For Alexei Orlov, Loyalty Is The Sum Of All The Parts
The Necessity Of Trust
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.
The Customer Expectation
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.
The Brand That Stumbles
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.
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