According to Alexei Orlov, clients, and their customers, judge with savage and incisive precision. They believe that they are entitled to many things by using their Amex or Visa or hard-earned cash. While they may speak to good things in a kind manner at times, they will shout from the mountaintops every time and for all to hear if they believe there is an intense, exciting story to share.
Alexei Orlov points out that trust is a vital part of empathy and need. Without it, there is no significance. Mistakes are bound to occur but what matters is how they are responded to and dealt with. It’s in those actions, specifically, that the chaff separates from the wheat.
Unfortunately, Alexei Orlov was correct most of the time. The people brands employ are the ones who do all the damage. One small moment that an employee becomes careless and lets down their guard, or is at the end of their rope and offers rude comments to the customers; this tiny moment is more than enough.
Suddenly, months and months of work, everything you have worked for to build brand loyalty and trust just disappears with one sad employee. He did not hesitate to point out that happy people inevitably glow, but those who are disaffected go on to upset customers.
According to Alexei Orlov, customers do not take very well to being talked down to by a brand or forced to feel like a second-class citizen. Brands that prove unreliable and unworthy of their customer’s trust only create more hardships for themselves and their ability to succeed, and understandably so.
Orlov indicated that brand professionals act as if they deserve more customer gratitude than they ever seem to receive. Customers do not necessarily work toward a place of thanklessness toward brands, snubbing them as a conscious, plotted-out act. Customers simply do not have the time to pander to brands with unnecessary thank yous.
Ironically, you will often find yourself with the same feeling portrayed between clients and their customers. Many customers feel that the brand should be grateful to THEM since they are forking over the cash and keeping the brand in business by spending their own money.
Alexei Orlov points out when brands often stumble; it is clearly due to a few particular feelings or actions, including arrogance and “economies of truth,” among others. Brand professionals should realize they could eradicate every issue they face with their customers with a spoon full of well-timed common sense and just a dash of humility to top it all off.
If the consumer feels like they have been let down or mistreated, then there is little hope for the brand because it just does not end well in these cases. No one wants to feel orphaned. Alexei Orlov’s insight is correct in that for clients, regaining lost ground is a deadly offense.
‘When we find ourselves in times of trouble,’ as the Beatles said, that is when a brand’s charm, or lack thereof, truly begins to show. A brand’s reaction to the hardship moments will indicate if they possess the grace and magnetism needed to lure customers back from the brink and safely into a position of loyalty once again.
From Alexei Orlov’s point of view, customers will always ‘magnify.’ It is intrinsic, so it is better to magnify because they believe. Orlov pointed out that belief and respect are earned commodities for brands and come by trust and upheld promises. Trust, to Alexei Orlov, is the one overarching thing that will keep customers coming back to your brand time and time again. However, it has many guises.
Customers will not overtly use the word trust, but they will note that the brand’s products do and do very well what the brand advertises they do or that a brand is always coming in at a very fair price. These are the ways that a customer will speak to their trust in a brand.
Alexei Orlov Speaks to Singular Care
On loyalty, Alexei Orlov quickly pointed out that “for companies/brands/relationships/businesses to thrive, they must pay attention to singular care.”
Brands offering ‘singular care’ may not come quickly, but it is worth the effort. No company should allow uncertainty or lack of clarity to bring down their reputation. Once trust is lost, earning it back is a pretty hard, if not impossible task for any brand to accomplish.
So, can love be found within the space of any brand? According to Alexei Orlov, when people say they ‘love’ a brand, it’s usually a euphemism, or they might have meant it, but it holds little weight or actual value by the next day. As Alexei Orlov writes, “Passion is a love bite. Not true love.”
No matter how customers feel about your particular brand or company generally, they want their loyalty and custom recognized and awarded. Loyalty and love are profound emotions, yet both are generally easily misinterpreted and exploited by brands and businesses.
Customer loyalty is all about a cheerful temperament. Customers will move on to the next brand with the drop of a pin. Alexei Orlov wants businesses to understand that customers will NEVER give it loyalty to a brand for nothing. Customer allegiance comes with a price tag, and customers expect to see rewards for their loyalty.
Alexei Orlov believes that there are ways to sustain customer loyalty, but brands should always keep the following in mind if you wish even to dare to lock down your customer’s loyalty even for a moment:
With experience spanning 30 years, 40 countries, and 50 brands, Alexei Orlov has made life his business and business his life as a seasoned leader in Global Marketing. Alexei’s passionate and dynamic leadership has been a driving force throughout his career, a proven specialist in global brand strategy, marketing deployment, and operational change management.
Alexei Orlov is the Founder and Global CEO of MTM choice, a boutique network of skilled practitioners specializing in high-precision brand activation and media optimization. Bolstered by market-enabling technologies, mtm agencies seek to help brands excel at the “moments that matter” for their customers and consumers.
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