Fans Not Customers: How to Create Growth Companies in a No Growth World

These are tough times for all of us—but it is still possible to defy gravity and create massively successful new ventures, turn-round lumbering giants, and go for growth. The secret lies in not just satisfying customers but in amazing and delighting them.

Most companies plod along doing things as everyone always has. So there are huge opportunities for people trying to break the mold, even in old-fashioned businesses like banking or insurance. Of course it happens all the time in the digital world, but it can happen anywhere—so long as you turn your customers into fans. When that happens your customers—who will sing your praises when your competitors’ customers are complaining—become your greatest allies in marketing and sales. Then you can really go for growth.

But to amaze and delight your customers and clients isn’t easy, and it requires constant work and innovation. This book is generously scattered with examples and case studies drawn from Vernon Hill’s own experience and shows how it is to be done.

Vernon Hill was the founder of the hugely successful Commerce Bank in the United States and Metro Bank in the United Kingdom. He is one of only a handful of chief executives ever to be a member of the Forbes 20/20 club: to have stayed in the same job for over two decades paying more than 20 percent returns every year.