Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

Featured Resource

Make a Referral Week - The Small Business Referral Stimulus Package

As the talk of recession crowds the news and economic stimulus package debates rage in Washington DC, it’s time for small businesses to take the matter into their own hands. Therefore we hereby declare March 9-13, 2009 - Make a Referral Week.

Make a Referral Week is an entrepreneurial approach to stimulating the small business economy one referred business at a time. The goal for the week is to generate 1000 referred leads to 1000 deserving small businesses in an effort to highlight the impact of a simple action that could blossom into millions of dollars in new business. Small business is the lifeblood and job-creating engine of the economy and merits the positive attention so often saved for corporate bailout stories.

The week long virtual event will also feature daily education programs focused on teaching small business owners and other marketers how to tap the power of referral marketing. Featured guest experts include Ivan Misner, founder of BNI and author Masters of Networking, Bob Burg, author of Endless Referrals and the Go-Giver, Bill Cates, author of Get More Referrals Now, Andy Sernovitz, author of Word of Mouth Marketing, Guy Kawasaki, author of Reality Check, Rich Sloan, author of StartUpNation, Anita Campbell, publisher of Small Business Trends, Scott Allen, author of the Virtual Handshake, John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing, Scott Ginsberg of Nametag TV, Michael Port, author of the Contrarian Effect and Book Yourself Solid, Susan Solovic Wilson, founder of SBTV.com and Pam Slim, author Escape from Cubicle Nation.

Make Your Referral Pledge today!

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Featured Resource

Become a Duct Tape Marketing Coach in 2009

Join the Duct Tape Marketing Coach Network and become part of a network of small business consultants and coaches across North America that are discovering the tremendous power behind the Duct Tape Marketing Brand, Tools, Programs and Systems.

Let our brand open doors and help you take your business to the next level. We are looking for marketing professionals with a passion to serve small business.

Join me for a live Discovery Session and get a start on making 2009 the best year ever. Enroll for an upcoming session here

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Featured Article

A Complete Referral System

For most, referrals happen accidentally as a result of doing good work or being in the right place at the right time. What if those valuable referrals could happen intentionally, as a result of doing work and putting yourself in the right place, with the right source, always at the right time.

Marketing is the most important system in any business and referral generation is simply one component of the lead generation cog, and as such, needs it’s own documented system as well.

I could write an entire book on this subject, oh wait, I am writing an entire book on this subject, and for my money, here are the referral generation system parts that must go into your design.

• Become more referable - before you pass go you must analyze every way that your business interacts with customers and prospects - marketing related or not - and inject positive, brand supporting elements into the each interaction - many referrals are lost because shipping or finance roughed up the relationship.
• Target your sources - 1) look at your customers under a microscope - what’s the profile of a customer that’s already referring business? Find that out and focus most of your attention on that kind of customer by making it easier for them to refer. 2) who else has your ideal customer as a target? Strategic partners should be a major focus of attention. This is the place where you need to look long and hard at your ability to make referrals to others - give and you shall receive!

  * In a recent survey I conducted on referrals respondents felt that less than 30% of their referrals came from strategic partners - I think that should be more like 60%

• Educate your sources - ever get a bad referral? It was probably your fault. We can’t or shouldn't’t ask for referrals until we tell our referral sources in great detail - how they would spot our ideal customers, the kinds of things our ideal customer might say to signal them as a lead, and the exact way/words to use when telling a prospect about us.
• Motivate your sources - money for referrals is usually a crummy motivation, but a creative, on message kind of offer that turns referring business to you into a game is a great way to motivate your referral sources and shine a light on the subject of referrals for all. Of course, saying thank you never hurts either.
• Follow-up with all - a referred lead is different, you’you've got to be prepared to follow-up in a different manner - in all likelihood the sales cycle will be different as well, plan on it. Follow-up also includes your referral sources. Build feedback loops so that your referral sources get to know how much good that are doing by referring your business. Create key indicators of referral success and make them part of your marketing measurement dashboard.

Each of these parts needs to be thought out, documented and baked into your day to day marketing efforts. Plan to change, expand and moderate your system parts as you take them out into the real world.

Now that you have a system, you’re almost half way there - a system design is an academic exercise until you put the process into action - tomorrow I'll delve into operation your referral generation system.

Your bonus for reading this far: I have two full copies of Office Small Business 2007 ($450 retail) that I am going to send free of charge to the best two audio answers given to this statement: The Best Referral I’I've Ever Received was . . . Call this number and leave your answer (214) 615-6505 ext 6998 - it works like voice mail so just listen to the prompts. Make sure you add why it was such a great referral and feel free to tell us your name, business and web address. I will pick the two winners and post the audios here so you can also get some nice exposure for your business. (Send me an email with your shipping address too! john [at] ducttapemarketing.com)

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John Jantsch is a veteran marketing coach, award winning blogger and author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide.

He is the creator of the Duct Tape Marketing small business marketing system. You can find more information by visiting http://www.ducttapemarketing.com

You may reprint this article in its entirety if you attribute the article to John Jantsch and include the information about the author above.

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Featured Resource

Twitter for Business - En español

A few weeks back I put together a little guide for using Twitter for Business. I've updated it several times already as it’s been very well received.

Today I would like to announce that a Spanish version - Click here to get - Usando Twitter para los Negocios

A reader of mine,Juan Luis Sarchione Terminiello generously translated this guide.

"La traducción fue un ofrecimiento de mi parte, hacia el autor, por el agrado que tuve al leer su libro. Espero que aquellas personas que tienen problemas para leer sobre twitter en ingles, puedan disfrutar esta obra."

Please pass this information along to any Spanish speaking individuals or organizations that may have an interest in this material. Gracias.

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