Responsible doggy ownership is all about getting a balance - rewarding the behaviour you want, ignoring the behaviour you don't.
However it strikes me that businesses often get this the wrong way round, and then (like bad owners), blame the customer (dog) for their lack of control.
You just have to spend five minutes listening to Martin Lewis, the money saving expert, to know that your hard earned loyalty as a consumer, is actually worth diddly squat.
Your new customers, however, are richly rewarded with treats galore and the very best deals. And once you've won them, competitors will happily tempt them away with treats aplenty.
Buy early, you're bound to get the worst deal. Fail to commit and you will usually get the same product/service at knockdown prices.
This is based on the (arguably, now, completely misplaced) notion that to get a new customer cost ten times more than to keep an existing one.
If customers were dogs, and businesses their owners, we'd be facing a pack rebellion.
The market wants a biscuit. The market WANTS a biscuit. The market WANTS a BISCUIT!!!!!!!
And that's partly what's gone horribly wrong with the economy (leaving the bankers and economists aside for a moment).
We've forgotten that rewards should be earned. Anything less promotes unruly, unacceptable behaviour.
Now we have businesses who have spent so much time (and money) focusing on getting new, that they haven't the first foggiest idea how to keep the customers they do have.
As customers, we'll shift electricity provider for the sake of a £20 saving, shift bank because the new one is offering £100 M&S vouchers (useful, we admit), shift shops because, well, the products are much of a muchness and who'll be able to tell the difference anyway?
However we can, when treated right, give out levels of loyalty that only dogs can recognise. Even if it flies in the face of logic. Loyalty is one of the most powerful emotions of all. And it's worth investing in.
So, the next time you sit down and look at your business strategy, think like a dog owner. Reward your pack for their best behaviour, cut out the activities that's just promoting short term excitement, and drive long term loyalty.
And then give yourself a pat on the back for really believing in your business. And a biscuit.
