BTW, do you have or do you know if there is a forum where people can describe their business and other members can offer ideas of marketing/referral for the business?

I’m currently reading a book called, Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior. In a section of the book the authors illustrate how people interpret offers when they are driven by money vs. altruistic forms of motivation. They describe how our brains can only be driven to action by one or the other.

In some of their examples people may be more willing to do something as a favor than they are when a small financial reward entered the picture, because they then began thinking of it cost vs reward and felt that it wasn’t worth it. (Like when a friend asks you to help them move. You might do hesitantly to help them out, but when they tell you that they will give you $10 for helping you might reconsider.)

Since you are the king of this topic, I wondered if you had any insight on this.

For instance, with Omaha Steaks approach, I wonder if they lose any type of altruistic connections they might have otherwise had with their customers.

Thoughts?

I agree with you that it is good to build up a series of real life examples of these structured referral programs.

I intend to review your “Referral Flood” system for my Business Coaching blog sometime as I know businesses leave a huge amount of hidden profit in this area.

Customers are happy but need to be given that extra push to make positive referrals.