Don’t Just Relate - Advocate!: A Blueprint for Profit in the Era of Customer Power

In today’s environment companies need to go beyond relationship marketing to be true customer advocates – faithfully representing their customers’ interests. Customer advocacy means providing customers and prospects with open, honest and complete information. It means talking with customers, not at them. In most companies, customer advocacy requires a massive transformation in both culture and process. In this book, MIT’s Glen Urban covers the entire ‘pyramid’ of customer advocacy: the ‘base’ (starting with TQM and customer satisfaction initiatives); the ‘middle’ (relationship marketing); and the ‘pinnacle’: new advocacy techniques built on trust, not coercion. Companies from GM to Intel, Qwest to John Deere are beginning to recognize the urgent importance of customer advocacy. Urban reveals what they’re trying, and what challenges they’re up against – and identifies crucial lessons for earning the customer trust needed to thrive in today’s radically changed business environment.