for the clients I have worked with over the years in Profit Pods and knew, with certainty, I was going to miss them.

What I didn’t expect was for them to feel the same way.

When I announced this decision, many of those people chose to join Thought Readers as well as do work with me privately. Talk about loyalty.

2. Do you care enough to follow your clients?

When I work with my clients, one of the things I encourage them to do regularly is to print their client list for the last five years and intentionally keep in touch with those people.

When you pay attention to your clients, and what is going on with them, you make them feel valued too. This matters.

Paying attention to them isn’t reaching out to try and sell them something. You’re reaching out to show you care – to get in their world, see what they’re up to and how they’re actually doing.

People buy from people they know, like and trust. And if you want the foundation of building long term trusting relationships, you need to start caring about your people.

Want to know how the story with Sunshine and my husband ends?

Sunshine crawled under the covers and snuggled up against me. We both had an amazing sleep. Now, unfortunately, I follow my husband a little too closely and woke up the next morning with his cold…

Tell me below – when it comes to building loyalty, what do YOU do to show your clients you care?