The idea of Seth Godin, Flip the funnel:

“Turn strangers into friends.
Turn friends into customers.
And then… do the most important job:
Turn your customers into salespeople.”

He says:

“What if we flip the funnel and turn it into a megaphone?
What if you could figure out how to use the Internet to empower the people who like you, who respect you, who have a vested interest in your success? I call this group of people—your friends and prospects and customers who are willing to do this—your fan club.
A new set of online tools makes this approach not just a possibility, but also an imperative for any organization hoping to grow. Give your fan club a megaphone and get out of the way.”

And he describes the new set of online tools in his great free ebook: Flipping the Funnel (pdf). About del.icio.us, Flickr, Blogging, Squidoo and more. To flip the funnel. Simple, but great idea. And it starts here: Can you buy into the fact that you can empower your fans to speak up?

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