A couple months back, I was sitting at a bar on a tiny island off the coast of Belize. It was 4:30 on a perfect, 85-degree afternoon, when a local guy approached our group with a large box of cakes. He was 30-something, and his 3x2-foot box held about 60 "personal-sized" cakes: key lime cake, carrot cake, turtle cheesecake, pound cake, several cookies and his specialty -- chocolate macaroon cake with fresh coconut frosting.
They sold for $3 each, and we bought a few. The key lime cake was so flavorful, I nearly cried. Each one of us (six grown men) raved about the different treats we sampled like a bunch of Martha Stewart disciples. Upon our completion, we simultaneously felt the urge for more. And, like schoolgirls chasing Justin Timberlake, we ran after the "CakeMon" to score another fix. This time I tried his specialty -- still warm from the oven -- the chocolate macaroon with fresh coconut. It was spiritual.
That was our first day.
Each and every day after, we would make our way to the bar around 4 p.m. in anticipation of CakeMon's arrival. We would tell everyone we talked with about the cakes. We would speak specifically about the nuances of each flavor. We would encourage new visitors to the island to seek out these frosted gems and pay the more-than-fair $3 price tag.
We had become "brand evangelists."
Brand evangelists are folks so inspired, they will do a company's bidding. A great deal of products and services are sold worldwide due to ordinary people simply spreading the word. How many logo T-shirts do you see in a day? How many people tell you which southside Mexican restaurant is the absolute best? Ever see a company's logo as a tattoo? (Harley-Davidson comes to mind.) Armies of people are out there pushing product without a penny in commission. I personally know brand evangelists for products that vary from Polaris snowmobiles to Aveda hand cream. We all know evangelists for Apple Computer.
Whether it's extraordinary service, an exceptional product or an over-the-top brand experience, if you do right by your customer, your customer will feel compelled to return the favor. It's a common courtesy that's hard-wired into our human psyche. If you can hit that button, it's automatic. Invest in your customers and respect them as a crucial component in your business plan. And, like CakeMon, you'll have people all but doing the baking for you.
