Here’s what stood out for me:

“According to Simon, the percentage of employees from these hidden champions in regular contact with customers is five times higher than in large companies”

So true; there is no substitute for interacting directly with customers and fans. This is something that sits at the top of my mind when evaluating a social media engagement strategy–if our goal is to interact with hidden champions five times more often, we’ve got to figure out where they are, what they want to talk about and what type of content, conversations and products will be useful to them.

In short, no substitute for getting to know the customer.

Your post highlights the advantage that companies gain by being closer to their customers, quite appropriately so. I wonder, though, how much of the benefit of being closer is seizing new opportunities and how much is due to gaining an increasing share of customer needs in existing products and services.

Best Customers spend an increasing share of wallet at companies with which they feel a closer sense of relationship. They also tend to buy a bit less on promotion and refer friends who resemble them to the company, thereby continuing to drive incremental revenue.

I see Drucker’s “monomaniacal” approach applying both to the commitment to being closer to the customer and also to a strong focus on the core business and mission of the company. That focus makes it easier to customers to slot or “bucket” the company in a certain set of products and services, making the choice process easier.