I've started this wrap-up posting 4 or 5 times... The versions ranged everything from something sounding like an awards thank you speech, 'thank you Heath, Alison, Starbucks, Mom...' to lyrics from the 1969 song "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)" by Steam.

Nothing felt fitting.

It seems like I should close where we started... talking about loyalty... and customer evangelists...

I'm going to refer again to Ben and Jackie's book Creating Customer Evangelists. On page 2 they share the seven attributes of customer evangelists.

Customer Evangelists:

• They purchase and believe in your product and or service
  
• They are loyal and passionately recommend you to friends, neighbors, and colleagues
  
• They purchase your products as gifts for others
  
• They provide unsolicited feedback and praise
  
• They forgive occasional dips in service and quality but let you know when quality slips
  
• They are not bought; customer evangelists extol your virtues freely
  
• As your evangelist, they feel connected to something bigger than themselves

The real trick is how do you round up each of the departments in your organization and persuade them to adopt these principles within their discipline? Our job is to convince them to incorporate these 7 rules as a Kevlar test for each and every decision when developing a program, product, hiring practice, training program, recognition process, or mission statement!

Thanks for letting John and I share some of our experience and thoughts.

Happy Holidays!