Category: Word of Mouth

Word of mouth

Whenever I speak to a business owner about how they market themselves, the most common answer is – Word of mouth.

That answer tells me this business has very likely plateaued and become mired in the status quo because while “word of mouth” marketing is great, it’s also painfully slow and a very unreliable way to build a business.

Word of mouth is the equivalent of a free lunch.

It’s great when it comes your way, but do you really want to rely on it to feed yourself and your family?

It takes a lot of blind faith to build your business on this method and is a very dangerous path to take.

Referrals have to be proactive, orchestrated and systematized.

Once you understand the psychology behind referral marketing, you’ll never take a passive approach again.

Think back to a time you recommended a restaurant or car dealer to a friend.

Did you do it as a favor to the restaurant or car dealer or did you make the referral because it made YOU look and feel good?

You did it because you wanted your friend to have the same great experience you had.

Keep that psychology in mind when proactively orchestrating your own referral marketing system.

It has to be reliable and deliberate.

When I first got into the car business I learned my automotive marketing and selling practices from the worlds greatest salesman – Joe Girard.

His system was created because of his “Rule of 250” he learned by observing the average attendance at a funeral was 250 and for weddings, the average number of guests was 250 for the groom and 250 for the bride.

He realized that if every person he met knew an average of 250 people then every person he did business with represented a potential 250 referrals.

So systematizing your process of delivering your product or service so that it was an exceptional experience and systematizing your nurturing and referral process is critical to growing your business.

Word of mouth is nothing more than a hope and a prayer method.

The optimal strategy for referrals is to have a system of consistently asking for one.

By putting a system in place for generating referrals, you dramatically increase the reliability and constancy of word of mouth marketing.

Relying on the goodwill of others is a fools’ errand.

The best referrals come from your ideal best customers so build your referral system around two things.

  1. Target your ideal best customers – the 5% to 20% that generates 65% to 80% of your business.
  2. Focus on the specific problem this group of potential customers has that you have a unique solution to.

If you are a B2B Biz, we have a technique called “Vendor Well” that is a unique and effective word of mouth referral system.

 

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Double Your Business in the Next 12 to 24 Months

Referrals are one of the easiest and cost-effective ways to double your business in the next 12 to 24 months!

The best way to double your business is to have every customer bring a new customer.

And the very Best way is to have every Ideal client (the 20% of your clientele that generates 80% of your revenue and profits. The 80/20 Rule) bring you a new client, just like them.

What would it be like where prospective customers call or walk in pre-sold and ready to buy?
How would your business and your personal life be different?
What would happen to your stress levels?
What would be the impact on your financial security?
How would it feel to have a stable income and cash flow?
How would it affect your family life?

What if you could cheerfully outspend your competition by 2-to-1 or 3-to-1 or even 4-to-1 to bring in your IDEAL customer?

You would destroy some of your weaker competitors.

Almost every business owner I’ve ever spoken to says they get most of their business from referrals…and yet, while they may not exactly be living paycheck-to-paycheck, they do not Dominate their market.

In fact, they pretty much have good months and bad months; just like their competition.

Their income, cash flow and their personal time is not stable and consistent.
Why?

They don’t make it easy for their clients to refer.
They put all the risk on the customer.
They rely on tactics and practices instead of Principles.
They forget that selling is all about relationships.
They have systems based on policies & rules instead of Principles.

They are reluctant to ask for a referral because they think their customer believes it is only for the money!

If you want your ideal clients to refer other ideal clients, you have to make it easy for them to do it when it’s natural for them to do it.

Not just because you are paying them by offering a chance to win a new iPad or even if you are offering them a free iPad IF they refer.

When the subject of whatever your business is about comes up in conversation, you want your ideal customers to talk about you.

You want them to refer you.
You want them to be your outside sales force.

Referrals come pre-sold or at least mostly pre-sold.
They tend to spend more and stay longer.

And, the original customer that did the referring, now has even more emotional commitment to you so consequently, their Lifetime Value increases.

Four things almost every business owner seems to have in common:
1. Not enough time – personal and business
2. Uncertainty of income and cash flow
3. Not enough clients or more accurately, not enough of the “right” clients
4. Not enough of the “right’ employees

What would it feel like to have all of these things?
• More time – both business and personal
• Less unanticipated problems which will mean less headaches and less stress
• Consistently improving results which will mean consistently improving income and cash flow
• Relationships of trust with every employee, vendor and client.
• Customized Solutions that work for you. Every business and owner is unique.
• Personal 1-on-1 mentoring where you can rely on someone with competence and character to help you to ask the right questions, come up with the right solutions, help you anticipate problems before they arise.

What would your life be like a year from now if you were achieving one of the following:
1. The same results you are now getting but with less time, effort and/or money invested on your part.
Or

2. Better results with the same amount of time, effort and/or money invested on your part.
Or…Best of all

3. Better results with less time, effort and/or money invested on your part

Or…you might choose to spend more in time, effort and/or money and absolutely CRUSH your competition.

Principle Centered Marketing Selling & Business Practices is holistic in that it encompasses your employees, your clients and your systems.

Because we focus on principles and because you, your business and your challenges are unique, the solutions we create for you will be implemented in a different order than they would be for a different business with its own unique circumstances.

What works for another business may not need to be implemented in your business.

Thru our Smart Questioning process, we help you discover: What you want and need, Who your perfect employee and client is and How to best connect all the dots.

Principle Centered Marketing, Selling & Business Practices involves every aspect of your business from the message(s) in your marketing, to teaching and making sure every employee from the sales rep to the receptionist always know that the client is asking WIIFM (What’s In It For Me): To think benefits NOT features and that it’s all about providing Value.

We help you generate a business based on creating, growing and retaining your most productive clients and employees.

We help you create an environment based on trusting relationships.

Double your business in the next 12 to 24 months.

 

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