Bill Lee
Bill pioneered customer-led growth.
His firm, the Center for Customer Engagement, provides strategic consulting, advisory and educational services to both senior leaders and boards, as well as lead implementers in customer marketing, customer success and related customer engagement.
To his B2B clients, I've always brought a unique understanding of their B2B customers—having been one myself. I was a production controller for a manufacturer, a vp of operations for a commercial developer, and an official in the Pentagon, Office of the Secretary of Defense.
With his background, Bill is better equipped than anyone to help firms make this transition.
Visionary
Since 2002, Bill created the categories of Customer Advocacy and Engagement and the metric, Return on Relationship™--the foundations for Customer Marketing and Customer-led Growth—which he professionalized.
He founded the Center for Customer Engagement, and built a global community around these concepts, including Apple, Adobe, Amerisource Bergen , AWS, CA Technologies, Box, HubSpot, Marketo, Palo Alto Networks, SAS, Subaru of America and dozens more, using Bill's educational, research and advisory and consulting services.
SELECTED CLIENTS
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
Bill is a pioneer of the 21st century customer relationship. Chris Adlard, Co-founder and Co-author, The Customer Catalyst
[Bill's] innovative frameworks—such as “AIC” customers...are critical for today’s C-suites. Don Peppers, author, pioneer of the one-to-one, customer.
Strategist
Bill is widely published. Harvard Business Review has published 20+ articles by him plus the seminal book on customer-led growth—The Hidden Wealth of Customers—which established customers as the firm's most important growth resource. Other publishers include The Wall Street Journal, Oxford University Press, Forbes, Organizational Dynamics and others.
The concepts in Bill’s book, The Hidden Wealth of Customers (Harvard Business Press)—such as his framework for “AIC” customers—are exceptionally valuable for C-suites looking to create and leverage successful customers, particularly now in the “age of the empowered customer.” Don Peppers, author, pioneer of the one-to-one customer.
"I’m willing to bet that most companies don’t know who their ‘rock star’ customers are, and are missing a big piece of their future revenue engine as a result. This much-needed book shows how to capture that missing piece.” Brian Householder, Executive Vice President, WW Marketing and Business, Hitachi Vantara
"This book will challenge business leaders to tap a superb revenue engine that’s right under their noses.” Julia Wellborn, Executive Vice President, Wealth Management, Comerica
“One of the most insightful business books I’ve read this year.” Dorie Clark, Top 50 Business Thinker (twice), Forbes Online
Educator, Community Builder
Bill built the longest running (17 years), most respected conference on customer engagement and advocacy in the world, the Summit on Customer Engagement, held yearly in Silicon Valley.
There’s really nothing I’ve seen anywhere like it. Bill's Summit covers the strategic and deep dives into the operational. - Lisa Arthur, CMO, Teradata Applications
Bill has built one of the most interesting communities of customer-focused professionals I’ve seen. His annual Summit on Customer Engagement is fantastic. Don Peppers, author, thought leader
“It’s probably the most educational and inspirational conference among those that I attend on a yearly basis… the keynote speakers—especially the opening of Bill—was very inspirational. Martin Haering, CMO, Finastra
"One of the most useful and enlightening conferences I’ve been to in a long time—and I’ve been to a lot of conferences."Dan Crain, VP, Solid State Systems, Cisco, former CEO, WhipTail Technologies
Creator of the Future
ROUNDTABLE FOR A
CUSTOMER REVOLUTION
In 2020, Bill and Jeff Ernst, CEO of SlapFive formed a Roundtable of titans of customer centricity + business success. Our topic: the current state of the customer relationship.
We found the appetite for dramatic change so great that we called ourselves the Roundtable for a Customer Revolution. That appetite for change is accelerating in 2022 with the tech crash and emphasis on cost in the face of persistant inefficiences in Marketing, Sales and Support—plus their inability to scale. Can customers carry some of the load?
Our Roundtable generated 14 hours of transcripts, supplementary research, a webinar series, additional roundtables including one for CEOs, along with ongoing
Our objective: to provide the best possible learning and strategies for CEOs and boards—as well as their implementation teams—to engage their best customers to radically improve the impact of marketing, sales, support and related functions, and cut their costs significantly—in other words, achieve customer-led growth