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Why you need customer evangelists — before you need it

It’s always best to make friends before you need them. 

I got an email from Northwest Airlines asking me to support a petition for a new route.  Some people might do it, but I don’t exactly consider them friends. We sure aren’t close enough for them to be asking me for favors. (In fact, I sure didn’t get a nice response last time I asked them for a favor.)

If you want customers to rally to your cause and support your company,
you need to start building an open, two-way dialog today. Now.  So you can count on friends being there to support you when you need it.

Start a blog. Open a message board. Have an open call for ideas (like Dell’s IdeaStorm).  Get the conversation started.  Show that you are listening, show that you are there to help, show that you care.

Nwa

(Yes, yes, I know – another airline post. I’m sorry.  But they are so terribly awful that they practically write their own blog about service horrors.)

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