It was about a month ago, when Steve, one of my coaching clients, was at an industry tradeshow. A fellow exhibitors, an old friend Andrew, stopped by and noticed that Steve’s marketing materials looked different. They got to talking and Steve told Andrew how much more new business he was getting with his new marketing strategy.

That got Andrew interested, and before the conversation was over Steve had given him my contact information. Two weeks later Andrew and I scheduled a time to talk and within 39 minutes he had signed up to work with me to grow his business. Simple as that.

Ever get a referral?

I love them and I bet you do too. They’re usually 99% sold. They’ve heard good things about you and already know, like and trust you. All you need to do is give them what they want and sign them up.

So what’s the reason most business owners don’t get more referrals?

They don’t ask.

That’s it.

While there are a lot of ways to spend money on marketing, asking for referrals costs you nothing and can be the single biggest revenue generator for your business.

How big?

In my case, given how long most of my coaching clients stay with me, and that almost 100% of all referrals end up signing up, a single referral represents $50,000 to $100,000 in revenue.

But just to give you a point of comparison, I asked a couple of my clients to calculate the value of a referral for their businesses. As you’d imagine, the number varied depending on the type of business and the life cycle of their clients.

For Steve whose in the farming industry, a single referral was worth $15,000. For Mary, an IT consultant I work with, a single referral was worth between $100,000 and $200,000.

And guess how often either of them asked for referrals?

That’s right – never.

How about you? How often do you ask for referrals?

To help you get motivated, use the following two steps to calculate how much a referral is worth to your business.

1. Determine the average lifetime worth of a client your business. This is the total amount a client spends with you over their lifetime. For example, you may only spend $75 at a time with Amazon.com but if you do this every month for the next ten years, your lifetime value to Amazon.com would be $9,000!

2. Calculate the realized value.?If you had 20 leads, you could probably close at least one. If you had 20 referrals you’ll close a lot more, usually 50-100%. To be conservative just divide the lifetime value of a client by two and that’s the value of a referral to your business.

What number did you come up with? $1,000? $10,000? $100,000?

Now, remember what I said earlier was the biggest obstacle to getting referrals?

Asking.

All you need to get more referrals is start asking! If you’re hesitating, just remind yourself what each referral is worth to you.

Of course if you want to learn the proven system that works like magic every time to pull in referrals, it’s all detailed in the Insiders’ Club.

Here’s how to get it >>

To your success,

Charlie

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

When is the best time to ask a client for a referral for work done? It’s a question many of us overlook when working with a new client, but is so important in keeping the pipeline of new business opportunities flowing.

It has been my experience the best time to request a referral is just before the completion of a project. It would be presumptuous to ask for a referral in the early stages of a business relationship. Likewise, if you wait until the project is completed, your client may have emotionally moved on.

Timing is Everything

Target your referral marketing request when an assignment is 95% completed; when you still have the client fully engaged, happy with the work you’ve done (of course), and amenable to opening doors on your behalf.

At this point you also have some leverage because you haven’t quite finished the project, and the client is still invested in the project completion on time and within budget. The goodwill built thus far can be motivation for them to extend themselves on your behalf.

Get the client to refer a face-to-face meeting for the ideal scenario

The best referral scenario is when your client:

• Makes the call to a prospect on your behalf

• Introduces you and your firm

• Praises the great work you’ve done

• Explains how they too would benefit from using your firm

and perhaps most importantly . . .

• arrange a time for everyone to meet

In this scenario, the selling is basically done. All you need is close the sale. Anything less is not going to be as effective. If your client just gives you a name and number, but doesn’t make that initial call for you, it is not much different than cold calling.

Referrals = New Business

Asking for referrals is an important part of sales and can lead to lots of new business, but timing is critical. Get your client to accept the important step of making the all important introduction for you.

- Rocky

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

It’s common knowledge that staying in touch with customers is essential to a thriving business.

Yet, too often savvy business people invest a tremendous amount of time, money and effort trying to find new customers, but zero time staying in touch with the customers they already have.

The consequence: No repeat business or referral marketing done on your behalf.

When you consider that it costs 10 times more to get a new customer than it does to keep an existing customer happy, that strategy doesn’t make a lot of sense. Yet, it’s the standard and it’s causing professionals to lose a lot of business.

After sharing this in a recent presentation, an audience member chimed in, “Oh, do I know that well!” then proceeded to tell this story.

A painter by profession, he was in the local hardware store when he ran into a customer whose house he had painted 3 years prior.

Their conversation went like this:

Customer: “So, what are you up to these days?”

Painter: “I’m still painting houses.”

Customer: “Oh Man! I wish I had known that! We just had the whole inside of our house painted. I thought you moved to Florida.”

Painter: “Florida? I painted a customer’s condo there two years ago.

Customer: “Oh, sorry, man. I thought you moved.”

The lesson is simple: Stay in touch with your customers before, during and after the sale – and not just with more marketing. Consider the words of Kody Bateman, CEO and Founder of Send Out Cards: “Appreciation wins over self promotion every time.”

Need inspiration? Keep the acronym TRACE in plain sight. It stands for Thank, Recognize, Appreciate, Congratulate and Encourage. Make it a goal to send a greeting card with good tidings to two customers a day and watch what happens!

- Colleen

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

As a MarketingforSuccess.com reader, you already know how important it is to stay in touch with your past clients.  But if you’re like most successful entrepreneurs, you’re probably not exploiting this profit center as effectively as you could be.

The fact is, very few of us really take the time to stay in touch with our past clients.  If we do, we’re usually not doing it in a way that really connects with them and makes them feel valued.  And that, my friends, is a big—and expensive—mistake.

In my not-so-humble opinion, past customers are the single best source of new business.  After all, it costs 7 times more to get a new customer than it does to get an old customer to buy from you again.

And because your past customers already know you and trust you, they’re willing to pay more for your products…buy other products on your recommendation…and send their colleagues, friends, and family your way.

In fact, referrals and cross-selling are the single most important reason you should market to your customer list.  Here’s why:

• Depending on your market, you may not want to depend solely on repeat business. For instance, when I sold real estate my clients typically didn’t buy another home for 2-3 years.  Of course, I wanted (and usually got) that business.  But if I depended solely on repeat customers, I wouldn’t have been able to grow my business as quickly as I did.  And as Dan Kennedy likes to point out, momentum is a key element of massive success.  Focusing on referrals and back-end opportunities helps create that momentum.

• Referrals are pre-qualified and looking to buy—now. If you need a new dentist, what’s the first thing you do?  If you’re like most people, you ask friends for a recommendation.  Only after exhausting all other options will you begin to look in the phone book, online, and so on.

Likewise, your referrals are coming to you pre-qualified and ready to buy.  Your happy customers already identified that the referral needs your help.  If you played your cards right, they raved about your services.  And if you really hit the nail on the head with your past-customer marketing plan, your old customers  built you up in the referral’s mind as the only logical option to fill the referral’s needs.

That’s powerful stuff.  A prospect that is pre-qualified, ready to act, and already trusts you is less expensive to connect with.  They’re willing to pay more for what you’re selling.  And they tend to be much easier to work with.

And that brings me to me last and most important point: referrals are cheap—the good kind of cheap, that is.

As I mentioned above, converting a new prospect to a customer is expensive.  They don’t know you.  They’re skeptical.  And you have to convince them that you’re the best choice out of all the options available to them.  That’s expensive, and depending on your market, time-consuming as well.

But because referrals come “pre-sold” on your services, you don’t have to do any of that.  All you need to do is get them to buy.  And you can do that, can’t you?

But as mentioned at the beginning of this article, there’s a right way and wrong way to market to your customer base.  And that goes double for referrals.

You see, there’s a specific strategy to maximizing your referrals.  If you do it right, you can dramatically grow your business almost overnight.  But if you do it incorrectly, you run the risk of alienating your customers and losing their business.

That’s exactly what I’ll show you in my next article.  I’ll show you what to do—and more importantly, what not to do—in order to maximize your referrals.  And I’ll even show you a simple way to “re-activate” those customers you haven’t contacted in awhile—just by sending a simple letter. See you next time around!

- Paul

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

“I get most of my new business from referrals.”

Every small business owner and marketer wants to be able to say these 9 words. When you can say this, it means you aren’t struggling to increase leads or frustrated with trying to convince prospects to buy from you.

When it’s true, your clients and business associates are doing your marketing for you.

When a prospect is referred to you, they’re relying on someone else, another client or a supplier to vouch for you and your products and your services. Your credibility and the value you provide is already established.

And this is a big relief because I don’t know anybody who truly enjoys having to prove themselves to prospects.

Typically you’ll convert 5 to 7 times as many referred prospects to clients. Let me repeat that; typically, you’ll convert 5 to 7 times as many prospects that come to you through referrals. Referrals make it a lot easier to be highly profitable.

For most small business owners and sales people the occasional referral drops out of the sky like a pleasant surprise. Don’t you love it when a new client is sent your way pre-sold and ready to buy? Everyone does!

If you like getting referrals so much, and they are so profitable, what are you doing to generate more? For most business owners and sales people the answer is… nothing.

What can you do to generate a steady stream of referrals so you can grow your business by leaps and bounds?

Want to know what works? Use this link >>

The 2 Marketing Secrets to Generating Referrals
The simple truth is that generating more referrals is as easy as
growing grass.

Recently my wife and I decided to do something about our sorry-looking lawn. We had done only the bare minimum of maintenance for several years. Last fall we surveyed the weeds and bare patches and decided we wanted to actually grow some grass.

After pulling out the weeds, what was left was pretty ugly. The first step was to spread grass seed. The next was to make sure it was watered twice a day. Without regular watering, as you know the seed would just dry up and blow away.

Here in Connecticut, rain is a random event. If we relied on nature there was a good chance the seed wouldn’t germinate and we’d be left with patches of dirt instead.

The solution? We cranked up the automatic sprinkler system. If you have one you know you can set it to water your lawn twice a day as we did. Now a few weeks later, the seed has sprouted and our lawn has filled completely filled in and looks great.

Want to fill in your sales with referrals so you can increase your profits? Get the details here >>

Generating a steady stream of referrals is the same as growing grass. Here’s the small business marketing ideas you need:

1. Prepare the Seed
To generate more referrals, plant the seeds with your best salespeople. Give your existing clients, suppliers and sales partners the marketing materials they need to promote you so they can spread the word.

This can be as simple as giving them the words to use to describe your business. A concise statement (8 to 12 words) of the problems you solve and the benefits of your products and services will help them spread the word. They can easily explain the value of contacting you to people they know.

You could go beyond just sharing your marketing message and produce a client-focused brochure that paints a clear picture of the situations you help people with and details the benefits of your services.

Or write and share articles that entertain and educate, and help prospects see you as the go-to expert.

And you could make sure that all of this information is readily accessible on your web site, so that existing clients can point people to your site.

In sum, if you want to generate more referrals, give your network of referral partners the right small business marketing tools to promote you.

2. Make It Rain Every Day
The second marketing secret to generating referrals is to make the process less random. We needed the automatic sprinklers to make our grass grow; you need an automated system for following up with your referral partners.

Stay in touch on a regular basis so they know what to do and when to do it. I schedule a call every month with each of my super affiliates, and then ask them to commit to a schedule of mailings and activities they can to do that will send referrals my way.

As a result, I can’t say that 100% of my business comes from referrals, but over 50% does. You can do the same by applying these two simple strategies.

Ready to discover the rest of the secrets to growing your profits that most business owners and marketers will never know or apply? Find out how to reach and exceed your business goals >>

Charlie
Revealing the Small Business Marketing Ideas Used By Self-Made Millionaires

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Ever have a client you really liked working with quit? You know how upsetting it can be.

This week, one of my favorite clients, wrote me to let me know that he wanted to stop working with me after just two months.

Did I blow it, tick him off or what? You be the judge.

Kris Simmons, of FireEye Productions owns a web and video production company. In 2007 he’d seen a devastating slow down in business and been forced to layoff most of his staff. Kris had signed up as a mentoring client in early February of 2008.

He thought his business was a victim of the slowing economy but believed there were still plenty of clients out there if only he could get their attention and their business. Then 8 weeks after signing up Kris quit!

Why? Why did Kris quit as a mentoring client?

From the start, Kris jumped on each strategy and idea I provided him and put as many of them as he could to use. The result?

Kris sold 30 projects in less than two months, which in his words “Is HUGE!” In fact it was more than he’d ever signed up in any two-month period since he started his business eight years ago and to boot he did it in the midst of a recession.

Kris wrote me to say that he had to stop working with me because even with outsourcing 90% of the new projects, he was working around the clock to keep up with the demand that I’d helped him tap. With all the new clients he’d landed he didn’t have time to keep up with the mentoring program and wanted to stop working together, at least for now.

I’ll miss working with Kris. He was fun to work with and most importantly followed through on the strategies and ideas I shared with him.

Want to benefit from my misfortune?

Fill Kris’s spot.

I now have one new space available in my mentoring program and if you act quickly and apply and you’re accepted you could be the next person to discover how to get more business than you ever imagined.

Use this link to apply >>

To your success,

Charlie
www.marketingforsuccess.com

P.S. Be forewarned! Kris had the same complaint that other clients have mentioned in the past. He told me I should have warned him about the tsunami of business that he could expect.

So consider yourself warned. The marketing strategies and ideas I share with my clients can bring you in more new business than you ever imagined.

P.S. II Want to see what Kris had to say? Use this link to view his video comments online >>

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

“Charlie, I already purchased 15 second message and 5 principles and am very satisfied with both. I was looking at the Next Step Networking ebook and noticed that the 15 second book was included. Is there sufficient additional content to make it worth the full cost to me? Thanks for really useful products.” – Bill Benitez

You’re right Creating Opportunity with Next Step Networking includes some of the same content that’s in 15 Second Marketing in addition to the next generation nextworking strategy. If you already purchased “15 Second Marketing” you can send me your order number and I’ll send you a link to upgrade it to the “Creating Opportunity with Next Step Networking” manual for the difference, or just $20. – Charlie Cook

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

“What do you think of BNI?” – Coki Cochran

I’ve never been a member of Business Networking International though I’ve seriously considered it. I do know people who are members and generate lots of new leads and business from their involvement. There are lots of online and offline networking groups to choose from. You can review with the Business Networking Guide

on my site.

To take full advantage of BNI and other networking resources take a look at Creating Opportunity with Next Step Networking. – Charlie Cook

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

“I would like to be able to forward your e-zine, ideally with an affiliate link, to various business people that I come into contact with or alternatively recommend them to your site again using an affiliate link. I’m puzzled as to why you don’t have an affiliate program.”

- David Haines

A- You are welcome to sign up as an affiliate using this link.

I don’t actively promote the affiliate program and actually wish fewer people signed up for it. The reality is only a few affiliates do what it takes to make money from the program and I don’t want to lead on the average person who thinks they are going to instantly generate zillions from becoming an affiliate.

It is possible to generate steady income as an affiliate but you will need to do some work too. My successful affiliates:

• Frequently promote my Free Marketing Guide and my eManuals

in their newsletters.

• Send their ezines to a large subscriber base (20-200k).

• Send out endorsement style letters to their subscribers. These are

without doubt the most effective.

When you do two out of these three and you can make good money as an affiliate. Do all three and we’ll both be richer, not to mention that many more people will have access to the marketing tools they need to grow their businesses. – Charlie Cook

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..