Think no small business owner in his or her right mind would ever make it difficult for people to purchase their products and services?

Before you answer the question, read the following true story.

True Story: Judy's Boutique Adventure

Not too long ago, I was running errands and, having a little extra time, decided to check out a clothing boutique that I had always been curious about.

This was a very nice shop that carried, mostly, high-priced lines. Not what I usually buy but what I might splurge on every once in while. My mind-set was “I could be persuaded if it looks great on me.”

There wasn't anyone else in the store. I was the only customer. For that reason alone, you would think the sales women would be delighted to help me. But when the little bell on the door chimed, they glanced my way exactly once and then went back to whatever it was they were chatting about.

Now if the owner was there, things might have been different. Still, I thought it was really odd that here is someone in an otherwise empty store who might buy something, maybe enough to make their monthly commission, and yet they did nothing at all.

So I ended up looking at the nice things they had and left without spending a penny.

You would never do what those saleswomen did would you?

Are You Making it Hard for People to do Business with You

Maybe not intentionally, but I see it happen all the time: weblinks that go nowhere, offers without information about what to do next, brochures that are jam-packed with lots of irrelevant verbiage, and so on. If these small businesses are making money, it's in spite of the marketing they're doing, surely not because of the marketing I'm seeing.

I want to encourage you to make the buying process for your customers and prospects a "no-brainer." In fact, you want to make the buying process so easy and pleasurable, that your customers' only focus is on using your products and services and enjoying the benefits.

So how do you make the buying process easy and enjoyable for your customers and prospects?

Creating an Experience that Makes Buying Easy and Enjoyable

Whether or not you're conscious of it, when customers buy from you, they have . You and your customers may interact in a real store or office or you may be interacting in cyberspace. It doesn't matter. The sights, sounds, speed of interaction, ease of getting what they want, etc all leave an impression–positive or negative.

Why not do what you can to make the experience as positive and rewarding as possible?

It can be something very simple. For example, when I entered the store, one of the salespersons could have looked at me, smiled, and said "Hi, how are you today?" That simple greeting, her acknowledgment, would have greatly improved my experience. And as I was browsing, if someone had come up and said, "Is there anything in particular I can help you with?" that would have added points as well.

Notice this doesn't require them to be at my every beck and call. These are small actions that would have acknowledged my presence and would have eased the way towards a purchase. I'm suggesting small, low-cost or no-cost activities that have a potentially large payout.

In the cyberworld, you can't literally smile at someone and offer to help. But there are still lots of small things you can do to improve your customer's experience and impove their liklihood of buying somthing, of coming back to buy more, and to send their friends and colleagues to your site. 

For example, when it comes to retail websites, Amazon.com remains one of my favortes. Especially for browsing and buying books and media. If I'm looking for something specific, I usually find what I want quickly and I love the one-click purchasing option. In addition to the making the mechanics of searching for and purchasing easy, Amazon offers opportunities for social interaction including customer reviews, Listmania, So you'd like to … guides, discussion boards, and more. When it comes to social interaction, Amazon.com is not MySpace nor is it trying to be but as someone who does a lot of research and reading, Amazon.com remains very high on my list in terms of usability, usefulness, and experience.

Yes, Amazon.com is a huge, big-budget corporation but they're also a huge resource for small businesses that create and/or market information products. Why not leverage what they offer for your own small business? 

A Simple But Poweful Question That Will Expose the Problem

If you're wondering whether you're unintentionally setting up barriers to buying, here's a simple way to find out.

Ask your current customers.

Ask them this question in this way: "…on a scale of 1 through 10 with 1 being worst and 10 being best, how easy was it for you to find what you were looking for?"

The beauty of asking the question this way is that you'll get actionable information. If they give you anything less than a 10, your next question is, "what would need to change to make the experience a 10?"

Tips to get the best results:

• When asking what you need to improve, you may want to go through the process step by step with your customer to really pinpoint where the problems occur.
• Thank your customer for their help if appropriate by giving them a small but meaningful gift. A discount on their next purchase, a free book or tape, etc.
• If you make the change, tell them and thank them so they know what they said made a real difference.

Bottom Line:

If people are showing interest in your products and services but aren't buying, you may be unintentionally making the buying process confusing, difficult, or just plain unpleasent. Don't leave money on the table. A few small actions may be all it takes to significantly improve your customers' buying experience and your bottom line. 

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Got a question? Want to make a comment? Use the following comment form or click here contact me at www.judymurdoch.com.  

What it means?

The term Grok (rhymes with rock) is a term that refers to a person's ability to "understand intuitively or by empathy; to establish rapport with." The term was coined by science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein in his 1961 novel, Stranger in a Strange Land.

The term also comes up in the programming world (science fiction and computer programmers, hmmm?): When you claim to "grok" some knowledge or technique, you are asserting that you have not merely learned it in a detached instrumental way but that it has become part of you, part of your identity.

Are you thinking, "Judy, that's all well and good but I own a small business and I have customers to call, prospects to follow up on, and stuff to do." Why the heck should I care?

Good thing you asked.  (or alternatively: it matters a lot; here's why)

Why it matters?

The ability to grok your customers is the x-factor of effective marketing. Grokking your customer is what creates truly viral marketing.

Have you ever noticed how many of the sales pitches you encounter each day feel forced and impersonal? The average American is exposed to literally, x persuasive messages a day and we ignore the vast majority of them.

As a small business owner, I encounter hundreds of appeals for products and services that are supposed to help me make more money, do more in less time, leap tall buildings in a single bound, and so on. If you own a small business or practice, you know what I'm talking about.

I can count on my fingers the number of times an appeal has truly stood out and pulled me in. But when they do, they're almost irresistable. Not manipulative. Not seductive. Irresistable as in "attraction."

And if the company is doing right by their customers, they are treating me very, very well when I do become a customer.

What does it mean to "Grok" your customers?

I like to think of "grokking" as understanding customer in our heads and in our hearts. Too often I see marketing messages that err in one direction or the other and the results are a mess.

Several years ago, I worked as a technical writer for a large software developer (no longer in business by the way). They spent an enormous amount of money on very slick looking ads that appeared in magazines, at tradeshows, and on their website. Although the ads looked impressive with fancy colored diagrams and such, you would have to have a PhD in Engineering to have a clue about what they were selling.

And then there are the appeals that  

What does it mean to "grok" your customers?

Let me turn the question around first. Think back to a time when you felt truly understood, recognized, and appreciated by a business for which you are a customer. Got that time in mind? Good. So how did it feel?

I think it is easier to recognized when you're being "grokked" than when you're not. This is because when we're not being grokked, it can be very subtle. The feeling that "they're just not getting what I need." 

The other day I was having coffee with a business owner who offers financial planning services.

Now most business owners I talk with like what they do to a greater or lesser degree. But this guy positively overflowed with enthusiasm for what he does. He actually managed to get me interested in the topic of 401k rollovers; a topic I usually find about as exciting as watching paint dry.

So I said to him, “Ryan, you seem like a natural for giving presentations and classes. It would be a great way to connect to prospective clients. Do you do anything like that?”

Ryan's face lit up and he said “I love to teach people and present!”

Then he said: “But I have no idea how to get started. How do I do that?”

Great question.

The topic of how to establish yourself as an expert speaker is a huge one. There are literally thousands of books, websites, classes, and coaching programs on the subject. But let's say you're like Ryan—you enjoy talking to groups and you want to try presentations as a way to promote your business.

I was in the exact same place as Ryan about two years ago. Since then I've learned a lot about using presentations as a way to promote my business to small business owners and entrepreneurs.

These six steps are the ones that got me started as a presenter. 

Step 1. Start with local membership organizations.

Most cities—large and small—have hundreds of organizations whose purpose is to support members and do so by offering education, training, networking opportunities, and so on. For this reason, they are always looking for ways to provide value to their members. If you can present a topic that members will find valuable and fits within the organization's mission, you are offering something desirable…especially if you have a fresh or unusual take on your topic.

Benefits of starting with membership organizations include:

• A ready and motivated audience (you don't have to fill seats)
• A regular meeting space (you don't have to arrange for and rent a space)
• An established meeting format into which your presentation fits (you don't have to organize or lead the meeting)

Step 2.  Brainstorm a list of topics you like to speak on.

If you're like Ryan and are using presentations as a way to introduce yourself to prospects, each topic should address a particular problem that you handle for your customers and a success story related to the problem.

As a financial planner, Ryan tends to encounter problems related to life transistions—voluntary and involuntary. For example, the happy occasion of a new baby also brings up questions such as: “Do we need a bigger house?” “Do we need to trade in our Mini Cooper for a mini Van?” and “Do we need to start saving for college?”

Step 3. Introduce yourself to the organization's Program Director

Call the program director (or whoever arranges events) and briefly explain your intention for presenting. If the organization needs presenters and the program director expresses interest, this is a perfect time to describe 2-3 topics that seem like a good match to the interests of the organization.

Note: If none of the topics you suggest interest your contact, ask them what their members consider “hot topics”. You may be able to adapt one of your topics to meet the needs of their members.

Step 4. Help the organization with promoting your program.

When you successfully schedule a presentation with one or more organizations, help make the presentation a success. You can do this by providing a brief bio (1-2 paragraphs), a summary of your topic, and a photo of yourself. Most program managers ask for these materials in advance and use them to promote upcoming programs. You may also want to prepare a short introduction that the organization can use to introduce you to the audience.

Step 5. Earn your right to promote by adding value.

Have you ever sat through a presentation that was promoted as informational but turn out to be a thinly veiled sales pitches. Were you annoyed? Most people are. And this is why you focus on content first; promotion second.

The most effective presentations offer information that is genuinely relevant and useful to your audience. That allows you to position yourself as a provider of valuable solutions. 

You should, of course, make your contact information, email address and web address easy to find and use. I always include my full contact information on the last page of my presentation handouts. In addition, each page of the handouts has my business name and website address in the footer section.

6. Know what the next step is that you want your audience to take.

The biggest place where people mess up is on followup. They do their presentation. They chat with people in the audience. And then they leave hoping that members of the audience are so excited by what they learned that they will be calling the presenter the next.

But this is rarely the case.

So, you need to be very specific about what you want your audience to do and make it easy for them to take that action. This doesn't have to be anything complicated or fancy. A simple but effective approach is ask for their business cards in exchange for more information on the topic you presented. Give aways audiences like include a copy of the presentation handout, a list of resources, a helpful report, and so on.

You can then use the contact information as the basis for future invitations, mailings, and so on.

Important: If you use an email subscription list, I strongly suggest you add only those members who opt-in. In this way you are contacting only those explicitely agreed to become subscribers. If you begin contacting people who did not give you permission, you risk being labeled a spammer. Even worse, you risk losing credibility as a trusted expert.

Bottom Line

If you follow the six steps I've described and present a relevant topic in an engaging way, you'll have plenty of opportunities to present. Once you have some experience, you can refine your presentation topics and focus on organizations whose missions and membership are the best fit with the products and services you offer.

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Was this article helpful? Do you have a different take on the subject? Leave a comment using the form below.

Or if you prefer, click here to contact me directly.  

A question from a Contagious Marketing reader, who wrote:

“The question I have is how do I turn the qualities of my ideal client into the specific niche or type of client/business that I work with? I tell people that I work with small business owners and entrepreneurs and I find that is so very general. I know I need more specifics.”   

—JoAnne, Virtual Assistant

JoAnne's question brings up a common issue faced by small business owners—most of us, when asked, can describe the clients and customers we most enjoy working with—but how do we go from "Jane, my favorite customer"
to a profile that helps us:

• Explain to customers and referral sources who we best serve (this is a perfect referral"),
• choose and refine the products and services we offer,
• create a compelling marketing message that attracts attention,
• show up where our best prospects are most likely to be?

Traditional marketing practice involves going through exercises such as defining your marketing niche using demographics (age, gender, geography), psychographics (attitudes, interests, values), products used, and media watched.

But for most small business owners, this approach is cumbersome, time-consuming, and frankly, not really necessary.

Here's my simple, common sense approach to coming up with a solid,actionable niche definition. Just three steps:

Step #1 Identify the Problems You Like to Solve

As a small business owner, you get the cold, hard cash because your products and services help your customers manage or eliminate problems. Your niche market is comprised of individuals and organizations whose problems:

• You excel at solving
• You find fun to solve

For example, the term, “virtual assistant” suggests someone who handles “administrative” problems. But what exactly are “administrative” problems? In my experience, administrative issues cover a wide range of problems including:

• Clients who are hopelessly overbooked making them miss/forget appointments
• Clients who are so busy with the details that they never seem to have time to work on "bigger picture" business issues
• Clients who never get around to following up with customers, saying thank you, and similar small but important activities that strengthen customer relationships
• Clients who are drowning in paperwork (for example, healthcare providers who spend more time completing insurance claim forms than actually working with patients)
• And so on…

Now let's say JoAnne's proudest accomplishments to date have been the following:

• One of her clients is a management consultant who is frequently doing workshops and training sessions. JoAnne helped this client set up a system to record the most popular workshops and make the recordings available on the client's website.
• She developed three email templates for another client so that his customer mailings were more inviting and easier to read. Because more customers were reading the emails and acting on offers, JoAnne's client enjoyed a significant upturn in repeat business.

Every business owner has a unique set of accomplishments. Another virtual assistant's proudest accomplishment might be his ability to quickly spot and correct misspelled words, grammatical errors, and style inconsistencies. And there are other virtual assistants who love nothing more than to divide and conquer a mountain of paperwork.

Step #2: Focus in on Professions/Industries

Once you get some clarity around the problems you excel at solving, you want to narrow in on the one or two professions whose members are likely to have the problems that you are so good at solving.

Continuing the example, JoAnne has learned that professionals who make their living as experts in their fields are good prospect for her because:

• They are interested in turning their expertise into products that will provide passive revenue. By sharing their expertise through recordings, books, articles, and similar products, they earn revenue that supplements fee-based projects.
• The success of their products depends on the customer's abilityto use and apply the ideas and information. Clear, easy to read emailsand web pages go a long way towards improving product usability.

Professions where JoAnne can find these experts include Management Consultants, Professional Coaches, Educators, and Professional Speakers just to name a few.

Step #3: Ta-Dah! Put it Together and You Have a Niche Definition

If JoAnne combines the problems she enjoys solve with the professions most likely to value what she offers she will
get something like this:

I work with

“Expert consultants who are interested in creating revenue sources that supplement their fee-based work but are too busy to create those products and services.”

Last Word: Use Your Best Guess and Expect Your Niche Definition to Evolve

One of the biggest errors I see small businesses make is the reluctance to define a niche because they're worried about missing potential revenue from prospects outside their niche.

Big, big mistake.

Inevitably, these owners are run ragged trying to be something to everyone. They never develop areas of greatness that allow them tostand out from their competitors and become more profitable.

I encourage you to use these strategies to select one or two niches that come closest to "ideal," develop marketing to attract customers from these niches and use your experience working with these clients to refine your niche description.

Business 101 tells us that in order to have a sustainable competitive advantage we must offer products and services that satisfy customer needs and that we need to do it in a way which is in some way better than our competitors.

Logically, then, shouldn't your marketing focus on letting customers know what a great job you do when it comes to meeting their needs?

Yes and no. Although customer needs are incredibly important and should be taken into account when you plan and develop your marketing, they shouldn't be the focus of your marketing. Money spent on needs-focused marketing is not money well-spent.

Needs-focused marketing doesn't work because people spend money on what they want not on what they need. It's like the classic song from the Rolling Stones:

"You can't always get what you want

And if you try sometime you find
You get what you need"

What's important to remember is that even though we can't always get what we want we still want it and we still try to get it. This is why marketing that focuses on satisfying your customer's wants is always a lot more compelling than marketing that focuses on needs.

Does this mean you can ignore the needs of your customers and clients when developing your marketing? Absolutely not! You need to consider both wants and needs in your marketing. You market to customer wants and you deliver on customer needs.

Let's first define what "wants" and "needs" mean when it comes to marketing.

At their most basic level, human needs are what we need to stay alive: air, water, food, and sleep. Once these basic needs are met, we focus on meeting higher level needs: companionship, security, protection from the elements, entertainment, and so on.

In the United States and countries with similar economies, these basic needs are pretty well met for most people. This is why most products and services today focus on meeting higher level needs.

There are two ways to think about wants:

1. Desire for relief from pain

For example, an aspirin ad, "I just want my headache to go away." The pain here is self-evident.

Pain is often a symptom of an important need that isn't being met.

For example, headaches can be a sign of too much stress, not eating right, needing to wear glasses, or something even more serious.

2. A preference for how you want a need met

For example, most of us need shoes to protect our feet from getting injured. Some of us prefer wearing Nike cross-trainers and some of us prefer wearing pink satin slippers with beaded trim.

So what does this mean when it comes to marketing your products and services. Two things:

1. Make sure your marketing focuses on relief from pain and/or customer wants;

2. and, when someone becomes a customer make sure that your products and services provide the solution to so that their real needs get met.

Steps for Creating Wants-based Marketing

1. Understand the symptoms and wants that are driving your customer's interest in buying from you.
 
2. Know what the important unmet needs that are causing the symptoms

3. Create a marketing message that addresses your customer's symptoms and wants

4. Make sure that once that person becomes a customer that your products and services address what is causing the need to remain unmet.

5. Honor the want

For example, life coaching has become a very popular profession but a lot of coaches struggle to attract clients because they don't understand why people hire coaches.

A lot of marketing I see from coaches focuses on helping their clients meet very high-level needs. For example, "Life Coaching for Personal and Professional Empowerment"

Getting past the jargon ("empowerment") what need is this coach addressing? Probably the need people have to feel effective and to create positive change in their lives. This is a very legitimate need that many people have and with which a good life coach can help.

The problem is that most of us aren't in the market for "empowerment," or "better self-awareness" or "cognitive structures." We are, however, in the market for:

"Helping me deal with my jerky boss who is making my life totally miserable"

"Helping me get my kid to keep their room clean"

"Telling me what to do so I have enough money to retire on."

If your marketing doesn't address the wants of your customers or relief from the pain they are experiencing, they won't be interested in doing business with you.

How could this life coach change his or her marketing to appeal to the wants and desires of their prospective client?

How about:

"Are your kids driving you crazy because they never clean up after themselves?"

or

"Is your boss making your life miserable?"

Once someone contracts to work with this coach, they can work with the client to implement cognitive structures, systems, etc, to help the client address the cause of their problem (improve self-esteem, become more assertive) to their heart's content. If they address the cause and help the client get their needs met, they will have a very satisfied client who will happily refer more business their way.

Bottom Line

Your marketing message needs to talk about the pain your customer is experiencing or a want that they have.

Your products, services, solutions, and so on need to address what's causing the problem so the symptoms go away or to satisfy the particular want.

When your message and solution work in this way, you attract a lot more qualified prospects and you retain a greater percentage as satisfied customers. This holds true for any type of small business marketing from brochures to word of mouth referral marketing programs.

Referral-based marketing is one of best ways for a small business to promote its products and to attract new customers. It’s how I’ve grown mybusiness and it’s how I help my clients grow their’s.

But there is a “dark-side” to referral marketing and if you’re committed to growing your business based on customer referrals, you need to be aware of potential problems that can occur.

True story: The (very) unhappy client.

Before founding Highly Contagious Marketing , I worked as a technical writer and trainer. Because I like computers and I like helping people use computers, it was and still is, work I enjoy and  that I’m pretty darn good at.

Like many technology experts, I worked awhile for a consulting company that would hire me as a contractor to handle projects requiring a technical writer or trainer. During this time I earned a reputation for doing quality work and doing it quickly.

One day, they offered me a project, that from their description, sounded fantastic: The client was in the Fortune 100, we would be developing a new training system that would be deployed in locations throughout the U.S., and I was the project leader with a staff of three. The client was very excited about working with us too because they were told that I was one of their best project leads and had never missed a deadline.

It was a complete mess from almost day one.

I could spend quite a bit of time recounting what went wrong but when you really got down to it, the conditions that helped me succeed in previous projects weren’t present in the current project. In the previous engagements, the client genuinely appreciated my presence, I worked directly with the project sponsor, and had free access to subject matter experts.

I discovered too late that the conditions that contributed to my previous successes were largely missing in my current situation. There was a power struggle between the project sponsor’s department and the project manager’s department, the subject matter experts resented our presence because they wanted to create the training system, and system desired by the client was far more extensive and complex than what could be completed in the allotted six months.

And that is a good example of a referral gone wrong.

The people who referred me were telling the truth: I had done a great job for them under a specific set of conditions. We assumed this project would the same and didn't do enough research to surface the issues that made the engagement such a struggle.

As a small business owner, have you ever gotten a referral who comes to you excited about working with you but once you begin working together, it feels like a constant struggle?

If you have, it's a very slippery slope indeed because:

• You worry that when word gets back to your referral source they will never refer anyone to you again
  

• You worry that your new, unhappy customer will tell everyone what a lousy job you did

• You are concerned that the time and effort spent dealing with your unhappy new customer will shortchange your loyal core customers.

And you should be worried because when it comes to word of mouth communications, people are ten times more likely to share a negative experience than a positive experience.

But, good news, you can handle these situations gracefully to neutralize unhappy feelings and to perhaps even create a win-win for you, your new customer, and your referral source.

Six Steps to Handling a Referral Gone Wrong

1. Assess what caused the problem

You need to objectively assess what caused the problem. More often than not, these problems occur because you and your customer didn’t fully discuss assumptions and expectations. What assumptions did you make that turned out to be incorrect? What expectations did your customer or client have that you didn’t know about or disregarded?

2. Fully own your part.

However unpleasant your customer or client may be, business relationships don’t exist in a vacuum. In some way, however small, you contributed to the current situation.

I’ve found the best way to handle these situations is rather than look for blame (a waste of time and energy in my opinion), own your assumptions, expectations, and behaviors that contributed to the problem.

3. Apologize.

If you fully own your part, apologizing is a lot easier because you’re no longer on the defense. When you’re off the defense, there’s simply nothing for your customer to react to. They may still be angry and disapointed but they will no longer see you as the advesary this opens up the opportunity for accord.

4. Offer redress if appropriate.

If part of your agreement included a guarantee, ask your client if they want to take you up on the guarantee. If you don’t offer a guarantee, you need to find out what

5. Tell your referral source what happened (without putting down the other party).

If you initiate the contact to share the news, you will be viewed by your referral source as honest and forthcoming. If they hear it from the person they referred, they will wonder why you didn't let them know and possibly assume it's even worse than it sounds. To get referrals, your referral sources must trust that you will do good work for the prospects they send you. They must feel confident that giving you referrals will make them look good. When they feel uncertain about your business, they will not risk their credibility by sending you referrals. 

That's why, however, uncomfortable it may feel, it's important that you be the bearer of the news. 

6. Use what you learned to refine your Ideal Referral Profile and share the profile with your referral sources.

I cannot place enough emphasis on the importance of educating your referrals sources about what an ideal referral is for your business. Doing so makes it infintely easier for referral sources to spot opportunities on your behalf, increases the odds of converting the referral to a satisfied customer, and…

…by explaining to your referral a ideal referral, you also explain why the one they sent you didn’t work out and helps them refine who they send you.

Do you have an ideal referral profile?

If you don’t have an ideal referral profile, consider taking our More Referrals NOW teleclass. You’ll learn all about ideal referral profiles, how to use them to get more customer referrals, and much, much more.

For more details about the class, go to http://www.judymurdoch.com/referralmarketing.htm . 

A few months ago, my 10-year old son came to me insisting that I “had” to see a video of a “40-pound cat.” Now, I’m very fond of cats and I’ve seen quite a few…some of which were pretty darn big, but I didn’t think cats got much bigger than 20-pounds. 

Sure enough, on YouTube.com, there was a 40-second video showing scenes from a typical day in the life of an enormous orange tabby cat. For your viewing pleasure you can watch kitty sitting on a chair, being carried a short distance by a human caretaker, lumbering up the stairs, eating, and sleeping. Accompanying the video was a rather strange, ominous soundtrack: perhaps anticipating the consequences should kitty fail to lose weight.

The video is remarkably popular. On YouTube.com the “world’s fattest cat” video has been viewed over 24,000 times in the last five months. On another video site, it’s been viewed over 128,000 times since it appeared in September, 2005.

To my knowledge there’s no multi-million dollar advertising campaign. No postcard mailings or infomercials. Nor have I seen the 40-pound cat on Oprah or on the Tonight Show. Despite this lack of marketing support, hundreds of thousands of people worldwide have watched this video.

This is a perfect example of a viral message. A message that people eagerly share through word of mouth and email. It is an organic phenomenom that occurs on its own with no outside manipulation.

If you own a small or mid-sized business, imagine the potential if your marketing message were viral. Perhaps you have even tried to create viral marketing by encouraging your customers and colleagues to spread the word but the results have been less than spectacular.

What is it about the 40-pound cat video that has made it so viral?

In a word, Novelty. Referral behavior (and sending an email telling your friends to watch a particular video is most definitely referral behavior) occurs because we want to look good to others. One way to look good is to tell people about something that we know they are not likely to have heard about or not known about before. Most people have never seen a picture of a 40+ pound cat, let alone a video of one that is lumbering up a flight a stairs.

This is not to suggest that you need to find a 40-pound cat or a 12 oz. Tea cup Chihuahua to encourage customers to get the word out. You do, however, need to have something distinctive enough about your products and services so that your customers get a chance to look good by telling others about you.

FOUR WAYS TO IMPROVE NOVELTY

1. Use extremes. The 40+ pound kitty is a perfect example of using an extreme to create novelty. As human beings, we have a natural fascination with extremes: the biggest pizza (12-square feet for $135), the smallest dog (a 6” Chihuahua), a man who ate 36 cockroaches in 1 minute, and so on. 

Your business extreme doesn’t need to be nearly so exotic. Novelty is relative to the frame of reference used by your customer. A liquor store can advertise the largest selection of champagne or the most extensive selection of sake within a “four-state region.” Another example is a dockside restaurant that bills itself as selling the “freshest fish anywhere unless you catch it yourself.”

2. Offer an extraordinary guarantee. Although they no longer use it, the “30-minutes or it’s free” guarantee made Dominos pizza a household name. It was an audacious claim that no other pizza delivery chain had made in such a wide-scale, public manner.

3. Limited Editions. You see limited editions in a variety of products including soft drinks (Coca Cola Black), apparel (Gap 1969), games (60-year commemorative Monopoly edition), and automobiles (2000 Vapor Blue VW Beetle). The cachet is that the item is produced for a limited time and then pulled off the market giving it a “one of a kind” collectible status.

4. Limited distribution. Luxury products and services have long used the strategy of exclusive distribution to create an aura of exclusivity. But more prosaic products have used limited distribution to their advantage as well. For example, until the mid-1980’s, Coors beer was only available west of the Mississippi. If you lived east of the Mississippi, Coors beer was something of a status symbol because of its association with Colorado and Rocky Mountain ski resorts.

NOVELTY WITHOUT TARNISHING PROFESSIONALISM

Those of you in traditionally conservative businesses such as banking, healthcare, insurance, and legal services may feel uncomfortable with the idea of novelty. After all, people give you business because they trust you to protect what they most cherish. Just keep in mind that novelty is

RELATIVE to what others in your industry are doing. For example, a financial planner who works with professional athletes can use a “game plan” metaphor for marketing her services. Done tastefully, this adds enough novelty to provide a competitive advantage for getting more “looking good” referrals.

Finding novelty in your products and services takes some creativity and imagination but once you get the hang of it, you may be surprised by the number of ways you can add distinction within the range professional decorum.

CURIOUS ABOUT THE 40-LB. CAT?

As a last word, for those of you wanting a look at the one of the world’s fattest cats, you can watch the video by clicking here.

The other day I was discussing marketing options with a client and she said something that shocked me.

"Well, I guess I could be shameless and promote myself more…but it's not like I have anything special or interesting to say."

I was shocked because this client founded and runs an extremely successful consulting practice and works with an elite roster of Fortune 100 companies.

She also has two large binders stuffed with classes, workshops, and other valuable intellectual property she's developed over the years.

I think that's pretty darn impressive. Yet, she's asking me "what's the big deal?"

Upon further questioning, my client went on to tell me that, in her mind, "special and interesting" means you've done something truly exceptional and ground-breaking in the eyes of your peers and in the eyes of general public.

And she's not the only small business owner asking this question or its variant:

"Who am I to …?"

If you're asking yourself "what's the big deal" or "who am I to…?" you are not only doing yourself a disservice but you are doing a grave disservice to the many people and organizations that NEED your services and products. Plus, you're sabotaging your marketing because you're broadcasting a mixed message to your audience (Buy my service even though it's not all that great). For tips on getting clear about "why you" and how to use this information in your marketing, read on. 

Answering the question, "What makes me so great?"

You don't have to be a leading edge thinker in your field, a Nobel prize winner, or even a PhD to have something valuable and unique to offer. You just need to understand what it is that you do that makes a positive difference to your ideal customers and clients.

No matter how many companies "out there" seem to be offering the exact same thing as you, there are more than enough prospective customers for whom you are the best choice. For them, who you are, what you do, and how you do it is what makes you so "great."

Still wondering what makes you so great? Try this exercise.

Call 5-7 of your best clients or customers—your “raving fans” and ask them this question: “What is the value that you are receiving from our work together?”

Then listen and take notes.

If your customer answers in generalities that could apply to anyone, press a little further by asking them: “I’m glad to hear that but I’m wondering if I'm providing value to you in surprising ways—beyond my role as your _________.”

Again, listen and take notes.

When you do this, you will get, in your client’s own words, what makes you so special; why, in their eyes, it’s a big deal to work with you.

How to Use What You Learn

Understanding how you add value forms the foundation of all your marketing and promotion activities. Some ways I suggest my clients use this information include:

1. To remind them why they're in business. Keep the notes within easy reach for times when they're feeling some self-doubt and wondering "why me?"
2. As testamonials for the client’s marketing (this is, of course with the quoted person's permission.)
3. To use in their marketing messages. This is a little different from testimonials because it involves using words and terms used by clients in the copy rather than directly quoting what a client said.

Final Thought

There are prospective customers and clients out there who need your products and services. Don't do them and your business a disservice by holding back what you can do because you think “it's no big deal.” If you know that you can help your customers get more of what they want or less of what they don't want, to them, it is a very big deal indeed.

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Referral marketing programs can take time to really build up to the point where you have all the customers you can handle. It can take at least a year or more.

I don't know about you but I don't like to wait…especially if I can do something to speed up the process.

Well, I'm not waiting and you don't have to either.

Getting more referrals is like any marketing activity. There are strategies, tools, and specific steps you can take to make sure your referral marketing program gets results. And you'll learn those strategies, get the tools and resources, and take the steps in my four-week More Referrals NOW Teleclass which begins October 3.

If you've been in business for a year or more and it seems like your referrals are still trickling s l o w l y;

Or you're getting referrals but your struggling to convert them to paying customers;

You'll want to join us.

If you're thinking this sounds pretty good; even if you're just curious, click here for more details and to complete an application.  

P.S., Register before September 18 and take advantage of the early enrollment discount and save $30! Click here for details.

True or False: Referral marketing is the easiest way to get the word out about your small business? The answer is…

FALSE

Don't feel bad if you answered, "true." Most people do.

So often, I've seen someone start a new business, with the assumption
that their friends and colleagues would send lots of new business
their way. Three months, sometimes six months later, these new
business owners are still waiting for the phone to ring. And even if
the phone does ring, only a small percentage of those calling end up
converting to real paying customers. Sadly, many of these businesses
don't make it.

The owners of these failed businesses aren't dumb or niaive. Many
have owned successful small businesses in the past or had successful
corporate careers. They know how to get things done.

So what's going wrong? Why do referral marketing programs so often
fail to produce results?

First, business owners simply don't ask for referrals. Often this is because the business owner assumes that others "know" they need more customers. Unfortunately, the folks outside their business often assume the opposite; that if a business owner isn't asking forcustomers, they probably don't need any! It's easy to see how this dynamic undermines the referral marketing process.

Business owners may also resist asking for referrals because theythink they're “bugging” people or haven't earned the right to ask for referrals.

Regardless of the reason, the consequence is the same: if you don't ask for referrals, you won't get them.

The second reason referral marketing programs fail is because when
we do ask, we leave it up to our referral source to figure out who to
send us. So often, we ask for referrals in a vague, general way
(“uh, do you know anyone who needs my services?”).

Asked in this way, people almost always say, “no, can't think of
anyone.” Why? Because they're running through their mental contact
list, a list so large for most folks, that they rarely think of
someone specific when asked.

The third reason referral marketing program fail is because people
forget your request. Let's say someone has agreed to send you
referrals and they are completely sincere in their desire to help you.
Unless they immediately call the person they want to refer to you,
chances are they will forget because they're busy and there are more urgent things demanding their attention.

Unfortunately, if they don't remember you, they won't send you referrals.

At this point you may be thinking, “Sheesh, this is harder than I thought, maybe I should tattoo my company logo on my forehead after all,” don't be discouraged. With the right skills, know-how, and a little creativity, your referral marketing program can thrive. Read on for strategies that will take the number of referrals you receive from “blah” to “VROOM.”

Four strategies to getting more referrals:

1. Don't assume anyone knows what your business needs. Ask for referrals.

2. Understand why people give referrals and, in particular, why they will give you referrals.

Put simply, people give referrals to look good.

Think about it when you are the referrer. Have you ever referred a friend to your favorite restaurant and your friend ends up loving the place? They probably thank you every time they see you and you feel pretty great—like you let someone in on something very cool and special.

That's why people give referrals for everything—plumbers, realtors, pediatricians, electrical contractors, you name it—they get to be a hero in a small but significant way.

3. Make it easy for people to refer you.

To send you referrals, your referral sources need to remember you when opportunities arise and they need to know what to tell the person about your business. For example, compare these two referrals:

"My friend, Ann is a realtor"

"My friend Marion is a realtor who will buy your house if it doesn't sell within 90-days."

See the difference? Which is more memorable? In a tough seller's market, who would you rather refer? If this were all I knew about the two realtors, Marion is the one I'd refer.

4. Follow up and acknowledge.

If you assume people don't care whetheror not you say thank you, you assume wrong. When you call your referral source and let them know how your meeting went with the prospective customer they sent you, it reinforces their involvement in your success and their ablity to make things happen.

In addition, sending a note of appreciation regardless of whether the referral works out, encourages your referral source to send more.

When done right, referral marketing is, without a doubt, the most inexpensive AND most effective way to get the word out about your small business. Although it requires more of your time upfront in terms of planning, developing a strong message, and educating your referral sources, remember that—every dollar—every minute—you spend on your referral marketing program will pay for itself many times over in terms of the high quality new business you attract.

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