Loyalty doesn't have to be an endangered species
Has brand loyalty disappeared? I don't think so...not for employer or consumer brands. I am loyal to brands that are loyal to me. However, I do feel the price of loyalty has changed.
The price of loyalty, for instance from employees, used to be - Give me a job, now that is not enough. The same for consumers - Give me a good product at a good price. The value exchange was relatively low.
People rush to say that loyalty doesn't exist any more, consumers and employees are promiscuous - I don't believe that. For instance, when I look round my office and my house, I am still brand loyal but only if the brand sees that value exchange has increased - price and quality are now a given, I want to be treated with respect.
I think this is true in the workplace as well - loyalty is still there if you deliver against the employer brand values. So what has changed? Well, loyalty CAN be gained by
- Moving from seeing the person as an employee, to seeing the employee as a person.
- Moving from seeing the 'bum on the seat' as the asset, to the brain on the shoulders as the asset.
- Moving from seeing the control of the individual as important, to trusting the control to the individual.
- Moving from offering a job, to offering a career development plan
- Moving from hiring people, to hiring people with the same values as the brand
People are promiscuous with their buying habits and their jobs, when you offer no other reason than price or pay. If you connect with them through a payslip or invoice, this is what you are doing....if you connect with them as people you are fulfilling that very basic need of feeling valued.
As a leader, one thing you should ask "Should the company be asking for a credit note against your payslip last month?" And the only way to find out is by asking if the value you provided, created value in the company and....
You only create that value through people. When you and your team revel in creating that value, loyalty is such a wonderful by-product.
