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Referral Engine Power Groups – bring a friend and save big bucks

By Bill · Comments (0)
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

Today I scheduled two new sessions of The Referral Engine Power Groups to begin at the end of July and early August. Thanks to some feedback from you, I will be offering an evening session this time around for those who have trouble getting away during the day.

I am also offering a special discount to reader's of this blog that will allow you to Bring-A-Friend and you both get in for half price. This blog is the only place I will be promoting this 2 for 1 deal for these upcoming sessions. This is my way of thanking you for reading my blog and also a way for me to put my money where my mouth is related to referrals.

Even though social media gets the lion's share of the press, referral marketing is still one of the strongest tactics you can use to grow your practice.  Join us to create a step-by-step, documented referral marketing system based on your very specific target market. 

You can learn more about program and save your seat here – http://ReferralEngine.eventbrite.com

If you would like to take advantage of the Bring-A-Friend program, drop me a line or give me a call at 913.962.9261 and I will send you a special code for your discount.

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Categories : Marketing, Referral Marketing
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Referral Marketing – Managing Your Activities

By Bill · Comments (7)
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

Fellow Duct Tape Marketing Coach Joe Dager recently had a nice post about using the marketing hourglass to determine your marketing constraint. In his post, Joe discusses the importance of knowing your conversion rates and what they tell you about the effectiveness of your marketing system.

As I was reading Joe's post, I was reminded of a lesson from my Sandler Sales Training course:

Never manage your numbers, manage your behavior.

Let's look at referrals as an example. When we look at it realistically, we don't have any control over when and where someone gives us a referral. There are lots of activities (behaviors) that we can do to encourage people to send us referrals, but we don't have any control.

What the Sandler rule above means (at least to me) is that rather than focusing on "getting" 5 referrals this week, I need to focus on activities that will improve my chances of receiving them. These activities may include:

  • asking for referrals
  • providing referrals to others
  • working with customers to send out endorsement letters
  • requesting endorsements on LinkedIn

These are all things that I can control. If I have a system in place to track my behaviors and the results of those behaviors, I will understand the conversion rates that Joe posted about, and I can adjust my behaviors accordingly.

Comments (7)
Categories : Marketing, Referral Marketing, Small Business Marketing
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Referral Partners – Do You Struggle to Reciprocate?

By Bill · Comments (0)
Thursday, August 13th, 2009

Creating alliances with strategic referral partners is a great tactic, particularly for professional service providers, to grow your business or practice.

Some professionals struggle with building referral partnerships because, for a variety of reasons, they are not able to give as many referrals as they receive.

For example, if my primary source of new customers is referral from bankers, insurance agents, and financial planners, it may be hard for me to reciprocate because my clients all ready have these relationships when they come to me. This can lead to the feeling that the relationship is one-sided – sometimes leading to the ending of the partnership.

If you find yourself in this position, here are a few suggestions that may help:

  1. Explain the situation up front – I believe many people have the assumption that if I send you referrals, you will send so to me as well. If you know it will be difficult to provide referrals to your strategic partners, talk about it up front, before a misunderstanding develops.
  2. Help your partners look good to their current customers – would your referral partner's customers benefit from your knowledge and expertise? Can you help your partner deliver extra value by sharing your expertise with her customers?
  3. Help your partners acquire new customers – many professionals give talks or seminars as a way to develop leads. Conducting a joint seminar with your strategic referral partner can be a good way to draw a larger crowd, split the amount of work, and help both of you make contacts you may never have made working by yourself.
  4. Don't limit yourself by thinking you can only refer other professional service providers. We all have busy lives and need help in our personal lives as well. Do you know a great plumber? Favorite dry cleaner who delivers? Do any of your clients have children who like to babysit? Once again, do you share these resources with your partners in a manner that will help them look good in the eyes of their customers?

What other ways do you help your strategic referral partners grow their business?

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Categories : Marketing, Referral Marketing, Small Business Marketing
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Inbound Marketing For Accountants, Lawyers, and other Professionals

By Bill Brelsford · Comments (2)
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

I’m not a big fan of buzzwords, but I do like the term "inbound marketing". I think it is a perfect description of how professional service providers should approach marketing. I don’t know if they coined the phrase, but I first heard the term inbound marketing from the folks at Hubspot.

Inbound marketing is all about “getting found”. Because most people start their search for goods and services by searching the internet, it is important to make sure we can be found there. This is why tools like blogging and social media have been getting so much attention – they help you get found.

Outbound, or traditional marketing, is interruption based marketing. Telemarketing, tradeshows, radio, t.v., and print ads all rely on interrupting people. Most service professionals hate this type of marketing stuff because it feels rude and tends to be ineffective.

Outbound marketing is hunting. Inbound marketing is attracting.

Outbound marketing is shouting. Inbound marketing is a starting or joining a conversation.

Inbound marketing isn’t tied to technology. Referrals are an example of inbound marketing. Because we have previously created value, people hear about us. They are attracted to us and seek us out. This is the key to inbound marketing – create value and share it with others.

Although I didn’t call it inbound marketing, I recently wrote a short e-book about applying what works for referrals to the rest of your marketing.

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Categories : Marketing, Referral Marketing
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Free e-Book – Marketing Professional Services

By Bill · Comments (0)
Friday, July 3rd, 2009

I just posted my first e-Book on my website. In it, I discuss marketing for service professionals – specifically, why referrals work, how to get better referrals consistently, and how to apply what works for referrals to the rest of your marketing activities

download

This e-Book is totally free. No registration required.  You can download it here.

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Categories : Marketing, Referral Marketing, Small Business Marketing
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Why Referrals Work and the Other Stuff Doesn’t

By Bill · Comments (2)
Thursday, June 25th, 2009

Referrals and face-to-face meetings are the preferred tactics for marketing professional services. Most professionals will tell me that the "other marketing stuff" doesn't work, but if they can get in front of the right person, the usually close the deal.

Have you ever thought about why that is? Here are some of the reasons meeting face to face, whether by referral or not, tends to be the most effective way for us to gain a new client:

  • We are specific about who we help
  • We are specific about the types of problems we solve
  • We talk in plain English – not in corporate marketing mumbo-jumbo
  • We tell our story – People remember and connect with people through stories
  • If we are successful generating business from our local chamber or other networking groups, it is because we are consistent. We show up regularly and participate often.
  • We listen to the client’s issues, show them that we understand, and explain how we help them solve their problems.

Why the other stuff doesn’t work

Many of the frustrations professionals have with traditional marketing stems from doing the opposite of what works for referrals.  

  • We are too general – we try to create marketing materials that appeal to everyone and end up being special to no one
  • We create materials that are filled with jargon, buzzwords, nonsense, and fluff
  • Rather than telling our story, we talk about “fair pricing”, “good customer service”, and “quality work” – just like everyone else
  • We are not consistent. We do one mailing and stop. We don’t follow up. We fail to continue to market to our existing clients

For some reason, when we start to create “formal marketing materials” we stop talking to people and start talking at them.

Create more effective marketing materials by focusing on your potential client rather than lecturing them on how great you are.

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Categories : Marketing, Referral Marketing, Small Business Marketing
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Marketing Your Dental Practice – What Makes You Special?

By Bill · Comments (3)
Thursday, June 18th, 2009

A dentist, is a dentist, is a dentist, right?

Of course not. I don't believe that, but you'd be hard pressed to argue if all you had to go by was their marketing.

One of the problems we all face when it comes to attracting customers (or patients) is that, without effective marketing,  we all look the same. One accountant looks like another, one lawyer like another, one marketing guy looks like the next.

When we don't do a good job telling our story, then the only way a patient can make a decision is price, convenience, and\or referral.

Most dentists will tell you that the majority of their new patients come to them via word of mouth (no pun intended). When was the last time your dentist asked you for a referral, told you who their ideal patient was, or otherwise made it easy for you to refer new people to the practice.

Perusing the yellow pages and web sites of dentists in my area, I find very little information to help me make my decision about which dentist is right for me. Here is my favorite ad (there are several like this), I've removed the identifying info to protect the innocent(?).

Mr Dentist

Friendly, helpful staff

Major Credit Cards accepted

Nitrous Oxide

(913) 555 – 5555

 

Advertising is often called "your salesman in print". How would you feel after receiving a pitch like that?

To be fair, I did see some examples of practices that did a good job of communicating their Core Difference. Here are two:

  • "Same Day Dentures and Denture Repair" – got it, I know why I would call them or who I would refer to them.
  • "Toothache Centre … emergency care" – makes me think I won't have to wait days or weeks to get in, a perception I have about "regular" dentists. 

But, for the most part, the marketing I saw told me, "Yep, we're a dentist office, we are very friendly, and we have several ways to take your money. Give us a call".

So, Kansas City area dentists, what do your patients friends hear when they ask, "what makes your dentist different?"

[By the way, I know it sounds like I'm picking on dentists in this post, but I find that most professionals suffer from the same issues]

Comments (3)
Categories : Marketing, Referral Marketing
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LinkedIn For Professional Service Providers

By Bill · Comments (0)
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

Pardon the commercial, but since I run into a lot a folks who are looking for help getting set up on LinkedIn and figuring out how to use it productively to grow their business, I recently redesigned our “From Profile To Profit” boot camp material to offer it as a one-on-one coaching program. 

This program is designed specifically for professional service providers who want to use LinkedIn as a strategic business tool to grow their practice or business.

You can find more details about the LinkedIn For Professional Service Providers on my web site.

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Categories : Marketing, Referral Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Web/Tech
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Ubuntu

By Bill · Comments (2)
Thursday, December 11th, 2008

This is one of those posts that is mostly for me, but others may enjoy it as well. I really liked this quote from Mike Schultz in this article from RainToday, and not just because I'm a Celtics fan.

"Doc Rivers, coach of the Boston Celtics, introduced the team last year to the concept of ubuntu. Derived from the African Bantu language, the word ubuntu roughly translates as, "I am what I am because of what we are together." Whether you are a member of a sports team, a community group, or a business—the concept of ubuntu applies. It is a humanistic philosophy in which we achieve our potential through others by being unselfish, generous, and trustworthy."

I encourage you to read the entire article, it's one of the better ones about networking that I've seen.

Comments (2)
Categories : Misc., Referral Marketing
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LinkedIn For Sales Professionals

By Bill · Comments (1)
Thursday, December 11th, 2008

RainToday has a nice set of tips for sales professionals who use LinkedIn. Here are a few of my favorites from their list:

  • If your profile isn't complete, I might not trust who you are when you reach out to me – regular readers here are familiar with building Know, Like, and Trust. There is no sense in being on a social networking site and then hiding information about yourself. I also believe that having a photo in your profile is becoming a "must have"
  • Search is your friend - LinkedIn continues to make their search function more powerful and easy to use.
  • Fill in downtime when you are on the road – Use LinkedIn's radius search to find contacts to meet and share meals with while you are on the road.
  • Answer questions your target audience would be interested in – a great way to help others and to demonstrate your expertise.

You can find the rest of the 11 tips here. Do you have a favorite tip for using LinkedIn? Drop me a comment and let me know.

Comments (1)
Categories : Marketing, Referral Marketing, Web/Tech
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