Loyalty

What does loyalty mean to you? Do you want loyal customers? Is it fair to want loyalty from the people you work with or have in your business world? Does it even mean anything anymore?

Loyalty means different things to different people. As travel agents, we all want that customer that we know will have us arrange their travel no matter what. We want to know that they will not be online checking our pricing against another travel provider. They will not question if we are choosing the right property for them. They will not worry about giving us their credit card information. They will trust us and always use us at their travel advisor.

However, is this possible? I say it is. I believe that we teach people how to treat us. If we allow people to constantly question us and value money over the relationship no matter how hard we work for them, we are setting ourselves up to fail by expending too much energy on trying to get someone to see our value rather than recognizing that this type of person will always be draining.

We cannot just expect instant loyalty, though. We need to start off on the right foot with our customers by allowing them to see us as professional and trustworthy and this does come with responsibilities. To attract loyal customers, we need to do what we say we will do and always be transparent. If you say you will return an email or phone call, you must do so. You must make sure that the client feels that they can trust you to earn their loyalty. You must lead with service rather than price.

Alternatively, as an agent you must also be able to recognize clients that may not be worth your effort and may be better suited working with someone else. You must be loyal to your own time and energy. The truth is some people will always care about the dollar or two price difference. They are loyal to the dollar and always will be. They will never be loyal to an agent because when the cheaper alternative comes around, they will go for it. If you do not recognize this, you will be left upset wondering why they have no loyalty towards you when you pour yourself into serving their needs. Just know that it does not matter what you do for these types of people. You could break out all the bells and whistles for them, have champagne in their room, make sure every detail is taken care of. If their priority is money, you will never ever obtain their loyalty as a customer no matter what you do.

It is human nature to expect a certain level of loyalty when you spend time building a relationship with someone. It is a hard thing to accept when someone would choose to go somewhere else when you know you have done all you could to make sure you have provided the best possible service. I would challenge you to release these expectations and understand that you could do everything in your power to make a person happy and some will still choose to go with someone else who is saying what they want to hear. Why get yourself upset over someone who will always be on the hunt for something better?

In my own business, I have had agents who came to us without any experience and we helped them to build their knowledge and business from the ground up. Still, if another agency is willing to pay them a small percentage more in commission or dangle something in front of them, they will leave. We could not do anything differently to change the outcome. It is who they are. And instead of getting upset about it, I must be thankful for every agent that will remain with us because they care about what we are about. I must be thankful for the people who naturally weed themselves out and fall away so that I am left with a core team of loyal agents who support our vision and goals. It would be pointless to spend time and energy on the person that has no loyalty to our agency. It is the same as that customer that you have who you bend over backwards for and they only go with another agency because they were offered a free dinner coupon!

It is not worth your time or effort to try to maintain customers who do not value your service. You want customers who know what you bring to the table and appreciate your skills above all else. You want the people who send you that thank you card after their vacation. You do not want that customer who only contacts you to complain about something. Let those customers find someone else to be ungrateful for! It is hard to do, I know, especially when you have a heart that wants to be of service and maybe you want to be liked by everyone. But when we are at a place where we can decide how we are treated, it is much better for our soul (and for our business!) because there’s less chance for bitterness, resentment and burnout to occur. The truth is there are always going to be users by nature. They take but never give. They complain but never say thank you. They do not offer help but take the help. The sooner you can find that out the better.

Loyalty might not be about whether you are willing to take a bullet for someone, but it does speak to the character of the person. Remember that daily as an agent, you are also choosing where to place your loyalty. The more you make a clear definition of who warrants your energy, the better. Choose to be loyal to your vision, your goals and your own personal value and energy as a businessperson and you will attract the types of clients who will do the same.