I was reading about the importance of rewarding loyalty with the personal touch because it allows small businesses to distinguish themselves from the rush of offers from larger rivals. This article written by Deborah L Cohen describes how these smaller companies keep rolling out concepts to keep their customers coming back for more. So it got me thinking about more things we can be doing at Courageous Leaders to keep our customers coming back for more! 
The experts stress not to waste time, ,energy and resources on customers who are already enthusiastic about you and your services. They say this is a common mistake and stress it is important to target the customer base that has room to grow. I am not totally convinced on this one as I hate that banks target people whom they want to shift to them and do not offer the same incentives to the people who have been loyal to them for the last say ten years. So I still prefer to invest the same level of energy towards loyal customers. Would love to know what you think about the thoughts from the experts?
Finding the right “rewarding experiences” is another critical element – the experts tell us to consider a special preview for friends and family; a spotlight event for a special business colleague. A sense of exclusivity works brilliantly – making them feel they belong to a group of people with distinct and exclusive benefits. Technology enables such a diversity of benefits also – like meals at special restaurants, evenings on the Harbour for a special evening of drinks and canapés. We took loyal clients out for a sailing regatta a few years ago and it was such a fun filled experience – and something a bit different and out of the ordinary.
Even think about organising meaningful and rewarding experiences that create strong purpose – raising awareness for special issues and for people at risk. People want to believe and customers are no different so make it easy for them to enjoy joining you in such rewarding experiences.
Small business needs the courage to bring rewarding experiences to their customers – create advocacy as a good colleague, Jon Burgess, would say – be top of mind and front of mind.
