Getting Efficient With Social Media

Take the Fear Away from Your Referral Sources (Part 2)

Why DON’T people refer?

A firm understanding of why people DON’T refer is one of the keys to getting your customers to refer business to you.

There are a host of reasons for not referring.  Maybe your product or service is no good.  Maybe your staff is rude. Maybe your customers literally don’t know any other prospects.

Let’s suppose for a minute that none of the above is true – yet people still don’t refer to you.  Let me suggest that you have not put their FEARS of referring to rest.

Let’s face it.  We are all at least a little anxious about referring friends to most vendors. Unless we’re getting a commission of some kind, most of the time, we have more to lose than to gain by making a referral. Even if we were happy with the product or service we received, the fear of a friend being stalked by a salesperson (or unhappy for some other reason) is often overwhelming.

So what can you do to put your customers’ minds at ease so that they can feel comfortable referring friends to you? (more…)

When Should You Ask for Referrals? (Part 1)

Who doesn’t want to grow their business through referrals? We’d all rather sell to people who have been referred to us. The sale starts with a level of trust and familiarity that just isn’t produced by other methods of lead generation.

So why are sales people so bad at generating referrals on a consistent basis? I would argue that as sales people and marketers, most of us have over-simplified the concept of referral generation.

As I speak with sales organizations about referrals, the conversation quickly heads in one of two directions:

1. Sales people – remember to ask for referrals; or
2. Marketing people – develop a structured rewards program (MCI Friends & Family) to motivate people to refer.

I would certainly agree – you rarely get what you don’t ask for.  So, asking for a referral is better than doing nothing at all.  And people rarely change their behavior – or invest energy to assist a selling organization without incentive. But I’m convinced that this is a gross over-simplification. (more…)

Color Matters

Lately I’ve found myself involved in a number of new branding initiatives. New companies seeking to create a compelling brand…  and existing firms trying to become more compelling by investing more thought in the branding exercise.

The topic of color comes up frequently in these projects.  Does color actually matter? Is it a significant variable in the persuasion formula?

The answer is, yes. Color does matter.

Our brains are wired to associate specific feelings with certain colors. Most of us are aware that colors can evoke certain emotions, but it may surprise you to learn that color accounts for 60% of a person’s acceptance or rejection of another person or object.
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STOP Marketing… and Think

I conduct a monthly executive dialogue with members of the Retail Merchants Association in Virginia. Business owners attend a lunch session that we call Smart Marketing, and I have the chance to watch and counsel them in their responses to our ailing economy. These days, the decision making patterns of most of them is so consistent that I find it hard to contain myself.

When the economy slows down, the ad sales people crank up.

Like your stock broker who started telling you what a great time it was to buy… buy… buy on the day after the market dropped 777 points, people selling advertising of all kinds are telling marketers that this is the time market like crazy.  The rationale – this is your chance to gobble up market share while your competitors wallow in self-pity.

Don’t take the bait. While there are cases in which it actually does make sense to increase your marketing investment when times are slow, this is far from a good rule of thumb – especially in this downturn. (more…)