Loyalty is a great character trait to have when dealing with your friends and family but can absolutely destroy you as a consumer.
Gone are the days that companies are rewarding customers for loyalty and you will NEVER get the absolute best terms and value for money if you are loyal.
Instead, I suggest you become a ‘promiscuous’ consumer who is willing to ‘jump into bed’ with any company who is willing to offer you better terms and better value.
Most companies nowadays put most of their efforts into recruiting new customers and growing their market share while completely neglecting to put an effort into retaining their existing ones.
Loyalty is dead and buried my friends….time to move on with the times.
Many of you might find it difficult to adjust to this new consumer reality.
We have all heard the stories about people who have been with the same bank for decades and now feel like it is almost a family member and thus they can’t ‘betray’ them and walk across the road to someone else.
We also heard the stories about people (usually the older generation) who have been with the same health fund their entire working lives and have been making contributions for decades without ever claiming.
Now, that they are being faced with various health issues and need their health fund to ‘chip in’, they are being stoned-walled and being given the run-around.
Finally, what about those of us who have bought a mobile phone on a contract and have been stuck in this contract for 2 years? Was your provider ever willing to come to the party and match better terms that were offered by other providers out there?
Do you understand where I am going with that?
In your life as a consumer, like in life in general (but that’s a discussion for another time), the most important thing and the one thing you must protect at all times and at all cost is your Freedom!
Specifically: The freedom to switch in order to get a better deal!
You can never be truly free as a consumer if you are bound by contracts or by a false sense of loyalty to a company or a brand for whom (and make no mistake on that) you are nothing but a number!
So, if you are loyal, all I can say to you is: SNAP OUT OF IT!
Want to see if you’re on the absolute best deal but don’t have the time or patience to spend hours on Google or comparison sites? The Concierge can help.
Want to always be on the absolute best deal but have better things to do than monitor all the promos that are coming out? The Scout will do it for you.
‘Good on ya ‘Michael! I am a bargains hunter and was willing to sign up to Telstra NBN plan now, ( I/we’ve got the outside box mounted a few months ago and my area is ready to connect), but we’ve decided to wait and check other service providers.( My partner and I, we both use prepaid mobile phones and the Internet so no rush!☺☺) And bang! Telstra’s advertising now for their NBN cheaper and better deals then a few months ago?! We’ll still wait to get what we expect and want and yes, we hate contracts too! We cherish a ‘Freedom’ and the right to choose what suits us. Cheers, Grazyna and Steve Mackay, QLD
Hi Grazyna,
Yes. A better deal almost always comes along.
That’s why those who lock themselves into a long term contract, with expensive exit fees, will always miss out!
You might be interested to read this follow-up post I recently published on LinkedIn.
I agree with the strategy above. Recently I got my car insurance company to match a deal they were offering new customers but not existing customers.
There are so many examples like that in almost any industry. We all need to make sure we keep all of our service providers in a constant state of fear as they know we are ready to ‘jump ship’ and go with their competitor at a moment’s notice. Good on you Pat! Everyone should be like you! 🙂