Creating Customer Evangelists.

You are an evangelist.

You tell others what movie to see, which computer to purchase, what restaurant to visit, which dentist to go to, which cell phone to buy, which books to read, which clubs to join. Your recommendations are sincere, perhaps even passionate. As an evangelist you bring glad tidings to your sphere of influence.

A loyal customer is often defined as one who buys from you on a regular basis. But if your "loyal" customers are driven by convenience or low prices, they are repeat customers--not necessarily loyal customers.

A repeat customer who purchases based on convenience or low cost can easily morph into a vigilante customer, one who tells others about your deplorable service.

Customer evangelism spreads by word of mouth and by "word of mouse." via e-mail and the Internet. This is buzz, which lives and dies in a predictable bell-curve model, helping to create new customers or turn off potential ones.

Customer evangelists extol your virtues. recommend you to friends, purchase your products as gifts for others are loyal and passionate, provide unsolicited feedback or praise, and forgive occasional slips in service and quality. Ultimately, customer evangelists feel part of something bigger than themselves.

The lessons from the original evangelist--the religious believers who roam the back ways of the world to spread the word of their faith--teach us that beliefs are based on emotional connection, deep-seated convictions and the promise of a better way. Strongly held beliefs compel many of us to tell others To wit the root of the word "evangelist" is based on "a bringer of the glad tidings."

Traditional marketing tactics are declining in their effectiveness. Customer-driven referrals are the valuable new currency. Future customers often first hear about you from a trusted friend. Evangelists often influence and enlist future customers on your behalf.

When people gush about a product, they usually tell what they bought, where they bought it, why they bought it, how they used it and what it means to them. Often their eyes light up and their voice is tinged with emotion. You then say, "Wow, this sounds pretty good. I'll have to try it." You remember their story.

When you see your evangelist friend a week later, she asks if you're using the product. Not yet, you say. Her reply, "This weekend, I'll show it to you myself." She is leading you through the sales process, generating enthusiasm, overcoming objections and perhaps closing the deal.

Your friend is a customer evangelist, a volunteer sales person. Customers like her love to help other people by sharing a great experience of their own. They want others to benefit as they have.

Creating customer evangelists requires planning, resources and patience. These six tenets provide a framework:

1. Encourage customer feedback.

Companies thoroughly understand what customers love about their products and services by talking to customers constantly. Successful companies make it very, very easy for customers to provide continual, real-time feedback.

2. "Napterize" your knowledge.

Named after the concept of Napster, the file-sharing service that introduced the world to one of the most efficient distribution networks ever, sharing knowledge with customers increases the perceived and actual value of a service. The more knowledge companies share, the more that people will tell others about it.

3. Build the buzz

Buzz works because of the energy and sincerity from a personal referral that traditional advertising cannot match. Word of mouth spread through natural networks is 10 times more effective than television, radio or print.

4. Create community.

In a customer community, companies gather like-minded people who share something in common: the company. As a result, a customer community has a vested interest in the continued success of the organizer.

5. Make bite-size chunks.

Companies with legions of customer evangelists typically break their product and service portfolio into bite-size chunks. It easily gets products and services into their hands and minds, and builds goodwill because it provides value without requiting a large or expensive purchase.

6. Create a cause.

Companies that aim for something bigger than themselves--like rallying for "freedom" as Harley-Davidson and Southwest Airlines do--often find that customers, vendors, suppliers and employees naturally root for its success and the companies because of the emotional connection it creates.

Jackie Huba spoke on the topic of creating customer evangelists at the recent ABA Marketing conference in Chicago. She is the co-author of "Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force" (Dearborn Trade). She and her co-author, Ben McConnell write and speak extensively on how organizations can build evangelists for products and services. www.CreatingCustomerEvangelists.com