09 Dec Loyalty to My Buyers

I was grocery shopping with my wife a while ago when we perused the jellies and jams aisle. My wife selected a well-known jelly brand that was on sale that week.  However, I insisted that we purchase Smucker’s jelly.  The same thing happened a few minutes later when I insisted we purchase Kraft and Philadelphia brand cheese and Procter & Gamble and SC Johnson products. The reason is that these companies had purchased software from me.

Early in my sales career, I visited the JM Smucker Company at 1 Strawberry Lane, in Orrville, OH, where I had the opportunity to meet the then CEO, Timothy Smucker. I was impressed with the company and was fortunate to tour the plant and meet several outstanding people. I was delighted when they chose to license the software solution product I sold. Later, I went to the Hoover Company, then located in North Canton, OH.  I was invited to the company store, where I purchased an upright vacuum cleaner.  (I always welcomed invitations to tour plants and visit the company stores.)

Since then, I have always insisted on favoring the products of companies that bought from me – and avoiding those from companies that did not (sorry, Keebler cookies.)  I went to Pizza Hut and ordered from Domino’s.  Later, I purchased washers and dryers from Maytag, Apple iPhones, laptops, and iPads, and I favored Intel microchips for my computers. And I made sure that the lawn mower engines were Briggs & Stratton. I purchased insurance from Allstate or Prudential, recliners from LA ZY BOY, ergonomic chairs from Herman Miller, office furniture from Steelcase, and athletic attire from Nike. We have always purchased holiday and special occasion cards from American Greetings, not from the other card companies.  We also shopped at the Meijer grocery store whenever there was one nearby.  All of these companies were customers of mine.

I also make sure I donate to Shriners Children’s Hospital because they do a fantastic job with seriously ill children and children with burns. I know for a fact that they do not charge their patients one cent. They also purchased human resource software from me.

Some may say I am irrational and perhaps am taking my preferences too far.  Some say I should optimize my purchases by buying the best product at the best price, as I learned in my economics classes, rather than purchasing some that cost more.  Others may think I am too emotional or interested in retribution.  I would answer that I believe in buying products from companies that helped enrich me. I would answer I am loyal to them because they decided to buy from me.

Some buyers have decided to give purchasing preferences to companies that practice Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). They want to support companies interested in driving meaningful social change in countries, the planet, and their society. Many have also decided to invest in those companies by acquiring their common stock.  This is their right.

We have all heard, “What comes around, goes around.” It refers to how you behave now will often come back to you in some way in the future.  It implies that there will be a payback for your good or bad behavior in the future. Some people call it “karma.” In the case of my buying preferences, I have interpreted it as taking care to purchase from companies that have put their faith in me, even though my purchase is so tiny compared to their total revenue that they don’t know about it.  But I do.

image from https://iscjobs.com/the-best-15-ways-to-increase-employee-loyalty/