Advocates are a powerful, yet often overlooked part of a company’s customer base. They will often step in where company procedures and policies fall short, defending and presenting your brand to other consumers. Advocates are willing to overlook the company’s customer service shortcomings yet they’ll be the first to inform you of any areas that require refinement.
Advocates promote your business in ways that you as a company representative cannot. They offer third party credibility, boundless passion and belief in your products, personal examples and more. During tough economic times, advocates can provide much needed lift. What’s more is that their advocacy is a win-win situation, if it is handled correctly. They benefit when they recommend a good product that works (solutions!) to friends and associates and the company benefits from the new relationships that form as a result of the advocacy.
Identifying advocates can be a challenge. Advocates may not always be your highest volume purchasers or highest dollar purchasers, in fact, you may have advocates who have only used your products once or twice! Commerce is frequently an emotionally-driven process and the hard science taught in business courses does not always apply in real life. People will be people and the assumption of rationality made by economists is not always valid.
Advocates are your most vocal clients, supporting you in your store, online, on Facebook, at Starbucks, at family reunions and wherever others are willing to listen. They often know your company better than company representatives and what’s more interesting is that they are often better at talking about your company than your company representatives are, for whatever reason.
Listen to your advocates. Make it easy for them to speak about your company and its products. Solicit their product and service improvement ideas. Be a friend and by all means, be an advocate for your advocates!
Gregory Hake 
Great points, thanks!
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I think that advocates are sometimes more credible than a company representative for a few reasons. If someone has a product that genuinely affects their life for the better, there will be a genuine advocacy that is very difficult to reproduce artificially. Of course, there are the advocates that just want others to do what they are doing, but for a product that helps people that is a good thing. Whatever the reason, it seems that a 3rd party advocate is a boon to any business that is willing to look for those resources that may not be so obvious.
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If I love a product or service I do become an advocate. We have so many choices on every type of product why not help people if you’ve had a good experience. I also listen and enlist my friends opinions about products before I buy.Unfortunately I have found from personal experience the Internet is less reliable for accurate information on businesses or products, too many people makeup stuff, good and bad. I like the way Amazon lets you see what other comments the person has posted. After reading two or three of their reviews you get an overall impression of their inclination. Some people are never satisfied and others are happy if it just gets there.
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So true… Cheers to our friends!
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Great points that should definitely not be overlooked or taken for granted. In my own business I have tended to defend that “No account is too small” because I’ve paid attention to the value of the referrals and press they’ve given. Sometimes it is hard to measure their direct influence, but I know it is still there. Therefore I am a firm believer in the power of appreciation and respect in general, because you never know who is going to herald your products and services. Thanks for the post, I really enjoyed it!
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