Jill Griffin has written an excellent article entitled "The 12 Laws of Customer Loyalty."

• Build staff loyalty
• Practice the 80/20 rule
• Know your loyalty stages and ensure that your customers are moving through them
• Serve first, sell second
• Aggressively seek out customer complaints
• Stay responsive
• Know your customer's definition of value
• Win back lost customers
• Use multiple channels to serve the same customers well
• Give your frontline the skills to perform
• Collaborate with your channel partners
• Store your data in a centralized database

Ranging from the magnificent -- serve first, sell second -- to the mundane -- centralized database, it's a good roundup of tactics. But the one that makes me take pause to figure out how it relates to the business we're in "build staff loyalty" and "know your loyalty stages."

Staff loyalty as a step toward customer loyalty is a fascinating idea. Fast Company has written about keeping in touch with former employees and how to build formal alumni networks, which is one approach. People who love your company -- even if they no longer work there -- can only help boost your business. Similarly, loyal employees will improve the customer experience because they love the work they do -- and who they do it for, the customers.

And loyalty stages. What are the steps people take with -- and with the help of -- your company? How can you help people go further? What more can you offer them?