5 Steps To Amazing Word Of Mouth!

It shocks me! It really does! Word of mouth is one of the best ways to grow a business. It's free, or at the most costs very little. But very few businesses use it to anywhere near it's potential!

Think about this: if you got just one referral from each one of your customers, you'd double your customer base! So, in my attempt to eliminate world ignorance about this amazing marketing tool, here are 5 steps to grow your business with word of mouth!! I used these same steps to grow my last business by 237% in just 23 weeks, solely using word of mouth!

1. Love your customers.

This is, in my opinion, the most important, yet overlooked element of creating endless referrals. It makes me very sad when I see so many businesses focusing more on profits than on people. I believe that focusing on profits alone is very detrimental to success. Word of mouth success in business comes from looking beyond just profit into how you can enrich your customers lives. When you focus on enriching your customers lives, that's when referrals come very easily.

2. Create an amazing experience!

If you can make doing business with you an amazing experience, your customers will tell a lot of people. People want amazing experiences! After all, the whole entertainment business is built around this need. When I think of a business that creates amazing experiences, I think of an Australian accountant who placed his desk on a balcony which backed onto a golf driving range. He set up a tee off spot so that his customers could practice their driving while he talked to them about their tax returns! Isn't that amazing? Obviously, you don't have to go to these extremes! Even a little extra touch that costs very little can make dealing with your business that much more of an amazing experience!

3. Give your customers incentives for giving you referrals

If you're being passive about referrals then you're sitting on a gold-mine. When I grew my hair salon we were very active about asking our customers for referrals. For example, we included a 'referral kit' in each members pack that 'entitled' our customers to refer friends to us, and get rewarded for it. For example, they could get free gifts such as a 30 minute back massage voucher for referring a friend. We actually got these vouchers for free from a local masseuse because we were introducing her to a new, and potentially lifelong customer! Our customers loved our business and had the motivation to refer a friend because of their free gift!

4. Make it easy for customers to give you referrals.

If you want to get lots of referrals, you must make it incredibly easy for your customers to tell their friends. Don't expect them go way out of the way to help you grow your business. Make as simple as possible.

5. Ask at the right time!

When is the best time to ask for referrals? I want to let you in on a great little tip! The best time to ask for a referral is when your customer is on a high because you've delivered so much, or have gone beyond what they expected. But don't worry, if you hate asking for referrals face to face, why not write your customers a personal letter that reinforces how much you appreciate them, gets them on a high, and then asks for the referral!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Norman is the author of Referral Magic, the #1 small business word of mouth marketing system. In his book, Michael reveals how you can easily and maximally jump your business profits using word of mouth, with little or no money. Sign up for his free "Word Of Mouth Marketing Secrets" mini-course by sending a blank email to mailto:referralcourse@getresponse.com. Or, to find out more about Referral Magic, go to http://www.ReferralMagicEbook.com.