Flip the Funnel: How to Use Existing Customers to Gain New Ones

IBM IS DIFFERENT

In my first book, I introduced the notion of multiplatform engagement, which—like multichannel selling—is designed to give people more opportunities to interact with a company. When it comes to buying stuff, the hypothesis is dead simple: The more opportunities we give our customers to transact the more likely they’ll be to transact. Brick-and-mortar stores, pop-up retail or satellite outlets, e-commerce and e-tail Web presence, catalog or direct mail, and/or a toll-free number all support the more-the-merrier adage.

In the media business, the same proposition is true. Why try in vain to connect with today’s elusive, skeptical, and marketing-weary consumer through the tried and tested media of television, radio, and print (symbolized by the three primary colors of red, yellow, and blue) when there is an entire box of crayons to color with (the 96 Big Box, for example, by crayon manufacturer Crayola)? Instead of chasing our consumers on our terms with our preferred channels, why not give them a rich and diverse array of connection points or communication channels through which to engage, interact, seek, and connect? Going back to the hypothesis, we’re banking on the notion that the more options we give our consumers to participate, the more likely they’ll be to do just that.

With customer (versus consumer) dialogue, however the same logic and rationale apply. The more opportunities we give our customers to engage us (as opposed to us engaging them), the more ...