Business Success

Marketing your Business

Every business professional knows that word-of-mouth marketing is the most effective and least expensive approach to attracting new business. Yet few people really understand how they can create a successful marketing campaign.

The key to successful word-of-mouth marketing is networking. Networking is the process you go through to build your word-of-mouth based business. Through networking, you can deliver your message more effectively and generate referrals. Referrals are the end result of networking.

Referrals lead to a higher rate of sales because no one wants to choose a lawyer, dentist, or a real estate agent from the Yellow Pages. They want someone they know to vouch for the trustworthiness of the person or business on which they will depend. Referral leads are better than those you get from ads because the referred prospect is easier to close, has fewer objections, and has a higher sense of trust.

The first way to start getting referrals for your business is by unleashing the power of your Rolodex. Take inventory of the people you already know, both personally ad professionally. Include on this list clients, business associates, vendors creditors, employees, friends, family members, and others.

Next, determine whether each person is a strong contact(a close associate with whom you will network actively)or a casual contact(an acquaintance with whom you will network passively). Most people have more casual contacts than strong contacts. And while casual contacts might not be willing to offer you a lot of help, they tend to belong to different circles than you and can broaden your networking range. Both types of contacts can be extremely valuable. Strong contacts provide better connections. Casual contacts provide a greater number of connections.

Develop a subset of your strong contacts to determine your "contact circle." This contact circle is a group of businesses or professions that can provide a steady source of leads or you. They tend to work in areas that complement, not compete, with yours. The people in your contact circle, for example, can be a florist, travel agent, caterer, and a photographer. All of these people provide special occasion services. Another contact circle might consist of a real estate agent, mortgage broker,and a title or escrow agent. All of these people provide real estate services.

In a contact circle, each company has clients who could benefit from the services of the others. The strategy is to get the most out of your own contact circle.

Here are three ways you can build your contact circle:

1. Identify as many professions as possible that fit within your own contact circle.
2. Identify specific individuals who could fit into your contact circle by going to networking groups and flipping through your Rolodex.
3. Invite each person to participate in a networking group with you.

Never forget that building your business through word-of-mouth is more about farming than hunting. Your goal should be to take the time you need for each sale, because success is all about taking the time that is necessary to cultivate relationships with other business professionals that will grow into a full harvest of new customers, year after year.

What is really comes down to is this: you can have anything you want in business or in your personal life if you're willing to help enough other people get what they want. That may sound ridiculous, but that's why the key to success eludes so many business owners today. Because why you send a few people a day out your door to other businesses in your network, you'll find that the door also swings the other way. Thousands of customers every year will go out of their way to buy from you because they will be driven to your doorstep by the power of word-of-mouth.

Copyright(c)2005 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.