Vocal Advocates

When I was a kid, my father used to boast to his friends and associates that he was a manufacturer’s representative for a popular shoe company. He would leave the company’s mail-order catalog mixed in among the other magazines on the living room coffee table. Whenever somebody mentioned shoes, he strongly encouraged them to look into his favorite brand. After all, he was quick to remind, he was a manufacturer’s representative.

Now, my father didn’t sell shoes for a living. He didn’t work for a footwear manufacturer, and he didn’t have any financial stake in that particular brand, other than buying their shoes on more than one occasion. But my dad was a great advocate of the company whose shoes he wore, and that company recognized the value in the word-of-mouth he generated. So much so that they made him an honorary “manufacturer’s representative”, the only proof of which was that those words appeared above his name on the catalog mailing label.

Some new research on customer word-of-mouth has come to light, and it puts into question some long-held beliefs. On a recent entry on The Perfect Customer Experience blog, author John I. Todor, Ph.D comments on these findings. Among John’s insights:

Word of mouth is emotionally triggered and emotionally driven. Both the triggering and the emotional expression are harder to achieve online.

…harness and amplify those customers who are prone to evangelize.

…leveraging your most vocal customers is powerful and expedient. However, unless the value customer's gain from interaction with your company is compelling the impact will be short-lived.

So, despite all the technology that can drive and sometimes challenge retail, it’s still old-fashioned word-of-mouth that compels a vast number of consumer decisions. When a potential customer hears of a positive encounter at retail, they will more likely want to experience it for themselves. And when customers have positive experiences, they want to talk about it. Give those vocal customers an incentive to talk about their experience, and they become powerful advocates.

So, can you identify your honorary “representatives”?