Referral Marketing: Remember the Life Jackets!

What would you have done if you were on the USAirways plane yesterday that had to land in the Hudson River on a very frigid day?! Would you have stayed calm? Would you have known what to do? Would you have known where to find your life jacket ... or how to position your body for a crash landing?! Could you find the closest exit to you? Frightening, isn't it!

When you're on a plane, how many times do you pay attention to the instructions from the flight attendant ... reviewing the oxygen masks, exits, etc. blah, blah, blah. If you stop and look around, most people are totally not listening. Instead, they're reading a magazine or book, tending to the kids, sending their last text message, etc. Why? Because most of us have heard it so many, many times before that we THINK we know it. Do we? How many people yesterday were wearing their life jackets?

If you belong to a networking group, like BNI, that meets on a regular basis ... I'm willing to bet that sometimes you tune out the commercials from your colleagues, especially those that are like a recording every week. Because you've heard the same message over and over, you've lost interest, you THINK you know it, and so you don't pay attention. Unfortunately, there's a price to pay for that lack of attentiveness. You just might forget the life jacket (the most important part of referring that person) when you really need it!!

And if YOU'RE that person who gives a recorded message each week ... the price you pay is that no one is paying attention to you! That's the kiss of death in word of mouth marketing.