Work those mouths

How to make happy customers do all your selling.

Word of mouth is the most powerful sales tool you have. Why? We’re all social animals and love to pass on stories. If a friend tells you how good a film, book or restaurant is, you’re much more likely to act on that recommendation than if you simply saw an advert. To put it another way, ‘peer-to-peer endorsement’ is many times more likely to change your behaviour than just reading sales blurb.

How does word of mouth work?
Loads of books have been written on this subject – some even aimed at particular industries. The power of word of mouth lies in the credibility and independence of the source. The source – a friend or colleague maybe – is able to provide your potential customer with an indirect experience of your business. This reduces the risk to the potential customer of trying your business. Because word of mouth is usually timely and credible, it’s thought to speed up the decision making process. Now you can see why it’s so important to make it work for your business.

Are you sure you should proceed?
Before we go any further, I should make something clear. If your product is shoddy, or your service unreliable, stop reading now. If you use the techniques in this article to spread the word about your shaky business, you’ll simply accelerate your demise. Go back to basics. Focus on the fundamental reasons you’re letting customers down and fix them. Only start trying to take advantage of word of mouth when you’re consistently delivering a high quality product or a reliable service.

So how can you harness of the power of word of mouth?
Clearly this is a numbers game. You need to maximise the number of opportunities to get credible independent people to recommend your business. Here are a few ideas...

#1 Have a good business card
We would say that wouldn’t we, but it’s true. You need a professional looking business card that truly explains what you do and includes your contact details. Hand two out to everyone you meet and sooner or later a card will make it to a new customer’s hand.

#2 Create a referral scheme
Offer an incentive for customers to recommend you to others, e.g. 10% off their next order. If you reward them for doing this, they are even more likely to act. It also gives you a way to talk to your customers about who they may be able to refer you to.

#3 Play with professionals
Join a professional body or a local business group and let everyone know you’re part of it – use their logos on your marketing – on leaflets, your website and your business cards.

#4 Get testimonials
You know the things – “I was so happy with the service”. You won’t just get these from your customers by chance – you need to ask for them. You may even have to help them draft what you think they should say. Once you’ve got them, use them! Testimonials work much better if they are attributed to a person – “Hector Baldwin, D&S Plumbing, Elgin” is much more plausible than “HB, Scotland”. Plaster them on your marketing – why not put one on the back of your business card?

#5 Work your network
Go to networking events like Chamber of Commerce meetings, business breakfasts and any meeting where you might meet prospective customers. Give them your business card and ask for theirs – then follow up.

#6 Attend public meetings and events
Try to say something that could be useful to those attending. This is a great way to not only share your knowledge and help others, but it also puts you in the eye of those who could use your services. You can also do this on-line by replying to popular blogs and forums.

#7 Tell the story
Tales pass down through generations – storytelling is in our genes. What great stories can you tell about your business? Keep them simple and easy to repeat and use them in your marketing material. One of the best repeated stories is from the boys at Innocent Smoothies with their “should we give up our jobs and make smoothies?” festival stand – one bin was marked “yes” and the other marked “no”. At the end of the day, the “yes” bin was full and the brand (and the story) was born…

#8 Create a newsletter or a blog
What are you an expert on? Send customers and prospects a newsletter on a subject they’ll find stimulating and useful and you’ll establish yourself as an expert. A regular newsletter gives you the opportunity to keep in touch with your customers and tell them things about you such as new products they didn’t know about. As for an example – you’re reading one!

#9 Write letters to newspapers
Try and get your letters published in local newspapers and business publications. Comment on a story or current event and throw in your wisdom. You’ll be surprised at how often a good letter will get printed. Don’t forget to include your contact information and website address.

#10 Go plural
Find someone whose business complements yours and get into bed with them. Share the costs with joint promotions and increase the number of people who can spread the word about your business. For example, I do joint-ventures with a local copywriter. If you own a hair salon, maybe the tanning shop round the corner would share the cost of distributing a load of leaflets? Who could you partner with?

#11 Give them a useful hand-out
Give people something useful that they’ll value. For example with my business I have a hand-out titled “Low Cost Marketing Ideas”. Don’t forget to include your contact details and testimonials on all your hand-outs.

#12 Organise your own events
Accountants are great at this – ever been invited to a “budget breakfast briefing” following the chancellor’s speech? Find a subject that people will be interested in and organise a get together. Popular times tend to be around meals – breakfast, lunch or nibbles straight after work.

What if I don’t have the time?
Unless you’re wearing a lyrca suit, you probably just haven’t got the time to implement everything on these pages. Don’t worry. Try and pick out at least a couple each month and commit to doing them. Don’t forget your local printing.com store can help you with the marketing stuff.

Article written by Nick Bowler and originally published in idea magazine issue 4.