Customer Loyalty Expert Bill Hanifin Shares His Thoughts

Written by dabney on Thursday, January 5th, 2012 with 2 comments

Today’s interview is with Bill Hanifin, an expert on consumer loyalty. He leads Hanifin Loyalty, which has been helping businesses establish long-lasting relationships with their customers. He has worked with such companies as Banco Popular, Visa International, and JP Morgan Chase. These jobs have earned him more than 20 years of marketing experience.

Bill shares his knowledge through a number of articles that he’s written, which can be found in American Banker, Card Technology, and Fox News.net. Additionally, Bill is available as a public speaker, offering his expertise in conferences and team meetings. He is an informative and engaging speaker who works to capture the attention of his audiences. Bill is also the publisher of the Loyalty Truth blog.

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How did you become an expert in customer loyalty?

My introduction to customer loyalty came via the technology that supports program operations. Working with Visa in Latin America in the late 90’s, I had the opportunity to help banks in multiple countries introduce rewards programs on cobrand credit cards.  Through a series of events, the software platform we were using for the banks became the launch platform for Bonus Peru, the first coalition loyalty program in that country. The experience of helping to launch Bonus opened my eyes to a broader vision for loyalty marketing and I landed at Frequency Marketing, the predecessor company of Loyalty One, an Alliance Data Systems subsidiary and publisher of Colloquy.

So, when you go to the mall or the supermarket, are you loyal to brand names?

I respond to good service, friendly people and quality goods that are well priced. I suppose that’s not unlike many other consumers. Because many products become commoditized and are marketed mostly on price, the loyalty programs I participate in tend to influence the brands I patronize. In those cases, especially in the mall, loyalty programs can become a tie-breaker when all other elements seem to be the same. In my opinion, grocers haven’t adopted a truly customer centric approach to loyalty and are mostly trading on “price clubs”, where members get a better price on specific goods. Many grocers are using the “groceries for gas” exchange model which has become popular over the past 3 years. Except for Kroger which uses its data quite well, most US based grocers are behind the curve at the moment on using their customer data to change consumer behaviour.

Public speaking is all about persuasion, and the topic of your speeches aren’t that far off – you’re teaching companies how to persuade customers. Do you ever feel like you’re teaching people how to be public speakers, in your own unique way?

I wouldn’t go that far, but I would say that we never stop selling. Whether pitching for new business, or presenting a strategy recommendation to a client, you have to strongly advocate for your point of view if you are to be successful. Attention spans are shortening all the time and you have to make key points early to maintain an audience, and reinforce recommendations with tangible benefits quickly to keep that attention. We’re lucky to have the attention of senior business managers for more than a 10-15 page slide deck, so every word counts.

How do you prepare yourself or otherwise get yourself pumped for a speech?

You’ve just said it, I prepare by preparing. I’m a triathlete and on race day, there’s nowhere to hide if you haven’t put in the work. In a similar way, thinking through the actual words you might use to describe situations and anticipating questions that will come from a client group or audience builds confidence and helps any presentation to go more smoothly. That confidence allows me a natural pump-up before a speech.

What’s your biggest pet peeve about the way customers shop?

In this information economy, people tend to research online, visit the store with the most knowledgeable associates and gain further product knowledge and then default to the store with the lowest price – online or offline – to make the purchase. That is the right of all consumers, but overlooks the people who brought you value in the process of making a decision. One of my favourite advertisements today is from an auto insurer where a person is calling his former agent seeking assistance with an accident claim. The desperate soul is reminded nicely that they had recently switched carriers to save 15% on auto insurance. The message is clear – there’s more to life than price and good service and reliability should be considered part of the loyalty equation.

What are the furthest lengths (geographically or otherwise) that you have gone to make a point or give a speech?

I think I’ve had to stand on my head to make a point with my teenagers, but that’s another story! I have presented workshops as far away as Malaysia and Thailand and regularly present at industry events throughout North America, Latin America and Europe.

Is there a company out there that came up with a customer loyalty idea so brilliant that you wish you’d thought of it?

The people who were at the beginnings of the loyalty marketing business were true innovators. Fred Reichheld, Rick Barlow, Don Peppers, Martha Rogers, Hal Brierley, Steven Grosvald are names that come to mind. The concepts and best practices we follow today continue to be linked to original thoughts from these individuals and others not named here, and I tip my hat to each of them. Most of the loyalty innovation we’ve seen over the past 5 years has been technology driven and we are living in a very interesting time sorting out which aspects of location based marketing, gamification, social media, cause related and referral marketing will have the greatest influence over the next 5 years. Innovations in payment technology are impacting the loyalty world as well and we’ve got to pay attention to changes in that arena as they relate to loyalty.

Describe Hanifin Loyalty in 2 words, and your public speaking ability in 2 words. The catch? Don’t tell us which words describe what. Let our readers guess which 2 words describe Hanifin Loyalty, and which describe your speaking ability.

Independent, Unbiased

Thought Leader

What are your best and worst speaking moments?

My worst speaking moment was on several occasions early in my career when I was asked to speak on a topic which I really didn’t understand in depth or have enough direct client experience to bring my material to life and make credible points.

My best speaking moments have been those where I had the leeway to craft a talk on a particular subject and share it in a creative way without any “corporate” restraints. I’ve also enjoyed workshops where the interaction between delegates and myself became more important than the “presentation.” That’s where real value is often exchanged.

What advice do you have for aspiring speakers?

Don’t get on that podium until you have something to say. Our ego contributes to the desire to get on stage and our experience provides the substance to pull it off credibly. Those two can be in conflict and, as mentioned above, my worst experiences occurred when I spoke on subjects before I was ready. “Fake it till you make it” is not a successful strategy for aspiring public speakers to employ. Someone told me long ago that speakers should “never tell a story without making a point, and never make a point without telling a story”. I always keep that in mind and do my best to leave any audience feeling like the time spent together was well worth it.