Print Supplier Loyalty - Is it that important?

When I was a buyer the most common theme I heard from my suppliers and my potential suppliers was always about customer loyalty. Suppliers actually measure customer loyalty as an indicator in their business models. But how important is customer loyalty really? From a buyers perspective, suppliers are coming in the office constantly trying to find a way to get their foot in the door. They often times will try just about anything to get just one sale from a new customer.
As sales people, they are being measured on not just the usual volume of sales but also on the number of new customers that are brought in the door. It's called building a book of business and sales people will carry that book of business with them when they go to work for the competition. That is often times why another company hires or recruits sales people from other companies because they are often counting on that book of business. Sales people are always looking for the next opportunity too, so they can increase their salary or commission rate. So when that sales person walks in the door they are trying to build a relationship with you. They would like to be that friend for as long as you are with that company because they are counting on one of two things happening; A) They leave XYZ printers and go to ABC printer, they are counting on the fact that the relationship they have built with you over the years is going to get them a notch on their sales belt under the NEW sales column. B) When you leave ABC marketing company and go to work at XYZ marketing they are hoping that...You guessed it...the relationship they have built with you over the years is going to get them a notch on their sales belt under the NEW sales column.

So I ask...who is the loyalty really with? Often times it is not with the company unless it is niche printing and there are not many companies who can do that work. By the way we are talking about small to medium companies that are the sales reps perfect target. Why? Because they are the ones that are doing business based on relationships. They are single or two and three buyer organizations that do 1 to 2 million in print annually and print is not a core function but an ancillary function.

Keep in mind that I am not talking about the large buying companies because most of the time those relationships are based on analytics there is a director of print that is usually being held to statistical analysis of their print spend and they are always negotiating based on their volumes of print.

So is it about loyalty? To a certain degree it is about loyalty but not to who you think it might be. It is certainly not as much about the printing company as it is about the sales person. So next time that sales person walks in your door and starts talking about loyalty consider who your loyalty is with.