Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com January 9, 2017 • Hartford Business Journal 21 BIZ BOOKS Keys to maintaining customer loyalty "T he Customer Loyalty Loop — Why People Buy, Buy More, and Buy Again" by Noah Fleming (Career Press, $16.99). Draw a large circle on a sheet of paper; segment it into four equal arcs. At the end of each arc, draw an arrow pointing clock- wise. Starting at the top of the circle, label the arcs "imagination before persuasion," "conversion without coercion," "experience choreography" and "happily ever after," and you have the "customer loy- alty loop." Keep the circle in front of you when read- ing because its visual cue will emphasize how the four stages flow full circle. Here are some highlights: Stage 1: "Imagina- tion before persuasion" — Whether you're a retailer, in B2B or hospitality, etc., it's important to know who your customers are. Without that knowledge, your marketer's abil- ity to create "memorable, meaningful and personal" moments and trust will be scat- tered and ineffective. A helpful exercise: Ask your customer- contact staff to write down descriptions of their ideal customer. Ask them to go beyond the usual demographics and identify what's important to customers, their expectations of your product/service and how they make their choices. If there's consistency, mar- keters will be able to create targeted touchpoints and stories. If there's disparity, resolve it. You only have one opportunity to create a great first impression. Stage 2: "Conversion without coercion" turns the I-know-you messaging of stage 1 into wallet-opening action. To create that action, think about all the "experi- ence" elements that come into play when prospects walk through your door — physically, online or by phone. Does stage 1's great impression seamlessly shift to stage 2's I-can-help you tact? How easy do you make the request for information or buying experience? Are you cutting corners on things that may affect the customer experience? If you're a bricks-and-mortar or online retailer, you can assess stage 2 by compar- ing the number of prospects coming into the store with the number who purchased something. A high conversion ratio means you're doing a good job of connecting your dots to theirs. Stage 3: "Experience choreography" deals with making the second great impres- sion. The expectations gap (i.e. the gap between what a customer is sold and what they actually receive) measures that second impression. To see its existence, check the online reviews of your business and its prod- ucts/services. Prospects check out these reviews when deciding which vendor's door to open. Your customers check them, too, to see if you're worth a return visit. While a large gap isn't an absolute indicator (because those having negative impressions tend to vent), the response to the negatives means quite a bit to others looking at reviews. Example: I was looking at the reviews for a leaf vacuum. Reviews with low ratings all carried the following response from the company: "We appreciate your comments and will look into the issue you raised." If the company really wanted to improve its second impression, the response should have been: "We're determined to make things right. Click on the following link; fill out the contact form and we'll be in touch within two business days." Stage 4: "Happily ever after" solidi- fies a customer relationship through post- sale contact. Imagine the impression you'd leave as a retailer if you called or emailed (no surveys please) a customer within two weeks of their purchase and asked about their satisfaction. Even if he/she doesn't respond, you'll be remembered because you followed up. For B2B, Fleming introduces the 90-45 follow-up rule: Contact every customer every 90 days by phone; the top 10 percent of each salesperson's customers should be contacted every 45 days. Continuous con- tact creates customer loyalty, and often nips problems in the bud. Key takeaway: There are numerous other tips for each stage; all center on main- taining the personal touch, which makes the customer loyalty loop a flywheel. n Jim Pawlak is a nationally syndicated book reviewer. Jim Pawlak OTHER VOICES Hey Connecticut, Vermont ridgelines, meadows are not for sale By Brian Dubie W hy is a Vermont developer seeking to blast important ridgeline habitat to install seven 499-foot-tall industrial wind towers near a residential Vermont neigh- borhood? Why is this developer seeking to build his wind plant when no Vermont electric utility wants to buy his power? The Vermont utilities have said that the cost of the power is too high, they do not need the power, and they will not support a project that the host town opposes (the town of Swanton, Vermont voted almost five to one against this proposed industrial wind plant). The reason the project is moving forward is because the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection recently announced they are considering buying power from the proposed Swanton and Irasburg wind plants and other Vermont solar projects. The voters of Swanton voted to oppose the Swanton wind project 731 to 160 and the voters of Irasburg voted to oppose their wind plant 274 to 9. The Vermont developers stand to make a lot of money if Connecticut decides to buy their intermittent power that requires the blasting of Vermont ridgelines for wind projects. The developers would enjoy a 20-year stream of income paid for by Connecticut ratepayers and taxpayer subsidies. Connecti- cut ratepayers would pay about two times the current wholesale rate for this electricity. Con- necticut utilities would also buy the renewable energy certificates, RECs, allowing them to continue adding CO2 to the atmosphere. The developer would also receive federal upfront cash grants plus accelerated depreciation to write off the project cost over 5 years. The voters of Swanton, the Swanton select board and planning commission, the select boards of neighboring Fairfield and St. Albans, the Burlington Electric Department and Green Mountain Power are all opposed to the Swanton wind plant. The people of Connecticut should also reject this and the Irasburg wind project. We know from experience people who live near an industrial wind project suffer. In 2015, neighbors living within 3,800 feet of an industri- al wind project on Vermont's Georgia Mountain filed a motion for relief. They reported sleep disturbance and other health impacts caused by the operations of the 440-foot-tall turbines. Vermont's Department of Public Service found the neighbors' complaints to be cred- ible and serious, and concluded that turbine operations could be "indicative of a significant impairment of the quality of life for some near- by residents." Significant impairment of quality of life is why the town of Georgia lowered the assessed property values of homes close to the Georgia Mountain turbines. The proposed Swanton wind plant tur- bines are taller and closer to neighbors. We know from experience that the four 440-foot turbines within 3,800 feet of homes impair the quality of life in Georgia, imagine the impact seven 499-foot turbines would have on the 34 homes lying within 2,500 feet, and 134 homes within one mile of the proposed Swanton wind turbines. Sound pressure lev- els would be at least 2.3 times greater. Officials at the Vermont Department of Health acknowledge turbines make noise. Noise can annoy and disturb sleep. Annoy- ance and disturbed sleep can have grave health impacts. This has been confirmed by a recent Canadian health study, which found people who are exposed to turbine noise louder than 40 dBA will be "extremely or highly annoyed." The study connects annoyance and health and states, "wind turbine noise annoyance was found to be statistically related to sev- eral self-reported health effects including, but not limited to, blood pressure, migraines, tinnitus, dizziness, … and perceived stress." I am writing to you so that you will know how Vermont communities feel about these proposed projects. We want you to know that these unwanted projects, so far removed from you, will have profoundly negative impacts on our people, and our wildlife. We want the people of Connecticut to know that our ridgelines and meadows are not for sale. Please ask the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection not to buy from these bad projects. n Brian Dubie is the former Lt. Gov. of Vermont (2003-2011). Brian Dubie ▶ ▶ The expectations gap (i.e. the gap between what a customer is sold and what they actually receive) measures that second impression.

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