Interview with Lou Imbriano on Winning the customer: turn consumers into fans and get them to spend more, by Lou Imbriano and Elizabeth King
Abstract
As discussed in this interview, Winning the Customer is all about how to maintain and grow relationships to maximize revenue. It focuses on three key areas: 1. Organizational structure and systems - The Marketing Playbook 2. Relationship building - Relationship Architecture 3. Closing business - The Revenue Game. In order to ensure that a company maximizes revenue, all three areas must work harmoniously together. The first section "The Marketing Playbook", identifies ways to set up an organization to win and understand preexisting fans of their product - and those who can become ones. It shows how to find those people who are absolutely dying to spend their money on an organization's product. The key is transferring a business from a transactional to a relationship-oriented marketing model. The second section "Relationship Architecture" shows how organizations can connect with people in meaningful ways and shows the kind of effort it takes to create significant moments that profoundly change relationships. Actual steps are identified that will ensure positive successful relationships and will yield a real change in an organization's P&L statement. Imbriano then shows how he managed relationships at a billion dollar company like the Patriots and at Trinity One, a small boutique agency he owns. The third section "The Revenue Game" looks at the nuts and bolts sales process. It shows real ways to engage with companies and individuals that lead to getting the meeting (instead of being the guy who goes straight to voicemail and never gets a call back). Finally tangible ways are given to build revenue as opposed to just selling concepts.