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Make More #1 Customers With Contractor Loyalty Programs

Make More #1 Customers With Contractor Loyalty Programs

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As anyone who runs a business knows, some customers are better than others. It’s not just that they spend more money. Like any good relationship, it’s the little things that count the most. And also, they spend more money.

And while your Number-Ones might seem like a rare breed, the fact is that you can make more of them.
 
Contractor loyalty programs don’t only get your mid-level contractors to buy more from you. They can also encourage those kinds of behaviors you’ve come to expect and appreciate in your top buyers.
 
Let’s take a look at how to use your loyalty program to make more number-one customers than you thought you’d ever get. And perhaps you can even achieve some of your top business goals along the way.

 

Revisiting the Pareto Principle

Pareto principle

You may have seen us talk about the Pareto Principle before. This is the idea that around 80 percent of your company’s revenue comes from just the top 20 percent of customers.
 
It’s great to reward that top tier with shows of appreciation. But it’d be a mistake to ignore the lower echelons of the Pareto Principle curve, or the “middle 60.”
 
Part of the power of a contractor loyalty program or other type of incentive program is its ability to get more out of all your buyers, but especially that mid-performing group.
When we’ve talked about this subject in the past, we’ve tended to focus on moving that middle 60 up through points programs that reward them for spending more.
 

But—though it may seem counterintuitive to suggest—there’s more to focus on than how much they buy from you.

 

Great Contractor Rewards

Beyond how much they spend, what behaviors do you associate closest with your top-tier contractors? Things like good communication, or a familiarity with the products you sell, and how they work?
 
In the past, we’ve discussed finding creative ways to maintain engagement in your program at a time when your contractors might not want to be spending all that much extra money.
 
We’ve also reached out to the contractors themselves to find out what they’re looking for, and what makes them tick. Through this report, we learned that strong distributor relationships are the most important factor for them as customers. 
 
However, when all else is equal, what can move the needle? When people, process, product, and price are all more or less the same across distributors, an incentive program with strong contractor rewards can make all the difference.
 
And here’s the thing: if you can measure something, you can reward for it. 
 
To do this—and turn more of your contractors into #1 customers in the process—you should be looking for ways to offer points and contractor rewards for any quantifiable behaviors. Here are just a few incentive strategies that can help you do this:
 
  • Following up. How often does a contractor follow up with your sales reps? How often are they communicating with you outside of a transactional context?
  • Training and enablement. One of the most valuable things a loyalty program can do is improve not only how much your contractor spends with you, but how they run their own business. Attending webinars or completing training modules can be as beneficial to you as it is to your contractors. That’s because these strategies enable them to better use or sell your product.
  • Online engagement. If you’re in the B2B world you’ve probably come around to the notion that it’s necessary to have an online presence. You know this, and your contractors know it. So, make it worth your time: reward program participants for interacting with your eCommerce platform if you have one, or for writing a review for one of your products online.
  • Referrals. The classic “refer-a-friend” program has long been a staple of the business world. Incorporate it into your contractor loyalty program. Offer a reward to your program participants for either bringing more of your contractors into the program or bringing new customers to your business. Or both!

If you’ve set incremental goals for your program participants to meet, you can help them reach their goals by assigning a monetary value to these behaviors to encourage your contractors to engage in them.

Or, if your program isn’t structured that way, you can offer bonus points that they can redeem for contractor rewards in your catalogue.

Conclusion

A great contractor loyalty program succeeds at multiple different levels.

It’s mutually beneficial for you and your program participants.

It reinforces a sense of partnership and community.

And it rewards everyone’s best practices.

Making more Number-Ones isn’t just good for you; it’s good for them too.

The main question you should be asking yourself as a B2B business is: what’s going to move the needle for your company? What is your marketing team working on right now that your program can help forward by rewarding a desired behavior?

A program doesn’t need to stay isolated to your sales team and channel partners. Make it a company-wide endeavor. Make it work for you and your business’s goals.

 
B2B LOYALTY See how 360insights create inspiring reward-driven loyalty programs to improve customer relationships and drive advocacy.  

 

Topics:
Laura Broman

Authored by Laura Broman

Laura Broman is a skilled content writer who has written in the B2B marketing space for years. With a knack for crafting compelling narratives and a deep understanding of industry trends, Laura transforms complex ideas into engaging content that drives results. Outside of work, Laura is an avid fan of science fiction and horror films.

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