Don’t Love Em’ and Leave Em’

I remember attending a convention years ago, and hearing the speaker tell the audience, that regarding their customers, “Don’t Love Em’ and Leave Em.’” I always remembered those words because they made such good business sense.

Leaky Barrel of Marketing
Today, the average company spends 5 to 6 times more on attracting new customers than they do on keeping the ones they already have. This type of business philosophy leads to what professor Carmichael aptly describes as the “Leaky Barrel Theory of Marketing.” In other words he explained that just about as fast as companies get customers in the “barrel” they leak out the holes that are peppered throughout the barrel. What this leads to is a business plan that is bound to fail.

Strategies Need to Be Improved
Why is it that leaders of companies overlook such a concept? How can they spend so much on advertising and then have an untrained employee or manager mistreat or ignore these potential life-long customers? The answer is, they are not looking at the big picture. They don’t have a well thought out strategy to attract and retain the individuals they are trying to serve. They believe there are an infinite number of customers and they will always be knocking at their door.

Look for Answers
To avoid this faulty strategy, here is my recommendation. Hold a meeting with your managers and employees and discuss a strategy for developing life long customers. Ask for their suggestions about how your company can plug the holes where customers are spurting out of the barrel. Where can potential complaints be identified and prevented from happening? What can be done to take care of the customers so their needs and wants are satisfied? What can be done to exceed their expectations?

Once you get the answers to these questions, and are able to implement a strategy to keep your customers satisfied and their expectations exceeded, you will be on your way to “Loving Em’ and Keeping Em’.


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Tom Borg is president of Tom Borg Consulting, LLC. He is a business consultant, speaker, coach and author. He helps companies and organization become more successful and profitable by helping them attract and retain their customers and clients.