Intentional word-of-mouth marketing is a great way to generate more leads
As business owners we can all generally benefit from more traffic and leads coming in the door or to our web site. How can we generate more leads? How about being more intentional about word-of-mouth referrals?
Most business owners will tell you that referrals account for the bulk of their new leads. I have people tell me that all the time. Ok, that is great! But, it can get better! Here’s how;
1. Be intentional about referral systems; Instead of just ‘letting it happen’ …
- Setup marketing systems that keeps your name top of mind to your existing clients
- Create a client loyalty or rewards program
- Look for intentional referral, networking, or joint venture partners (which I’ll talk about in more detail in another article)
- ASK! for the referral … a step so many of us forget
2. Engage casual referrals to become leads; Many times when you ask a friend or colleague for a referral, you might receive a couple names to check out. When this happens to a prospective client of yours … what do you do to engage them and turn them into a lead? A great place to start is on your web site. When I hear people talk about all the referrals they get, I often ask them “Yes, but do you know how many you are missing?”. If you’re not offering an opportunity to connect or engage with you … you might miss them forever.
We’ll talk more about specific ways to do this in future articles.
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Tim Fahndrich is the co-founder of the Third River, an Oregon Internet Marketing company. He is passionate about people, marketing, and technology and loves helping businesses and organizations harness the power of the web. You can follow Tim on Twitter here or contact him at 503.581.4554.
