Confessions of an unconditional fan

Win or lose — true fans never stop cheering for their teams. Unconditional fans cheer for their favorite team to win, become successful and reach their full potential. When our teams lose, we find other reasons to cheer for them. And when they win, we somehow feel as if we’re winners, because we have placed our allegiances in the right spot. Most fans like to be right and like to win.

It’s the same for fans of your business. Your fans want you to win. They cheer you on, they want to help you, and they’re proactive in their support. We all have fans for whom we’re grateful, but the question is how can we get more? I’d venture to say that each of us could use a few more fans — no matter how many unconditional fans we already have.

So why does someone become a true fan? Creating a fan is about how we make our customers feel. It’s more about the intangibles than the tangible products we sell. Observation of successful firms has shown that perhaps the best way to secure this kind of loyalty is through the little things: listening more than talking, quality face time, making our clients feel important. The intangibles.