Global Marketing Plus

1. Never focus on your need for business.  Focus on how you benefit others.  Present yourself as successful and competent.  Build mutually satisfying business relationships in which everyone wins.
2. Never dump a lot of promotional materials on referral sources.  Do not drop off a pile of your brochures, business cards or newsletters unless a person requests them.  This is a waste of your money and time and is aggravating to those who must do something with the materials, which usually end up being thrown a way.
3. Never speak poorly of a competitor or client.  Whoever is listening will wonder if they will be next.

Want more referrals from friends, associates and clients?  Here are a few things you should do!

• Build your own mailing list of all past and present clients and other referral sources.  Be sure to include anyone who have showed interest in the past.
• Send a mailing to everyone on your list monthly or at least quarterly.  (Some suggest 2 times a month).  Include a newsletter, copies of news clippings or articles, announcements of speeches or other appearances you will be making, information on new products or services, and special offers.
• Keep your list up to date!  Be sure to purge outdated names regularly.  This is especially true if you send emails to your list.  Some feel that it doesn’t cost anything to email a list so why remove old names.  The reason is you do not want to get in trouble from people complaining about spam!
• Be positive and enthusiastic about your business.  It is contagious and will generate business.  People like to do business with others who make them feel confident, positive, and optimistic.
• Build a glowing reputation.  Be prompt, reliable, ethical, polite, and competent.  Never accept work you are not qualified to do.  If you are the least unsure if you can do the job perfectly, refer it to someone else.
• Always send a thank-you note immediately to everyone who provides you with a referral. 

If you follow these tips, your referrals will increase!

If you help others succeed, you will enjoy even greater success!  Take every opportunity you can to promote and refer to those who can be of help to you.  Also help people who are just starting out in fields related to yours.

You might even help your competitors!  It’s estimated that between 11% and 21% of new business comes from the competition.  They refer business out when they are too busy, need to subcontract, or get calls for areas of business outside their own!

The more you build yourself as a leader in your field, the easier it will be for people to refer to you. 

To do this, you will have to do more than just read trade journals.  You could conduct informal surveys or polls or write articles or books on your work.  Send copies of relevant news clippings and summaries of survey results to your referral sources.  With such a reputation, you will be the one people call when they need any resource in your area of expertise.  Hopefully, business is just around the corner.

Also, by joining network and civic organizations, you can become a center of influence.

The more generally you describe your business, the more difficult it is for others to know how to refer people to you. 

Recently I attending a networking meeting and there were two dentists there.  One said that she worked with anyone with teeth.  The other dentist said that he specialized in seeing patients who have dental anxieties.  Which dentist will you more likely refer friends to?

Or suppose you meet two chiropractors.  One says he is a holistic practitioner and can treat anyone from 10 months to 100 years old.  The other says she specializes in treating women with PMS-related problems.

Or suppose you meet two professional speakers.  One who says he speaks on any motivational topic and the other says that he talks on how to save money on business travel.

A bookkeeper who specializes in serving doctors’ offices and is recognized for having designed special systems for medical/patient tracking will find it much easier to get referrals that someone who does general bookkeeping.

In order to make a referral, most people need some “hook” that sticks in their minds.  Once they get that hook, you will be someone who comes to mind when there is a need for what you do. 

What niche can you fill to develop a hook in peoples’ minds?

If you have been seen or heard in the local media, people will have more confidence in referring you, knowing that others have recognized your talents and abilities.  This kind of exposure is one of the benefits of a good public relations effort.  Also any materials you send out should convey an image that builds confidence in your ability.

No matter what you offer, if people don’t have confidence in your product or service, they will not recommend you.  So it is your responsibility to make sure that your product or service not only accomplishes the purpose it is designed for, but that it does it better than your competitors.  If you cannot do it better, do it cheaper.  If you cannot do it better or cheaper, you had better be the only one providing it and it had better be something essential.

Not only does this help you track the results of your marketing efforts, it also allows you to thank those who are sending you business and gives you the opportunity to meet and network with them.

And not just new clients.  When anyone even contacts you, ask them how they heard about you!  If you are not tracking the results of your marketing efforts, how can you tell which of your efforts are working and which ones are you wasting you money on.

Later will will talk about how to chart the results and decide which marketing efforts should be increased and which ones should be cut back or eliminated.

Find out who your clients use for other services that could make a good strategic alliance with you.  For example, since I do website design, I ask my clients who they use for computer repair.  Computer repair people find that their clients ask who can build websites.  They could refer those people to me. 

When I get the name of their computer repair person, I call that person.  I do not ask for business.  This would appear presumptuous or imply that I am desperate for business.  Anyone appearing too hungry raises the question as to why they don’t have more business.

Instead, I call to find out two things:  More information about what the business is and when and how I can refer clients to them.  If they are interested in networking with me, they will ask about my services as well. 

Unless the person can open big doors for you, don’t waste your time with a contact who isn’t responsive to your offer.  Spend your time looking for others who are eager to network.

Your most reliable source of business is your existing client base.  They know better than anyone what you can do.  If you approach them properly, they can become a walking, talking sales force for you.  Here is how you can get them to do that:

Make sure that every experience customers have is positive.   If you want referrals, “The customers is always right.”

On the average, a satisfied customer will tell three people about his positive experience with you within a month.  An unhappy customer will tell seven people of a bad experience within a week!  So a positive experience with you company should be a goal you strive for.  Do the best quality that is in your power to provide and if anything is wrong on your end, take responsibility for it and fix it fast!  Stand behind your product or service.

If you want customers to make referrals, you must quickly fix any problem to the customer’s satisfaction.  Often it is how you handle a problem with a customer that will create the most loyal customers.

Many years ago, I had an associate that had a fantastic marketing company.  He produced coupon books for radio stations to give to listeners.  He also ran the marketing and call center that distributed those coupon books.  For $25.00 each he sold over a hundred books a day, making him $2500 a day!  Out of those 100 sales each day, one or two would call and want their money back.  He refused.  Not politely, I might add.  Well word spread and his reputation become such that the radio station dropped his account.  So while making $2500 a day, over just $50 to $75 a day, he lost the account!

So while you can’t let customers walk all over you, you must find amicable ways to resolve any misunderstandings or conflicts.  When no amicable soulution can be found, let a lawyer, business manager, or collection agency be the bad guy for you.

Make customers so happy they want to go out and shout about it.  Nothing sells like results.  Don’t just leave customers feeling positive, leave them feeling ecstatic!  A customer who is thrilled can’t stop telling others about how great you are.  Whenever such customers hear of someone else who has a need for your service or product, they can’t wait to suggest you.  This often involves going the extra mile to exceed your customers’ expectations.  In business, it is true that the more you give, the more you will get.

Let your clients know you want referrals.  Many times clients do not realize that they can provide you with referrals!  And often they won’t refer without some gesture from you.  Don’t beg, pressure, or imply an obligation to refer, but is is important that you convey to your customers that your business is based on referrals by saying something like, “I get most of my business by referrals.  It’s the best way I know to spread the word about what I do, so your recommendations are important to me.”

Tell them how and when to refer.  Some business owners actually prepare a “When to Refer” sheet that spells out how to recognize when someone needs their service.  One client of mine wrote a newspaper article titled, “When Does a Child Need Professional Help Through The Trauma of Divorce?”  Then he had reprints made up of the article and gave them away to clients.

Provide easy opportunities for people to provide you with names of potential customers.  Some provide gift certificates where you customer can just fill in the name of the person they are referring to you.  They can then give the certificate to the friend.  This gift certificate has your name and phone number on it to make it easy for them to contact you.

Listen for and act on referral flags.  You have heard these before when someone said, “I have a friend who…” or “So-and-so tried something like this, but…”.  Sometimes we hear these flags and just assume the referral will follow.  Most of the time, however, nothing will become of it unless you pick up on the flag and take the initiative to suggest the next step.  Offer to help by saying something like, “Perhaps I could be of help to them”  or “I could probably help them with that.”  Then suggest a next step such as, “I would be happy to call them.”  or “I would be glad to send them a brochure.”  Arrange to be the one to make the contact.

Provide an advantage for making referrals.  Offer an incentive in the way of discounts, gift certificates, and specials to those who refer new customers to you.  This is a common practice among many businesses.  I helped a dentist develop a gift certificate to a local restaurant.  Whenever a patient referred someone who became a new patient, he would give the referring patient one of the gift certificates.  Over 80% of his new business is a result of referrals.

Get frequent feedback.  To make sure your customers are happy, let customers know that customer satisfaction is important to you and you want to know about any complaints.

Research shows the majority of dissatisfied customers never report their dissatisfaction to the company.  They do, however, feel free to express their unhappiness to everyone else!

Offer guaranteed satisfaction on your products or services.  Another thing you can do is to use feedback forms or to ask directly whether someone is satisfied.

Whenever someone who has been a regular client suddenly stops doing business with you, take time to contact the client and find out why.  This will give you a chance to fix any problem and simply let your client know you are thinking of them.

A common myth about business is that if you do a good job with your product or service, the referrals will come automatically.  Usually a self-sustaining business is a result of focused effort to build referral momentum.   Work at your marketing efforts long enough and hard enough, and the referral business will begin to flow.

Even after producing excellent results year after year, you still may get very few referrals unless you are in a high-demand business.  If you concentrate on ways to bring in referrals, you can speed up or even jump-start the referral process.  Once small business owners learn how to develop and generate referrals, they begin coming in.  The product or service is still the same.  What is changed is how these people go about turning the business they have into more business.

Another common myth is that once your business becomes self-sustaining, it will remain so.  However, many  things can interrupt a well-established, steady flow of customers.

• The market can change, making what you offer in less demand.
• Your client base can change, and clients begin seeking features you don’t provide.
• Technology can change, rendering your service obsolete.
• Key personnel who purchase from you may leave the company.
• Your competition may undercut your prices.

Keeping a steady referral-generating effort underway will enable you to pick up on such changes quickly.  By responding to them immediately with necessary adjustments and additional marketing activities, you can often short-circuit any drastic drop in your business.  In fact, as a  small business owner, the ease and quickness you can respond to keep pace with the marketplace is one of your strongest assets.

In short, you must jump-start your referrals to receive them consistently.  Then you must always work at keeping them coming!