Your Company Needs What Trump and Sanders Have in Common

Please note the following is not a political statement or endorsement of any candidate or ideal. Seriously, it’s not.

Nope, it’s not the crazy hair and it’s mostly not their political agenda! But what they both do have in common  you need to adopt in your social media, customer service, PR, billing and every person or group that touches a customer or not. Both of these political candidates, despite the polls are still considered underdogs. But both are moving many people to not only listen to them, but become advocates on their behalf and speak to others. How are they doing this?

Passion

Both Bernie Sander and Donald Trump, like what they say or not, have extreme amounts of genuine passion. When your company speaks does it show it’s passion? Passion for what it does, what it contributes to society and what it does for consumers? Does every step of your purchase process exude a passion that stands out so much that people can see that you believe in what you’re doing and love it? Showing passion gets people to pay attention. They want to know what is it that makes this person so enthused about their message. They may not agree, but they won’t hear your message if they are not even listening.

Joy 

Showing an outward joy for your proposition makes people want to join in so they too can fell the joy you seem to have found. Now these guys have very different opinions on many things but both clearly have a sense of joy as well as passion when they speak. Yes, both are extreme in one sense or another and I don’t advocate alienating anyone with undue rhetoric but showing both passion and joy are critical to getting folks to listen and talk about your company in a positive manner.

Commitment

Both of these candidates share something else that is rare in politics and often in corporate America, commitment to their ideals. (I know most of you think one or the other of these guys is crazy but that’s not my point) Assuming you know who your customers are and what they want, are you committed to delivering a product or service with the passion and joy that makes people want to jump up and join your cause? Agree with them or not, both these guys are doing just that. They have learned how to not only show passion, joy and commitment but they’ve manged to get others to feel the same way.

The bottom line

The bottom line is the best companies in the world, like these candidates elicit EMOTION that they transfer to their consumers, many of whom become advocates. Getting people to advocate for your cause requires you show, share and invite emotion about what you do.

Now wouldn’t that be wonderful if you could get your customers to feel that way about you?

Can you name some companies who behave in this manner? Apple, Nike and Oreo come to mind.