Tonight is the night! I have been anticipating this evening for over a month with John Jantsch and now it is here. Thanks to Mike Merrill and the Social Media Club of Dallas for hosting the event and setting up the venue. As a co-sponsor of this event, it is my desire that those in attendance will see first-hand how practical John’s ideas are about marketing, specifically marketing your business through referrals.
In looking at chapter 2 of “The Referral Engine” (download a complimentary version of chapter 1 here or see a summary in this post earlier), John explores “The Qualities of Referral”. Here are some of the gems I underlined:
- “Trust is the most important reason a recommendation is made, and conversely, lack of trust the single greatest reason referrals don’t happen.”
- Treat employees like customers; “Happy employees are much more likely to represent the brand in a positive manner. Companies aren’t capable of making emotional connections; people are.”
- “Referral-based businesses also focus on attracting the ideal employee. The company takes care of the staff, the staff takes care of the customer, the customer takes care of the business.”
- “In the business of referrals, those who give usually get.”
- “A customer who comes to your organization by way of referral and then experiences your remarkable level of service is far more likely to become part of your referral team. Remarkable companies expect to receive referrals as a matter of course. In fact, they are confident something went wrong with their process when a customer does not voluntarily refer.”
- “Referred prospects have the ability to factor value into the equation. When your business comes highly recommended by a friend, the role of risk is minimized, and that fact alone moves the significance of price comparison down the list.”
That’s just a partial list of the best stuff from less than 30 pages into this great little book! I can’t wait to talk to John in person about alot of this (one of the perks of being in the awesome Duct Tape Marketing global network of coaches), but also hearing how other people get practical ideas about referral marketing as a result.
It’s not too late – join us at 6:00p in Dallas tonight! – Register now for Evening with John Jantsch – “The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself”