The CEO of a strategic partner mentioned to us the other day that she thought that what we were doing at LOYAL3 was developing a new paradigm for capitalism. That by taking Wall Street and brokerage firms out of the picture, and enabling more non Wall Street types of people to easily and inexpensively buy stock from companies they shop at and trust, LOYAL3 was re-aligning the markets.
We were connecting companies, customers and owners, in a more stable system. We were taking Wall Street to Main Street. And it’s probably better off there.
Main Street has honest motives. Main Street is “buy and hold” investors who care about the companies in which they invest. Main Street doesn’t “short” stock, or “day trade” stock, they invest for the long haul. This is good for the Companies, good for the stability of our markets, and good for Main Street investors.
Over time, the logical outcome of having more people buy stock from companies they know and trust would be more stable companies and markets. If people who are loyal to companies owned those companies and held the stock for years, rather than days or even minutes, we’d all be better off.
So while we at LOYAL3 are a long way off from re-aligning the markets, we’d like to believe that every time even a single share of stock from a great company falls into the hands of a devoted, loyal customer, someone who knows that company and does business with them, the better off we’ll all be.
Disintermediation is a big idea. But nothing tops giving power back to the people, and that just feels right.
Why Don’t People Wash Rental Cars?
Most people don’t wash rental cars. People care more about the things they own than about the things they don’t. Ownership is a fundamental part of our American psyche.
And while marketing executives spend billions of dollars a year in an attempt to acquire and own their customers, they never really do.
But turn that ownership premise around, and enable your customers to easily own you, and amazing things happen. Ownership changes consumer behavior. According to Bain Consulting, customers who are also owners spend more (54%), refer more people (200%), and visit stores and websites more often (68%).
And almost half of all Americans say they would like to become owners in the companies they do business with, if it meant a direct relationship with the company and if it was easy.
When your customer feels a sense of ownership over your brands and company, they are highly unlikely to shop anywhere else. And they don’t perceive that ownership as a financial or investment transaction, but rather as a means by which they can connect with companies and brands they know and trust. It’s actually a very sticky experiential brand play.
At LOYAL3, we call our technology and services platform a Customer Stock Ownership Plan, or CSOP ™. It’s a Web-based service that enrolls a customer into a branded ownership program with just 4 clicks. It’s as easy to buy stock in the companies you know as it to buy their products, and you can even use a credit card. And there is no transaction fee for customers to buy stock.
From an SEC and regulatory standpoint, we’ve dusted off a tried and true platform called a Direct Stock Purchase Plan (“DSPP”), so the legal issues are well defined and tested.
We all care a lot more about the things we own than about the things we don’t. It’s time companies aligned themselves with the owners that really matter, their customers.