Mt. Loyalty

Oh, it's quite a climb.

I don't know what you've learned about Mt. Loyalty, but that mountain is full of challenges. Did you know that most climbers never even make it to the base camp at 1,000 feet on fictional Mt. Loyalty?

A few years ago I was connected somehow to an EVP of Marketing. This guy was fascinating. He believed he could do the entire marketing function by himself ... no employees. He said his goal was to outsource every function of marketing. His job? Create the discounts and promotions that would be used. He told me that is the only aspect of marketing that adds value. He then said something interesting (paraphrased below).

• "I can sell anything. It does not matter what my company sells a customer. All I need to know is where in the customer lifecycle the customer is and then I create an appropriate promotion to convert the buyer. Merchandise is meaningless."

As you might expect, I believe in the exact opposite thesis.

• It is not easy to climb Mt. Loyalty. What the customer previously purchased and is likely to purchase again in the future, coupled with key inflection points, dictate whether the customer ever becomes loyal.

It's January. You'd think those Cyber Monday customers would be busting down the door to buy from you right now. They're not. That's a timing issue, it's an issue of what the customer previously purchased and is likely to purchase again in the future. The Cyber Monday customer is an out-of-shape customer unable to make the climb up Mt. Loyalty.