Adalah salah satu pembahasan dalam buku yang berjudul The Origin Of Brands karangan Al Ries dan Laura Ries. Pembahasan tersebut menurut saya pribadi merupakan suatu hal yang cukup kontroversial atau sangat bertolak belakang dengan pemikiran pebisnis pada jaman sekarang. Berikut adalah pembahasan yang diambil dari buku tersebut.
Customer loyalty is the most overrated aspect of marketing. In theory everybody wants to have loyal customers. But in practice, what does customer loyalty mean?
In practice, customer loyalty means that your customers are willing to do business with you even though they can buy the same protudcts or services at lower prices ( or better quality) some where else.
In the long run, your loyal customers tend to be your stupid customers. It may take a while, but when they find out they’ve been had, there’s usually a backlash. We used to be loyal customers of Delta Airlines, but with the advent of AirTran and JetBlue, we now realize that there is a fine line between loyalty and stupidity and we have crossed it.
There’sa strong analogy between the airline business and the automobile business. Each industry used to believe that they had to be all thins to all people. In the aftermath of the United and US Airways bankruptcies and the financial problems at American and Delta, the airline industry no longer believes the “everything for everybody”story.
In the future, you are likely to see an evolution in air travel where brands begin to have some meaning. Southwest, AirTran, and JetBlue are leading the way at the low end. Someday, we’ll se similar brands develop at the high end.
Will the automobile industry travel the same road? Eventually, yes, but it’s going to take a shocking event, like a major bankruptcy, to get the industry movin in a new direction.
Let them Go. Your best strategy for dealing with customers who want something new and different is to let them go to your competition. That way you keep the purity of the brand. That way you make sure your brand stands for something in the prospect’s mind.
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Let Your Customer Go
