Loyalty and Sacrifice

We are at the cusp of a digital revolution and it is an opportune time to take into context how the digital age is ushering change. This chapter includes a few examples that shine a spotlight on the challenges of surviving the onslaught of technology and a hope for good governance.

This chapter deep-dives into the facets of loyalty by citing a few anecdotes. 

Here, I have crafted a new definition of the word ‘loyalty’. It has ramifications on sharpening a universal common definition of the term. With the accelerated pace of digital progress, it can have a long-term impact on stakeholder engagements and help design more effective employee and customer loyalty programs based on a common yardstick. 

This chapter proposes four fundamental loyalty axioms that apply uniformly to any human act without cherry picking.

A deep connection between the soul of sacrifice and its invisible ties to loyalty is illustrated. This deep connection is unraveled with anecdotes to amplify its relevance.  Based on the foundation of loyalty axioms this chapter proposes the basic tenets of loyalty that apply to customers and employees uniformly.

Go Figure! illustrates conceptually the impact of actions delivered and derived by employees and customers under a common framework. This chapter presents four L&S Principles— L&S Elusive Principle, L&S Wallet Principle, L&S Passion Principle, L&S Silent Principle. 

A unified framework can open opportunities for a common vocabulary and facilitate a conversation to enhance the subject besides allowing measurement and identifying correlation across all four L&S Principles. 

Within the framework of L&S Elusive Principle real-life accounts illustrate the existence of sacrifice that customers endure as a mark of their loyalty. This chapter showcases a few stories and allows reflection about such occurrences that are unaccounted for in relation to measurement of loyalty in appreciation towards customers.

A long-lasting relationship could be secured if there was a way to unearth these blindspots. The digital revolution can trace consumer behavior in ways that were unthinkable in the past and the new age provides a platform to take into account new dimensions of loyalty that is based on the four axioms of loyalty. The real-life accounts connect the dots with the new definition of loyalty.

Within the framework of L&S Wallet Principle real-life accounts illustrate consumer loyalty  in accordance with a revised and unified definition that can be applied to all the stakeholders. 

This chapter highlights real stories that corroborate a new dimension of sacrifice as seen from the ‘share of wallet’ point of view. 

When employees are passionate about their work and believe in the organization’s vision and values,  there is a potential for them to go beyond the call of duty to provide exceptional service  to their customers. 

This chapter depicts the L&S Passion Principle through real examples of spirited employees going beyond the expected to delight their customers. 

Sometimes the call of duty is so strong and the sense of responsibility so powerful that it drives people to make silent sacrifices for the ones they love or for the cause they believe in. This chapter showcases a few stories that illustrate this L&S Silent Principle. 

War heroes and employees sacrifice in the name of loyalty and their acts are applauded, celebrated and recognized. However, when asked if customers are capable of sacrifice it draws a blank. 

Customer loyalty is defined by repeat purchase which has become the basic building block to measure loyalty. Why this distortion and discrepancy in definitions? 

In this chapter I have attempted to explain these anomalies. This chapter dwells on heuristics and mental patterns under the umbrella of the ‘Latency Factor’ and defines the concepts of Hindsight Latency and Foresight Latency.