He took to the stage to chants of “Bruce, Bruce, Bruce” but he wasn’t there to belt out an Iron Maiden classic. When Bruce Dickinson entered the auditorium at the Campus Party technology festival in Buenos Aires, on 26 October 2016 he was there to describe the importance of building business relationships that win fans.
Bruce opened to the audience of young computer enthusiasts with perhaps the most obvious question “Why do grown up businesses want to talk to me?” After all, what can the world of business learn from a rock star?
He went on to answer “They’re really interested in the idea of having people being a fan of what is it they do.
And the reason for that is in this crazy world of social media and everything else that’s going on, it’s actually more important than ever to have a relationship with whoever it is you are doing business with. Whoever it is you are designing a service for or a product. A relationship that is actually a real relationship.”
This ability to build a relationship is what’s made Bruce’s success in both the music and business worlds tangible. He understands the difference between customers and fans. Customers have no relationship, no emotional connection or loyalty to a business. They therefore have the choice to walk away from a business deal if you do anything to upset them.
Whereas with fans, whether it’s of a band, a brand, a service or a product; there’s a relationship. So if there’s a problem you have the opportunity to talk about it and fix it. For Bruce, it’s been this ability to differentiate between fans and customers which has led him to success not only in his music career but also as chairman of Cardiff Aviation, in his career as a pilot and in his choice of business investments.
Bruce then went on to illustrate his key point by posing his audience a startling question.
Bruce “Anybody here support a football team?”.
Audience: “Yeah.”
Bruce: “Ok, when do you stop supporting your football team?”
Audience (enthusiastically): “Never.”
Bruce: “Well, how crazy is that? Your football team could lose every single match between now and then end of time, and you’d still support it – right?”
Audience (even more passionately): “Yeah!”
Bruce: “Because you have a relationship with it. You are not the customer of your football team are you? You’re a fan. You’re a fan. And in business you have a business, and you have a product and that’s the world that you’re going into. Whether you like it or not, you have to have a relationship, you have to make the person that you are dealing with a fan.”
If you’d like Bruce to speak at your event or conference on the topic of winning fans, not customers please contact Dave Daniel at CSA. Call +44 (0) 1628 601411 Email: dave@speakers.co.uk.
