This morning I was up early to drive to Grantham for a 4Networking meeting. I always look forward to the Grantham events because they are run by Gary Gorman and he is a great facilitator and creates a fun, motivational atmosphere. You could say that Gary has a magnetic personality!

Well, as my fellow 4Networking members know, we wear magnetic name badges when we attend meetings, to make us easily identifiable. Problem is, the magnetic part of my name badge has disappeared into the lower reaches of my car somewhere and got itself attached to something it shouldn’t be attached to, so I can’t wear my badge!

On the journey to Grantham this morning I was thinking about how I could link this idea to my 40-second presentation. Then I hit on the solution, as if by magic!

How many of us lose our magnetism? Many people and businesses spend hundreds, thousands and even millions of pounds attracting new customers, only to lose our magnetism as we only do business with them once.

How many small, medium or large businesses do you know that have lost their magnetism for you? Let me give you an example. For the past fifteen years I have been a loyal customer of a large supermarket chain. I like shopping there because it’s relatively close to home, I know where everything is and the staff are usually relatively friendly. However, recently I have noticed the prices are climbing inexorably skywards, they are frequently out of stock of some of my regular purchases, and that guy who works in the petrol station – well, I don’t think I can tolerate his abruptness with customers any more – you would have thought that his manager would have noticed his attitude and done something about it by now.

So, this week I am taking what is for me, a big step. I’m going to try somewhere else, and if I find that the service there is more helpful and I feel less taken for granted, I will forego my loyalty points and the pointless little slips of paper that I get given every week encouraging me to spend more money on things I don’t want, and take my business elsewhere for a while – and maybe forever!

My regular supermarket has lost its magnetism. Has your business lost its magnetism, or do you know one that has? I can help businesses to retain their magnetism and their customers, because it costs five times as much to attract a new customer than it does to keep an existing one.

I was inspired to write this by Paul Harris, who made the journey all the way from Solihull to Grantham to give us a brilliant 4sight slot today – thanks Paul!