From Customers to Advocates

Think for a second about the last time you recommended something to a friend.

And I don't mean a polite mention.

I mean you really recommended it.

Leaned in, lowered your voice a little and said, no, you have to try this.

I'll bet it wasn't a product that merely worked.

The dishwasher that washes the dishes does not get conversation time.

We don't make speeches about competence.

We save our genuine enthusiasm for the experiences that made us feel something.

The restaurant where the host remembered us.

The hotel that turned a bad day completely around.

The company that treated us like we mattered.

We don't advocate for what serves us efficiently.

We advocate for what makes us feel like we belong.

And the word belonging is the quiet driver underneath the single most valuable thing in business, a customer who stopped being a buyer and became a believer.

I call that person an advocate in residence, someone so at home with your brand that recommending you feels less like a favor to you and more like a gift to their friends.

And that path that produces them runs in a very specific direction.

From satisfaction, to belonging, to advocacy, to referrals.

And referrals grow a business faster and cheaper than any ad you'll ever buy.

I've spent nearly four decades helping brands earn that kind of devotion.

Starbucks, Ritz-Carlton, Mercedes-Benz, Zappos, Amazon One Medical, and one company that put the word belonging right at the center of its strategy, Airbnb.

Let me give you the numbers because belonging is financial.

Start with how people decide.

Nielsen found that 83% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family, the single most trusted form of marketing on earth, way ahead of ad spend.

So your most persuasive salesperson, she isn't on your payroll.

She's a customer who felt something worth repeating.