This week on Leadership Chat author Becky Carroll will be talking about leadership lessons from her new book, “The Hidden Power of Your Customers.”
Her book is all about how critically important it is for us as leaders to focus on our existing customers, and to nurture relationships with existing customers to create loyal brand evangelists.
She has four focal points in her book:
- Relevant Marketing, which requires that you listen to your customers, and then deliver the messages they want to hear through their preferred channels
- Orchestrated Customer Experience, where you craft the right experience for your customers
- Customer-Focused Culture, in which you maintain strong company values, hire the right employees, and empower those employees to make a difference
- Killer Customer Service, which creates positive experiences that are virally shared
All of these points seem obvious (don’t they?) and yet it’s often impossible to find evidence of them in many companies and organizations.
Why? A failure of leadership.
A leader’s role in creating raving fans
No one has written more brilliantly about how rock stars create success by loving their customers (fans) than Mack Collier. His recent post about how rock stars focus on their brand advocates (fans) while most companies focus on acquiring new customers makes it clear that leaders have a responsibility to understand the impact of their strategic decisions.
Leaders have the power to require that current customers be the top priority of the business, and that they will be openly loved and served in the hopes of transforming them into loyal, raving fans. In my title I mentioned that this is a “Hidden Power,” partly because it’s a play on Becky’s book title, but more so because most leaders have no idea they wield such vast power!
An Example
In the same way Mack writes about rock stars having fans, non-profit organizations rely on people who are passionate about their cause. Whether it be to cure cancer, promote organ donation (a cause for which I’m a raving fan) or to encourage professional networking, non-profits rely on their most ardent enthusiasts for the cause to spread the word.
In this difficult economy many non-profits are finding that donations and membership are down. Those that are flourishing, such as In Kind Direct, are turning their time, attention and love to their base of loyal advocates who are seeing them through the challenging times.
Yet, many leaders faced with a similar situation and holding limited resources automatically turn their attention (and resources) away from their current customers toward acquiring new customers. Be it a knee-jerk reaction or simply a lack of strategic understanding, focusing on acquiring new customers to the detriment of current customers (who will receive less focus, time and love) will not drive organizational growth or success.
Why? Formerly raving fans will find another company or organization to love them.
Loving your fans and customers, and making them your priority, is the first step toward empowering them to take your message to the world. When your customers love you and you let them tell your amazing story, you open your company up to endless growth possibilities!
Do you agree?
Please share in the comments and join Steve Woodruff and me tomorrow evening, August 16th, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time for #LeadershipChat on Twitter when we’ll talk about your role as a leader in empowering your customers! As mentioned, we’re honored to be hosting Becky Carroll as our Guest!
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4 Response Comments
I *LOVE* Becky! So glad you’ll have her at #LeadershipChat and I am starting to read The Hidden Power of Your Customers now! Thank you Lisa, this is why I love #LeadershipChat 😉
Wonderful! Then it was perfect that I included you both in this post! Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow night!
Lisa,
Great topic. Companies need to constantly remind themselves that they are in it for the “customers”. Years ago, companies started saying they want to “delight” their customers — as opposed to merely satisfying them. Somewhere along the line, delight can revert to just doing the basics. Creating “raving fans” is right on target.
Mark
Mark,
Such a great point that even the word, “delight” can lose its meaning. Yes, I agree – they need to be in it first and foremost for the customers, particularly the ones they already have! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!