Have you ever went to a trade show and waved at that sales guy you know, then as you walked by realized that they were at the wrong booth? What’s worse, they are at the booth of company he told you sucked last year?? WTF!? Well, there is loyalty and then there is “brand loyalty”. . .

About Loyalty

Loyalty has to be one of the important and complex parts of human existence we could discuss. In my opinion too many folks are given to blind loyalties. Mark Twain once said, “Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul in this world–and never will.”. We’ve built a big chunk of our human story around pillars of blind loyalty; right or wrong, do or die, blood thicker than water, down with the ship and so on. To my mind such things are not loyal but oppressive in that you must accept anything handed to you. It’s selling a bill of goods. I prefer loyalty out of mutual and self respect. I’m certainly one who believes that loyalty is earned and can be lost. I also believe the gods of my life, those I hold in highest esteem, are very flawed.  .  . and I love’em dearly. I do not need to be blind to be loyal. I trust people most who make mistakes. In fact I’m most awed by those who f*ck up magnificently and recover from their own foolishness with amazing acts of character. I won’t hang them for inconsistencies, or knock them for personal choices because only they know where they are headed.  If I had the power to judge others in such ways, I’d be sitting on MT. Olympus playing with my Greek action figures.

About Brand Loyalty

In some sense the “company” is much better at standing on a pillar than a mere mortal. They can print a mission statement, build a brand and sell it to the great un-washed with hardly a question as to the reality of it all. They can to some extent, sell us a fantasy. . “own the outdoor adventure” as it were. Amazingly this superficial system works. Well, for awhile. It works until we have questions or something breaks. Then the yummy candy coated exterior melts away and we begin to taste the worms in the center. That’s part of the reason customers are not so loyal any longer. Marketing gods say we’re fickle. I think that’s an excuse. I think the truth is that they are trying to sell us fantasies and eventually we just find out.

About Sales Rep Loyalty

With that in mind it would seem a better approach to sell truth. Flaws and all. Which makes me think of those sales reps that have been with companies since long before Derek Hutchinson bought his first sweater. The thing about these old hands is that they don’t see a need to BS anyone anymore. They are happy to tell you why their company’s manufacturing sucked through the 80s or that the owners were having a row or whatever. They’ll tell you what a great paddle this is, but also happily rant about that stupid button and wonder why it’s never been done properly before. Thing about these sales guys is that we’ll buy from them. In fact they are the reason we’ll not only buy from a company, but buy repeatedly and most importantly accept the occasional flaws. This what some in the box, “out of the box” advocates call relationship building. By building relationships with your customers you will build loyalty and most often have them for life. Well, duh! Thank god for education!

Luckily in sea kayaking we’re not so much cut throats as kissing cousins. Rivalries are mostly of the “poke in the rib variety”. It’s not like you can REALLY make a paddle or sea kayak that “sucks”. (Traditional paddlers can tell you, we can paddle with anything!) Some brands are a bit better or a bit worse than another, have a different dingle or widget, but to be honest most will get you were you want to go. From there only athletes and people with obsessive-compulsive disorders know the difference. (I can hear a sales rep coughing somewhere in the back row now, but we know it’s true.) What really divides one company from another is not so much design as it is quality and to put it simply “personality”. (that thing we can build a relationship on and feel loyal about).

About Changing Loyalty

So what got me musing on this relationship & loyalty meme, was news that a well known sales rep for one of the big kayak companies was moving to another. (Ohhhh, a mystery! How delicious!) It happens. In fact, sometimes it happens repeatedly! I started wondering about how I would feel selling brand A for a year or two, then brand B, then Brand C. I wondered if and at what point customers and shops would see more of an industry lifer than someone who truly believed in the product they were selling? Does it matter? Probably not. Sales is a just a job right!? A guy who’s sold Fords all his life would undoubtedly be an excellent GM salesman. Who’d know GM better than a Ford rep? Still, I can’t help but feel a bit queasy about car salesman.

There are certainly reasons for change that can maintain that sense of customer loyalty. Sometimes sales reps and spokespeople can take a whole swath of customers over to a new company. This is because in the end people are loyal to people not “branding”. Companies can dress their sales team in polo shirts and Dockers but it just goes to show how out of touch they are. People, their potential customers, are looking at faces. Customers have a hard time trusting when the faces change repeatedly. In fact new faces in old uniforms can hint to someone in disguise. Something wrong but you don’t know what. It’s that part of us that’s hardwired. Trust is ultimately human.

Trust seeks consistency. If a salesman is always moving people may like him, but they know he’s not loyal to his brand. While a sales rep who stays with a company for 10 years can share the warts and still build loyalty.

About No Loyalty At All

It’s my feeling that companies that change reps like underwear are sending potential customers a deeper message. Even if they don’t recognize it. When sales reps change companies every other year, I may trust their facts but I also may question their opinions.  I’ll probably feel just as loyal toward their company as they do.

Anyway, just something to think about on a random Thursday.

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