| Getting the word of mouth out |
| Wednesday, 20 October 2010 21:59 |
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Ask any small to medium sized business owner how they get new business and I can guarantee what the response will be – word of mouth and referrals. Irrespective of the industry sector and age, unless it is a very new company and or has really switched on marketing nous behind it, the power of word of mouth will be its main route to market engine. Word of mouth or referrals, which are essentially the same things, are incredibly powerful marketing tools – they have to be, otherwise the majority of these businesses would not rely on them. And there, as Shakespeare would suggest, lies the rub. Far too many businesses unconsciously rely on word of mouth to drive new business to the door. For years new leads and repeat business has simply turned up and filled the order books. That was until around 2007 when the something very strange hit the psyche of MDs up and down the country. Suddenly there was a slowdown in business flow, and in some cases it stopped all together. Sales Directors could be seen doing 360 degree turns on the roof scouring the horizon for the next incoming contract; all to no avail. Not only did they not know which direction to look, there were no visible tracks to suggest where old business had come from.The problem was they were so used to taking business for granted, of not knowing how and why it came to them that when it stopped coming they had no idea where to start prospecting for replacements. Word of mouth had provided a steady stream of contracts, but many of the referral agents had dried up or gone out of business. I know of one company which woke up, sniffed the strong coffee and started ringing round its usual referral agents - 60% were no longer in business. How effective was word of mouth in this situation? Or to put it another way, why did it take so long for a company that relied on others for business to realise the supply line had died; not slowed or dried up, but died? When was the last time it had proactively contacted the referrers on which it so depended? Given this shock to the system, is it any surprise that a recent survey of East Midlands' businesses found that over 65% said that getting help with marketing was their first priority? What is the critical element in word of mouth? It is the willingness of one person to confidently and knowledgeably refer another to a third party. How can someone do that if their knowledge bank of a business is outdated, dusty and faded? How much more confident and authoritative would a referrer be if they had recently been told about the value of a service or product? Would they be more or less willing to put their own reputation on the line by suggesting the use of a certain provider? And there lies another key point. When a referrer puts another provider forward as worthy, it is usually to someone they know well, who trusts them and with whom they will have built a long-term relationship; quite often as a customer or supplier. It is a risky proposal for someone to refer another, as it then becomes their own reputation that is on the line. What is your plan for making your referrers confident and knowledgeable enough about you to put their reputations at stake? Do you leave it to chance, cross your fingers and hope that they say good things about you; that they don't change allegiance and refer someone else? You don't have to be in people's faces telling them how good you are. You do need to deliver good service yourself, but you don't have to wine and dine them or take them golfing each week. What you must do is regularly show your value as a supplier and there are several strategies you can adopt to achieve that goal. The key thing a business has to keep in mind when trying to generate word of mouth support is in giving people something to talk about. Imagine your reaction to a garage that instead of the usual service, clean and delivery, actually left you voucher for a free valet at the car wash it had partnered with? Or the car wash that gave you a voucher for a free pre-service diagnostic every six months? How much easier would it be for you as a customer of an engineering company to tell others how good it was if you saw regular press cuttings about its latest developments and contract wins every time you visited the offices or read the newspaper? If someone asked you to recommend an Executive Mentor, would you put forward the one who focuses on only dealing with MD's of blue chip companies, or the one that does the same and gives up time in the local school to advise business students? If your award winning PR company submitted award entries in both your names, would you feel part of its success and be inclined to tell others about it? Consider the impact of knowing that one of your customers wrote authoritative articles in a blog or on forums about his/her specialism; how much persuasive power would that give you when telling someone else that they know their onions? Promotion by word of mouth will always be a critical part of the marketing mix for small and medium sized businesses; but those which do not give their referral agents something to talk about may spend a lot more time on the roof staring at the horizon than engaging in blue sky thinking. 
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