Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

Getting our customers into a dialogue with us has always been a top priority and tremendously effective in building customer loyalty.

Another powerful aspect of consumer dialogue is the communities that can be built around having a similar connection to a brand as others. It can include an emotional relationship with a brand, local or regional affiliation, or people that live a way of life that others do. The expansion of these types of communities has created huge swings in customer loyalty.

In my estimation, these communities need to grow organically to begin with, or we're creating something artificial that probably won't fly. But once they are in place, it would be a great idea to look at ways to enhance their experience and connection with our brand so that the community, along with brand loyalty, will grow.

The real winners in this space are those that will go beyond dialogue between customers and the company alone, to providing whatever tools that are needed for customers to communicate between themselves. The more consumers are empowered in this area, the stronger our brands will become. 

It's that connection between your customers that brings an experience that goes beyond the usual business-to-customer experience. Our jobs will be to increasingly think of new tools and platforms that will encourage this type of community sharing. Those that do this the best will win big.