To accelerate growth, hang out with these.
The most important thing you can do to accelerate growth is to change the people you hang out with. That’s true for individuals as well as organizations. Every parent knows that if teenagers hang out with sketchy people, it stunts their growth. Hanging out with winners propels their growth. Same for aspiring athletes. And ambitious professionals. Hang out with eagles and you’ll soar.
Case Studies
Enlisting Mid-Level Customers to Get to the C-Suite
For years, Austin-based National Instruments has sold its engineering systems and software solutions to mid-level managers. But the highly respected firm (6500 employees, more than $1B in revenue) believed it… read more →
Marc Benioff’s Lesser Known Strategy for Rapid Growth
For companies looking to disrupt an industry—whether as a start-up challenging incumbent “dinosaurs” or a division in an established firm looking to be a disruptor (such as moving into cloud… read more →
How Finastra Focused Its CX Transformation on Business Growth
In 2015, Finastra (at the time, called Misys)—a global banking software firm based in London—decided to pursue a compelling opportunity: to expand its business within its client banks. The firm… read more →
The Beachhead Strategy: How HP Enterprise Went from Vendor to Trusted Advisor
For especially complex initiatives that require substantial organization changes—such as this one—an excellent option is to consider a beachhead approach. One indication of its effectiveness comes from a surprising source:… read more →
TIP SHEET: How SAP Uncovered Its Existing Customer Advocates
In my experience and client work, companies generally have many more “promoters”—and thus potential references and advocates—than they realize… read more →
TIP SHEET: How BMC Brought Confidence and Clarity to Its High-Pressure Rebranding
The days when customer advocates primarily took reference calls from buyers and interview requests from the media are long gone… read more →
Reports
How to Create Powerful Customer Advocates—All the Way to the C-Suite
Cultivating C-Level executives as customer advocates can make your
firm. C-Level executives are often highly influential in their industries…
read more →
Growth and the Customer Experience: 6 Principles That Are Simplifying Both
Two major business challenges are proving to be quite difficult for businesses: 1) Achieving profitable growth and 2) Transforming the customer experience (CX) in ways that improve business performance… read more →
“Hire” Customers to Generate Customer Trust Faster
Trust and empathy are a must have in today’s economy. Internal, customer-impacting employees—sales, marketing communications, professional services, support services… read more →
Persuading the CIO to Buy Engaging the CIO to Advocate
Following is a conversation between Bill Lee, Founder of the Center for Customer Engagement and author of, The Hidden Wealth of Customers (Harvard Business Review), and Patty Morrison, CIO… read more →
man on 3d stair and blue sky backgroundThe Level 4 Customer Value Proposition
Getting your customers to advocate and build peer influence in your markets is increasingly critical to business growth. Companies that excel at this—such as Salesforce.com, Amazon, SAS Institute and… read more →
Harvard Business Review
Winning the Elusive Marquee-Brand Customer Advocate
The marketing head of an ambitious technology firm recently shared with me a vexing problem: Apple was one of their customers. But the executive and her team could essentially… read more
The Right Way to Hire Your Customers
Suppose I told you that you have access to a resource that is more empathetic, more interesting, and more persuasive to potential buyers of your products and services than… read more →
The Hidden Wealth Beyond Net Promoter
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is perhaps the best known customer loyalty tool around today, based on the entirely sound principle that the more customer promoters you have (i.e., customers who say… read more →
The Hidden (in Plain Sight) Legacy of Steve Jobs
Since Steve Jobs’ resignation as CEO at Apple last week, there has been much concern, discussion, and hand-wringing in the business world. To many, Jobs is a once-in-a-lifetime genius whose… read more →
How to Create True Customer Advocates
Who sells your products or services? This may seem like a silly question, the answer being of course, the sales & marketing team. But increasingly, the most important person… read more →
Customer Reference Programs at The Tipping Point
Buyers increasingly expect to check with their peers before they’ll purchase from a company — using social media, peer communities, old fashioned live events and conferences, personal and professional… read more →
Turn Your Company into a Customer Platform
The idea that customers can’t or shouldn’t participate much in the innovation process is one barrier to creativity that companies are rapidly knocking down. Many firms are rethinking their… read more →
Turn a C-level Customer Into Your Most Valuable Reference
In any industry, selling to a C-level executive buyer is often a cause for celebration. Senior executive customers tend to have larger budgets, are less price sensitive and more… read more →
5 Things Customers Can Do Better Than You
Many firms assume that customers can do just one thing of real significance: buy their products and services. It’s time to seriously challenge that assumption, as many companies are… read more →