Customer Loyalty

Insofar as the business community in Jordan continues to ignore the fact that it exists because of its customers there isn't much hope that a way forward is in the offing any time soon.
Perks, incentive packages, token of appreciation are nothing but a surrogate band aid for the much needed customer service overhaul.
Customers are usually driven by durable goods, competitive prices, and exemplary services, anything else serves as a major cause for customer turn off.
Business owners can employ all kinds of marketing gimmicks to get the initial push for their products, but the educated consumers will launch counter offensive of their own by fairly quickly unmask the veneer and get down to the rotten core.
Consumers aren't hibernating all the time, they are constantly searching for ways to stretch their hard earned money, they are under extreme pressure to remain within a specified budget so they don't fall under in a deficit.
For this status to be accommodated, they need to go to the business that offers them the product for the price that they have in mind and not the price that had been set by the business community.
If we take bread as an example, a kilo of regular white bread can cost the consumer any where from fifteen piasters all the way to forty five piaster depending on the place that it was purchased from.
The consumer already know how much he wants to spend for that kilo of bread on a daily basis, so whether the bakery gives him an incentive or not, unless the price that he had set in his mind is being met the consumer isn't going to bother paying the higher price.
Business owners must understand that they must tread very delicately when it comes to their customer, they can't and shouldn't be gruff toward them. They need to keep them informed about what is in it for them not what is in it for the business owner, they need to let them know in simple terms why they should spend their hard earned cash at their place of business and not at their competitors place of business.For instance, on my own personal level, I have been buying my spices from Abdel Ra-him spice shop in down town Amman for the past thirty five years, he has the best products, he has the most competitive price, and he treats me very cordially each and every time I go there, he had never given me anything extra for free except perhaps letting me taste the new thyme at the tip of my tongue and the pickle by cutting a small slice that weighs less than couple grams.
But I'm fully satisfied and I keep coming back time and again and I have no intention of stopping any time in the near future unless one of the three elements that I have mentioned seizes to exist.
I conclude by suggesting that a) Competitive prices b) Excellent services c) Durable goods are the best reward that any business can offer to their customer, they supersede, all the perks, incentives, and phony gifts that are being currently offered.