In a sales job there is nothing more important than customer loyalty. My job as a pharmaceutical sales rep, with primarily a nutritional company, was made all the easier because I took over a territory with great customer loyalty.
The rep before me had done a good job and was being promoted. And the manager of the district was good at building customer loyalty when he worked with his reps in his district. So I had a great advantage. I even had the same name as the rep I was replacing.
There was trouble with one of the hospitals I took over however. It had been covered by a rep who was recently fired for not working eight to five. He figured he could do his work when he wanted to and how he wanted to. His market share was good but the company did not appreciate him not working what they considered normal business hours. The problem was the company never had that in writing.
But the company fired him after giving him the chance to conform to regular business hours. In the meantime the company rewrote their policies manual and added the work hour requirement. The rep decided to sue the company over the firing. He lost because the court found that there was an implied work requirement even though it was not written out. The rep used his customer loyalty to try to start a boycott against his former employer.
It was my job to call on this hospital where the rep was trying to start a boycott. In my first week with the company one head nurse called me in and claimed our products were not fit for her patients that they were contaminated. I did not know if this was a common complaint so I relayed it to my manager. He had me revisit the nurse with the district trainer.
The nurse had now taken off her patients from our product and switched them to a competitor. Our district trainer confronted the nurse and basically called her crazy for thinking that our products were not safe to use. If that was the case he said all the hospitals in the country would be complaining. They were not. I am glad that she left that hospital for a job outside my territory.
Later we learned she was one of the fired reps favorite customers. We cannot say for sure whether she had gone along with the boycott but she sure did have customer loyalty to the rep who was fired.
The boycott did not last long. Such customer loyalty dies fast when the rep is not around anymore. But your job in sales is to build up your customer loyalty any way you can. I was winning sales awards for years after I replaced the rep in my territory because he had done a great job building it up. Start today building up customer loyalty and you will enjoy the results to come for years. - 30544
The rep before me had done a good job and was being promoted. And the manager of the district was good at building customer loyalty when he worked with his reps in his district. So I had a great advantage. I even had the same name as the rep I was replacing.
There was trouble with one of the hospitals I took over however. It had been covered by a rep who was recently fired for not working eight to five. He figured he could do his work when he wanted to and how he wanted to. His market share was good but the company did not appreciate him not working what they considered normal business hours. The problem was the company never had that in writing.
But the company fired him after giving him the chance to conform to regular business hours. In the meantime the company rewrote their policies manual and added the work hour requirement. The rep decided to sue the company over the firing. He lost because the court found that there was an implied work requirement even though it was not written out. The rep used his customer loyalty to try to start a boycott against his former employer.
It was my job to call on this hospital where the rep was trying to start a boycott. In my first week with the company one head nurse called me in and claimed our products were not fit for her patients that they were contaminated. I did not know if this was a common complaint so I relayed it to my manager. He had me revisit the nurse with the district trainer.
The nurse had now taken off her patients from our product and switched them to a competitor. Our district trainer confronted the nurse and basically called her crazy for thinking that our products were not safe to use. If that was the case he said all the hospitals in the country would be complaining. They were not. I am glad that she left that hospital for a job outside my territory.
Later we learned she was one of the fired reps favorite customers. We cannot say for sure whether she had gone along with the boycott but she sure did have customer loyalty to the rep who was fired.
The boycott did not last long. Such customer loyalty dies fast when the rep is not around anymore. But your job in sales is to build up your customer loyalty any way you can. I was winning sales awards for years after I replaced the rep in my territory because he had done a great job building it up. Start today building up customer loyalty and you will enjoy the results to come for years. - 30544
About the Author:
As one of the customer loyalty programs, reward program, is increasing in popularity, loyalty cards serve as an incentive for customers to shop at a specific store. When customers are offered bonus points, it will help businesses build customer loyalty.
