Jill Griffin

If there’s one thing I’m blessed with, it’s a passion for my loyalty work. I simply LOVE the constant learning about why and how customers buy. It’s a life-long passion that I first felt as a little girl growing up in Marshville, a small North Carolina town about 30 miles east of Charlotte. Forget dolls and dress-up! For me, real fascination was found in the mom ‘n pop stores that lined the two streets of my home town.

For example, when Gaddy’s shoe store received its shipment of back-to-school shoes, I was there! When Guion’s pharmacy got a load of new Archie and Jughead comic books, I knew it first. When Collins Market added a new treat to its wall of Zero and PayDay candy bars, Sugar Daddy lollipops and the like, I could spot the new treat instantly. When the Ford dealership unveiled its new models for the year, I excitedly stood by as the car covers were removed. (The free doughnuts didn’t hurt either!)

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There’s an important difference between a client and an advocate. Advocates do more than simply buy from you. Advocates are engaged customers who demonstrate their vendor allegiance through such activities as spreading positive word of mouth, recruiting new prospects and helping their vendors improve. How can a firm nurture trust to help sustain these important advocate behaviors?

Truth is, we ‘train’ people how to treat us.

When a client refers you to another potential client, consider it the big deal it is! Most firms have gotten far too casual in both identifying and acknowledging referrals. That’s bad business for two reasons. When a referral goes unacknowledged, we reduce the likelihood the client will repeat the behavior in the future. But that’s just one transgression. The other is the violation of the customer’s ‘tit for tat’ rule of trust that says: When I do something nice for your business, let me know you know.

Of course, it’s not possible to...

It was the summer of 1977 and I was a just-graduated college student serving hot steaks to hungry customers at a Myrtle Beach steakhouse. While my customers were thinking about extra sour crème for their bake potatoes, my mind was on a MBA degree and whether by my alma mater, the University of South Carolina, would approve financial aid in time for the fast-approaching Fall semester.

By late July, with no word from school, I decided to drive the 138 miles to Columbia to get my answer.

Once on campus, I swung by the Registrar’s office and got a transcript of my grades. (Hey, I didn’t study all those hours for nothing!) Armed with my transcript, I walked the few blocks to the business school and, having no formal appointment, camped outside the office of Dr. Pierce Lyles, the business school’s Graduate Program Director.

My big moment came a half-hour later when, inside Dr. Lyles office, I nervously placed my transcript on the Director’s desk and said, “I...

"Think Units." That was the headline on the Plexiglas-framed desk-top poster that appeared in my office in-basket one Monday morning in the early ‘80s. I was working for a Fortune 100 firm, and the poster was a "friendly reminder" from the execs in the C-suite that every sale (and sales dollar) mattered.

The message struck a chord. I was a frazzled, newly promoted brand manager nervously contemplating what to do, exactly, to boost my brand's sales in a market downturn. It was my first encounter with a sour market brimming with cash-strapped, budget-pinched customers, and I was feeling the heat.

I made it my job to communicate, communicate, communicate the positive message.

Fast forward twenty-something years later. "Think units" is apt advice for succeeding in today's white-knuckle times. Without question, unit sales and the dollars they generate help keep firms afloat in a slow economy. But experience has taught me to pay attention to...