How To Create True Customer Advocates

Published on Nov 18, 2015

No Description

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

HOW TO CREATE TRUE CUSTOMER ADVOCATES

Bill lee, Hbr blog network
Photo by ND | Tom

But true customer advocates?

HOW DO YOU CREATE THE CONDITIONS THAT GENERATE NOT ONLY HAPPY CUSTOMERS

Promptly fix what goes wrong.

Deliver what you promise and
The obvious starting point, which everyone knows, but many firms lose sight of this over time. Marketing that's based on customer advocacy and influence must keep this basic truth front and center. These frontline actions are what underlie any genuine enthusiasm from a customer. You can't create or enlist a customer advocate or build a customer-based sales force without the solid foundation of an ongoing, responsive delivery and service relationship.

Know your customers' problems.

"The most important thing you can bring to a dialogue with me is knowing my problems," says Patty Morrison, CIO of Cardinal Health. "And it's really not that hard." She suggests that reference program managers invest in, or otherwise get access to, their firm's market research about key-customer references. "If you want to develop a customer as a reference, know everything you can about them. And then know everything you can about your important prospects too."
Photo by matthewreid

Put your customer references together with their peers.

Your firm is in a great position to connect your customers to their peers — other executives and managers like themselves who deal with similar issues. And those connections are highly valued. But where do you find them? Among your other customers, of course. Find ways to bring them together — live events, in teleconferences, on the Internet — so that they can exchange ideas and learn from each other.

Market and sell your customers.

Tout your customers' achievements as much, if not more than, your own in that white paper or case study. Remember, that (and not a bunch of information about how wonderful your firm and its offerings are) is what prospects care about.

Opportunities for growth.

Provide your customer references with
Often your most dynamic customer references are eager for personal and professional development. Provide these in the form of speaking opportunities, interviews with the media, and the like, where customers can demonstrate thought leadership.

Remember, You have leverage.

If your firm is a smaller supplier or brand new, your customers want to help you. "Helping my smaller vendors grow and get established is in my interest," notes Morrison. "So I'm willing to do what I can to help you grow your customer base. On the other hand, if you're larger and better established, you can help me reward my team by letting them go to conferences and present papers. It's great career development for them."

Tie referencing to performance.

For larger relationship accounts, some reference programs try inserting an agreement to provide references up front in the customer's contract — a major and obvious turnoff. Yet many companies persist in doing this, or trying to. A better, value-based approach is to initiate a quarterly review process to, first, review performance metrics; next, identify how your solutions are benefiting the customer and document it; then (and only then), when you and the customer are feeling good about the relationship, turn to talking about your prospects faciging similar issues. Almost always, the customer will be ready to share contact lists and talk to prospects on your behalf.
Photo by nosha

Align your pr messaging with your customer's.

"If you want a customer to publicly reference for you," notes Morrison, "you need to understand what message their PR is trying to get out to the world about their company. And then ask, how might our message tie into theirs?" When she was CIO at Motorola, for example, the firm wanted to talk about things like mobility, devices, and public safety. So, if you're doing business with Motorola, how can you tie your messaging to theirs? "If my PR person comes into my office with you and you both say, 'Here's the message we think benefits our companies together,' then I see a win-win."

Offer other customer-engagement possibilities.

This is particularly important for your higher-level key customers, who may very well want to provide input into product or solutions development, or even your strategic direction. Offer such customers positions on your advisory boards or executive forums. Or they may want to engage with your other customers or other peers in community efforts.

Succeed.

Finally, remember that a customer who's taken the risk of putting her eggs in your basket wants you to succeed for obvious reasons — if yours is a small company, you're more likely to survive. If you're a large firm, you're more likely to invest research and product development dollars improving the solutions you're providing. And that's true even if your customer is a large or even marquee customer. Don't be intimidated about asking for appropriate reference support.
Photo by John-Morgan

REMARKABLE WAYS.

CUSTOMERS CAN HELP YOU GROW YOUR BUSINESS IN
Getting customers to advocate for you is a lot different from getting them to buy your products and services. It should come as no surprise that it requires a new value proposition. Once you embrace this, you'll find that customers can help you grow your business in remarkable ways.
Photo by Pilozzo

LEARN MORE:

Photo by silkegb

Team Haiku Deck

Haiku Deck Premium User