There are about 500 books on how to get customer loyalty and every marketing consultant will tell you their interpretation of them.  But it's still an oft-mentioned topic so, apparently, reading a book or two, or even practicing what they say is not enough.  In bad times especially, customer satisfaction and voice of the customer are gathered but rarely does this feedback turn into real improvements in value for technology customers.  (link to Info Week and other articles).

There are several barriers to customer loyalty:

Sellers don't think like buyers and it shows up in lost customers. For example, sellers see the market as a Sales Pipeline while buyers see it as a way to find Solutions

Each model is a useful way of thinking, The Pipeline (aka Funnel) is commonly used in technology marketing and sales along with other models such as the Chasm model, whereas the IT Solution Cycle was built by Techtel CEO Michael F Kelly with insights of 25 years of marketing research and 15 years of IT experience, plus great input from hundreds of IT people in Techtel's Research Panel.  They are worth studying and learning from, but they point out one major failure: they reflect the different points of view buyers and sellers have. 

Techtel's Influence Relationship model combines both into a dynamic model of mutual influence of the right kind at the right time in ways that can make customer feedback, satisfaction and voice more like a conversation that can really work for both parties.

At the other extreme  - Techtel helps you see the barriers that get in during execution that frequently effects customers negatively, and their impact on revenues.  We combine word of mouth models and market data to find and fix the devil in the detail problems that are frequently overlooked.  Click for more info.

Techtel designs and helps you implement customer feedback systems that actually work, that lead to improvements in value to customers on a sustainable basis.  Our ecosystem of partners is second to none in terms of getting the information and turning it into customer value and increased revenues.  We know the terms, read the books and do the assembly to make it work. Perhaps best of all, we don't talk in hype.  Click here to talk to Techtel about your Customer Loyalty needs, goals and situation..

Related topics: Improve Customer Experience