In pursuit of obnoxiously devoted customers

Abstract

If your organization were a rock group, how many of your customers would be "groupies?" How do such cult-like brands as Harley-Davidson, Starbucks, USAA, and Ritz-Carlton Hotels create such intense customer devotion-the kind that launches normal economics into the stratosphere? It is customer love that makes people gleefully pay three bucks for a cup of Starbucks coffee, gratefully fork over hundrends of dollars to see Madonna or the Green Bay Packers, and loyally spend 25 grand for a Harley they wait a year to get! Attracting and keeping customer love requires passionate leadership, a special culture, and uncommon methods.