Author: Teddy Anderson (4 Articles)
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Teddy Anderson
Teddy Anderson
Customers, customers, customers; everyday I see an article or a program about how to attract and grow customers.
These are popular because most business owners want more customers, they can’t get enough of ‘em. The problem is attracting and growing customers is a waste of time and resources. Attracting and growing fans rather than customers should be the focus of every business owner. Why?
Customers are fickle. Today it’s lunch at Burger King tomorrow it’s Wendy’s.
Fans are loyal. A Harley Davidson fan will not own or even ride a Honda.
www.bit.ly/9Clz5C
Customers are not great spokes people. If asked a customer may tell others about you but it’s not a good bet.
Fans are evangelists. The goal of a Mac fan is to convert the world especially PC users. http://www.hulu.com/watch/94300/macheads
Customers are quiet. Rarely will a customer speak up when something goes wrong.
Fans are vocal. Coca-Cola received over 400,000 angry calls and letters after replacing Coke with New Coke. A psychiatrist hired to analyze phone calls to the company hotline reported that some people sounded like they were discussing the death of a family member.
www.powerhomebiz.com/052008/power-brand-new-coke.htm
Customers are not loyal. Many of Wendy’s customers abandoned them after the “finger in the chili” story broke.
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7594873/
Fans fight for you. Toyota has taken some financial hits this year however the company’s Facebook fan base has grown by more than 10% since recalls were announced in January.
www.adage.com/article?article_id=142335
www.facebook.com/toyota
It’s time to stop the futile pursuit of customers and ask “What is my plan to attract and grow fans?”
Here are a few suggestions:
Books to read
Raving Fans by Ken Blanchard www.bit.ly/dtPrWu
Customer Satisfaction is Worthless by Jeffrey Gitomer www.bit.ly/bohpAQ
Brands that Rock by Roger Blackwell www.bit.ly/9fKE7U
Companies to call
In Columbus we have two companies that have developed products or services that will help you attract and grow fans.
BrandThunder. The Boom fulfills the desire of your fans to get a tattoo of your company brand (like Harley Davidson fans). The difference is they tattoo their computer rather than their arm (less painful).
Green Compass. The customer report card? allows you to deliver exactly what your fans want and to exceed their expectations.
Very interesting angle on this subject. Fans really do go the extra mile. I was a hard core Mac user and Apple user before that for many years until I got a hold of a computer that had issues. I exchanged it for another one and ran into the same issues. I needed something that was going to work and ended up going the pc route or as I called it – joining the Dark Side. Even with that move, I still think Apple does the best job.
Teddy,
Man, did you ever hit the ole nail on the head with this one! Raving fans are much more desirable than customers who don’t really care, who come and go with whims.
Thanks for the great resources, too!
Mark Storey
Referral Institute Columbus
Great article- enjoyed it! Quick read and makes it an easy call on the reader to see where they may can adjust their thinking (verses be ‘convinced’ against their will yet of the same opinion still) Thank you!
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Hey Ted, great post. I would highly recommend reading Guy Kawasaki’s Art of the Start. He discusses this in great detail and talks about building raving fans.
One side point. I don’t always think it is about the NUMBER of customers but moreso the QUALITY of customers. The Pareto principal proves true for me that the top 20% of my customers produce 80% of my revenues and they also contribute to only 20% of my worries.
Looking forward to reading your next blogs!
I could not agree more! I know the products and services to which I am loyal I go out of my way to extoll their virtues. Great information Teddy and thanks for the additional resources as well!
Teddy,
Excellent post! So true, influence people to become your fans and not solicit or have the goal of gaining a customer is the way to go! We can’t forget that people buy from those they know, like and trust. So build brand trust and the customers will be there!
Hope you don’t mind this plug for a FREE report “adopting the social media mindset” as a resource for making this shift [https://bit.ly/socialmediamindset].
Tiff
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