Referral Power
There are lots of ways to advertise your new business or venture, but what is still, by far, the best method is plain old word of mouth. Everyone is leery of the big obnoxious billboard, or the constant racket on TV, but no one suspects the friendly neighbor next door, or old aunt Mildred. It is a critical aspect of any business to build up a loyal clientele of people that like what you have to offer and who are willing to pass on the word.
I always heard people saying this and I kept reading about this in books and magazines, but I could never understand how it all worked. How the hell do you ensure that your customers are telling others about you? One day it hit me like a giant beach ball, and the answer is actually very, very simple. But before I tell you what it is, let me just run through some critical aspects that must be in place.
- You must be providing a product or service that represents good value for money. In other words, people have to like what you’re offering, otherwise there is no chance that they will tell others about it.
- You have to do a bit of groundwork in the beginning. If you don’t first get some people to buy your product, you won’t have anybody to talk about it.
- You must put a system in place that will be able to handle the kind of business traffic you’re looking to get. There is no point getting more customers if you’re going to end up turning them down, or sending them away. If you don’t do this you might end up attracting the kind of ‘word of mouth’ that is very bad for business.
- Think about whether you’d like to have some sort of reward for referring new customers. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, a bottle of wine or some chocolates would do nicely sometimes.
The final thing to do is just to ask. There’s nothing else to it, ask and ye shall receive. If you’ve just completed some good business with one of your clients, then simply finish off by saying something like “please take my card, if you know or come across anyone that might need my services, please don’t hesitate to refer me to them and I will do my best to treat them with the same courtesy, and professionalism that I have shown you”.
I think these methods apply more to an offline business, but I’m sure they can be incorporated online as well. If you come up with any variations or suggestions that you think might be good for an online business or blog, please tell us about it.
Simon
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