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The Boston Globe - Business Notebook
The Boston Globe
By Kathy McCabe, Globe Correspondent
Loyalty Firm Grows
She turned a cowboy hat made of sheepskin into the official hat of the 1992 Polish Olympic Team. Now Dianne Durkin helps businesses build winning strategies at Loyalty Factor, LLC, a training and management consulting firm in Portsmouth, N.H.
The firm operates on a simple premise: If employees are happy at work, they'll be more loyal. That, in turn, will boost customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. "It's really an evolution," says Durkin, a former sales executive at Digital and General Electric Co. "Employee loyalty drives customer service, which drives brand loyalty."
Community banks, in particular, are poised to cash in on brand loyalty. Sweeping change is imminent, once Bank of America and FleetBoston merge next month, she noted.
"We're talking with three separate banking companies right now," Durkin said. "The industry is in major chaos. Banks need to know how to position themselves."
To drive sales, banks or other businesses must work as a team. And ask a lot of questions, Durkin said. To that end, she created "Ask and You Shall Sell," a sales training course introduced eight months ago. Durkin is now developing a follow-up course, focusing on specific customer accounts.
The strategy seems to work for its creator. Loyalty Factor, which has 10 employees, has grown an average of 20 percent each year since 1996 when Durkin founded the firm in Newmarket, N.H. Annual sales are less than $5million, Durkin said.