Referral Marketing: Sticky Business

Tree sap! Yuck! Have you ever sat down on a park bench on a beautiful spring day only to find out later that you sat on a drop of tree sap! That's really sticky stuff. It sticks to just about everything that it comes into contact with ... clothing, hair, cars, windows, skin, etc.

The other day, my dog stepped in tree sap. As he proceeded to romp around the yard, he apparently picked up all sorts of pebbles along the way. Pretty soon, he was holding his foot up as if to say, "What the heck is wrong with my foot?" Peanut butter did the trick! Yep ... peanut butter. And, he enjoyed the treat afterwards of cleaning all the peanut butter from between his toes.

So back to the tree sap and its inherant stickiness.

How sticky is your word of mouth message? How sticky are YOU? How sticky is your brand?Do you make an impression when you meet someone so that they remember you long after the event? Can people remember what you do? Can other people repeat your message accurately?

The best word of mouth marketers are indeed sticky ... very sticky in fact. They work to create a sticky message so that other people can remember it, repeat it, and repeat it again. After all, isn't that what referral marketing is all about? How else do you expect people to be able to refer you if they can't remember your message?

Referral Marketing: Keep Track of Your Mileage

Keeping track of things is an ongoing effort! Stop and think of how many things in your business life you have to keep track of ... such as:

Your schedule
Your profits and losses
Your expenses
Your budget
Your goals
Your results
Your mileage

This is just the tip of the iceberg for most business owners! Keeping track is important in order to know how things are going and if you're on track.

Are you keeping track of your referral mileage? Are you keeping track of what you GIVE to your network and what you RECEIVE? Are you keeping track of the return on your networking investment? Are you keeping track of your referrals and who they come from and when?

Keeping track of your referral mileage is one of those things that only the most successful referral marketers do. If you want to be among the best, begin to include this process in your business. Seek out a new book by my friend, Dr. Ivan Misner, called Networking Like a Pro. In there you'll find a scorecard tool to help you keep track of your referral mileage.

Referral Marketing: Too Much of a Good Thing!

"All things in moderation" or "Too much of a good thing" or "The more the merrier"

How many times have you heard these before? All you have to do is listen to the news to experience the reality of "too much of a good thing". For some reason, our society has implanted in our brains that more is better. Well, I believe that in many, many cases ... more is NOT better. Here's what I mean:

1. In Pittsburgh, we had record snowfalls this winter. More snow than we've ever seen!! Fun? Yes, for some (me). A pain? Yes, for many. But what will happen when all that snow melts into our three rivers and it creates record flooding? More is not always better.

2. This weekend, a young man died on the Carnegie Mellon University campus. Most likely from drinking too much. A beer once in a while tastes great. Too much of a good thing is deadly.

3. Food. Food is a good thing. We need it to survive. But do we need SUPER SIZED food to survive? I don't think so. All things in moderation.

How about referrals? Can you have too many referrals? Can referrals be a bad thing?

From my perspective, yes you can have too many referrals! Imagine that! Too many referrals being a bad thing?! Consider that if you're getting too many of the wrong kind of referrals, you're going to be spinning your wheels alot and chasing down potential prospects who shouldn't be working with you. This is going to waste your time and give you headaches along the way. Not to mention those people will be taking up space that could be occupied by the RIGHT referred prospect!

Too many referrals can also be a bad thing if you're not equipped to handle them all. If business is coming into you faster than you can manage, on the surface it's great, but something is going to give. Perhaps your customer service starts to slack off, your follow-up system gets clogged, or your referral thank you system gets left behind.

Just like so many other things, too much of a good thing can hurt you and your reputation if you're not careful! More is not always better. I'd rather have just enough of the right kind of referrals than too many of the wrong kind.

Referral Marketing: Power of the Keys

If you were going to have brain surgery, would you prefer to have it done by a specialist in the field or a generalist? I believe the votes are heavily in favor of the specialist!! I know MY vote is for the specialist!

Are you a specialist? Let's face it. People usually look for the most competent person to handle their problems. Many people prefer to work with an expert. From what I can tell, people will choose to refer an expert far more often than just a somebody.

If that's the case, what are you doing to position yourself as the expert?

The power is in the keys of the keyboard. Writing is an awesome venue for positioning yourself as an expert. In general, people perceive authors as experts. If you don't know where to begin, start a blog. Blogger.com makes it easy. Blogs are short and don't take much time to create. (this entry took me about 10 minutes)

Write articles ... lots of articles. Publish articles as often as possible. Get friends to publish them in their newsletters or on their websites. Over time, begin to consolidate those articles into a book! Yes, a BOOK! Yikes ... a four letter word. Well ... a book might lead to FAME (and that's a four letter word too).

If you want to be referred more often than your competition, start writing and get on your way to becoming an expert. If you need help with this, let me know ... I know an expert that can help you!