Belajar Bisnes: The Golden Rule of Securing Customer Loyalty

A good article to ponder upon.

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Customer loyalty, whether customers come back for more and bring their friends—it’s a signal not just of whether you’re going to make more money, it’s a great signal of whether you’re treating people right, living up to the Golden Rule.

You know, this Golden Rule—treating people the way you’d want to be treated if you were in their shoes—is such a fundamentally important idea. And I think business, when it’s done right, holds people accountable for treating people right, doesn’t just talk about being great.

So many companies today are talking about being great, and they’re not measuring it. And they’re creating bad profits. What are bad profits? Well, they’re profits earned at the expense of a customer. By doing things to them that you wouldn’t want to have that done to a loved one. You wouldn’t want done to yourself.

A good example is I returned my rental car down in JB. I’m 35 minutes late because of terrible traffic across the Causeway, and the guy who takes the keys and has a fancy computer and all the IT devices, he says, “Mr. Hairi, I’m sorry that you’re going to—it’s going to be a half-day charge because you’re 35 minutes late.” I’m thinking, “Half a day. Come on, what is that about?” “And did you fill up the petrol?” I think, “Oh, I didn’t have time.” “It’s going to be about RM250 to fill the tank because we charge you 400% markups.”

And he’s embarrassed, which would happen to any employee who has to treat people that way. I am livid. And then he says, “Oh, but next time when you rent, get that protection plan.” And I’m thinking, “Protection plan? Is this organized crime (kongsi gelap) or car rental?”

And so many companies who would think they’re ethical are doing things to their customers that are outrageous. Whether it’s an airline charging for baggage—or, worse, would be the change fees. Fine—[it’ll] cost you RM25, change the ticket. Not—it costs RM200. That’s absurd.

So, too many companies are finding they can abuse customers, earn bad profits, make their quarterly results for the companies/shareholders. But in so doing, [they] communicate to all their employees that loyalty, treating people ethically, has nothing to do with what we care about as a management team. And I think more and more companies have to come to the recognition they cannot innovate, they can’t bring the right kind of good people into their company as employees, unless they start getting more serious about treating their customers right and earning their loyalty.