There isn’t anything more rewarding than having a satisfied customer refer a friend to you.  That customer comes to you pre-sold on you, your business, and your product or service.  Referrals, (aka word of mouth), are worth their weight in gold to any business; the mistake some business people make is in relying on word of mouth as their primary, or even sole form of marketing.  There are two basic problems with word of mouth advertising that most either ignore or don’t recognize:

 1.                  Nobody cares more about the success of your business than you; and,

 2.                  To get people to talk about you, you must do something to get them talking.

Who Cares?

 No one, not your sibling, your spouse, or even your Mother cares more about the success of your business than you.  No one.  Your friends and family may cheer you on every time they see you, and give you all sorts of praise and comfort, but they simply do not possess the eternal fire for your business like you do.

 I have a Brother in-law that owns a small wood mill.  One day my wife and I ran into an old friend of hers at the mall, and after the usual “How have you been’s” the friend started telling us all about this great deck they were getting ready to put on their house.  It was going to have a couple of different levels, part of it was going to have a lattice covering, there would be wooden benches, and on and on. 

 The entire time she is telling us about this magnificent deck project I kept thinking about my Brother in-law, Paul, and his wood mill.  This would be great, she could get the lumber she needed at a reasonable price and Paul would get some much-needed business.  I kept waiting for my wife to bring it up.  Since she didn’t mention it, I didn’t mention it because I thought maybe there was a specific reason she wasn’t saying anything about it.

 After about 30 minutes the friend said good-by and left.  I turned to my wife and asked, “Why didn’t you tell her about Paul?”  Her response:  “I forgot.”

 Clearly she loves her brother, but his business is not paramount in her thinking and so she didn’t think to bring him up – even though this would have been a perfect win-win situation for the friend and her brother.  Your family and friends love you, but they aren’t driven about the success of your business.

  Do Something

 Why should any customer bother to refer someone to you – what’s in it for them?  Do you reward them in some way or just say “Thanks”?  While a genuine “Thank-you” is certainly something, it usually isn’t enough of a motivator to get customers to constantly talk about you.  Give them a gift of some sort as your Thank-you, or even the universal motivator … cash.

 Some businesses have a series of levels or steps set up so that the first referral generates a $20 gift; on the 4th referral you get $20 + gift; on the 10th referral you get $20 + nicer gift; and so on.  This type of program gives your customer added incentive to continue giving referrals in order to receive the increasingly nice gifts.  In addition, when they receive their gift they will talk about it to others.

 Once your customer has actually recommended you to someone, why should this new customer use you?  Again, what’s in it for them?  Provide some sort of incentive, (besides your customers kind referral), to this new customer.  A discount of some sort is certainly a common offer, but certainly not the only thing you could do.  This double incentive, (one to the existing customer for the referral, and one to the new customer for switching), is the more effective method for generating word of mouth referrals.

  Final Thought

 I am a huge fan of word of mouth marketing, and I am a huge fan of traditional marketing as well – there simply is no “Best” form of marketing.  What works well in one industry, or even for one business, may not be right for another industry or business.  Select the form, (or forms), of marketing that will be best for reaching your customers in your market area and run with it.

 Remember that any form of marketing takes time, so don’t expect a thundering herd of customers to come pounding on your door tomorrow.  Keep at it; and always remember the story of the Tortoise and the Hair.  Slow and steady wins the race.