Consider Catie, a potential rockstar for your firm.
她经营着一家小型企业，将她置于中小型企业市场，为您的公司带来了重要的增长机会。就您的业务模式而言，Catie并不是一个特别大的收入客户，她每年的支出约为6,000美元，并产生了2,400美元的利润。但是她仍然是一个潜在的金矿。首先，她是忠诚，易于服务的，而不是对价格敏感的，因此，她的盈利能力稳定，这与您的许多高收入但短期或难以工作的客户一样。
然而，更重要的是她巨大的隐藏财富。她有一个很棒的故事可以讲述您公司对她的业务的价值，这是您在这个重要市场中为许多其他业务所做的事情的典型代表。
她参加了您的在线客户社区和其他对您的业务有吸引力的网络。她保留了一个博客，有活跃的LinkedIn和Facebook页面以及一个Twitter帐户，并且经常对其行业以及职业发展的博客，推文或评论。对她的社交媒体影响力的直接分析表明，她是一个有影响力的人，与您公司的产品和服务的出色前景有着诱人的关系 - 您和您的销售人员都希望与之建立联系。
尽管如此，您的公司像许多公司一样，并没有与Catie互动来帮助营销和出售您的产品。事实是，您甚至都不知道她和许多其他像她这样的其他人。Despite saying quite plainly in surveys that she’d be highly likely to recommend you, that information never makes it from your customer intelligence group to the right sales and marketing people, so Catie is never asked to provide a reference to help further or close a deal. Neither has she provided any referrals to your firm–primarily because no one has asked her to do so.
正如您发现的那样，如果只有您的销售和营销人员与她建立关系，她非常雄心勃勃，渴望在职业中促进自己的身材，并且她想扩展她不断增长的同伴和行业关系网络。她有兴趣克服舞台的恐惧，并在行业活动中发言。她将愿意在案例研究，视频，白皮书，与媒体的访谈中进行合作，以及其他任何可以帮助她发展网络并建立声誉的事情。她很想告诉她的同龄人和顾客您的公司和她一起做的伟大事情 - 因为这也使她看起来不错 - 如果有人要求她这样做。
简而言之，凯蒂（Catie）是一位摇滚明星，是一种为诸如Salesforce.com，Amazon.com，Hitachi Data Systems，Facebook等公司增长的客户。她可以推动“坚持”的有机增长，并吸引从您提供的价值中受益匪浅的新客户。您的公司可能会与她互动，以建立出色的新交换，以与她合作，使她成为您公司越来越强大的传教士，同时帮助她建立网络，声誉和业务。那些错过了这个机会的公司，或通过提供伪装的贿赂来使客户倡导他们的贿赂来破坏它 - 在桌子上留下了很多价值，很多利润。
Unleashing Catie’s Hidden Wealth
Instead of假设Catie will engage in promoting your firm, you implement asystemthat maximizes the value customers like her can create. Let’s see what that results in from thecustomer’sexperience and point of view.
You may, for example, designate a group–such as a customer reference program–to intentionally reach out and begin building a relationship with Catie and other customers like her. As your team gets to know more about her, ideally in ways that include old-fashioned human-to-human conversations, you learn about her personal and business aspirations and you begin working with her to create a vibrant, reciprocal exchange of value. When you discover that Catie also hopes to expand her entrepreneurial presence in several businesses across her industry that are also relevant to you, you’ve identified Catie as a potential rock star customer.
In return, Catie reveals that she’s quite open to playing an advocacy role for you, based on her personal and professional goals. This is not about crass rewards or bribes to encourage an ambivalent customer to say great things about you. It’s about working with customers who are passionate about the value you provide.
捕获数据
Catie参与上述活动很容易在您的客户关系管理（CRM）系统中捕获，尤其是当您致力于发现和培养与Catie这样的客户的倡导和影响者的关系时。
But remember, the second important piece is to make sure Catie is attracting therightcustomers to your firm–those who generate significant profits. It’s critical to look not just at therevenuesuch customers contribute, but also at theirprofitabilityto your firm. As discussed earlier, a rapidly growing software firm may think it’s generating tremendous profits that turn out to be dangerously illusory. Or you may have a few large, high-revenue customers whose demands for price concessions, additional services, or high inventory levels may squeeze margins down to the vanishing point. So you want to make sure Catie is bringing in customers that are not just generating robust revenues but also robust profit margins.
Key Tasks
• Recognize that relatively few of your customers–even your most loyal customers–are generating referrals, leads, brand awareness, or other hidden wealth for your firm. You’ll need asystem,including staffing and measurement, to tap into that wealth.
• Staff your hidden-wealth initiatives with people skilled at building high-mutual-value relationships with customers–as opposed to people focused on getting the reference, referral, or lead from your potential advocates, influencers, and contributors.
• Keep key data in your CRM system for your customers’ hidden-wealth activities–including leads and referrals generated, partial credit scores, revenue and profit margins contributed from new customers generated, and return on relationship.
•就像知道客户在购买方面的利润至关重要一样，也至关重要的是要知道客户的拥护者和有影响力者正在产生多少盈利业务。
Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Review Press. Adapted from隐藏的客户财富：实现最重要资产的未开发价值. Copyright 2012 Bill Lee.
[Image: Flickr user汤米·阿]