More New Clients, Without Advertising

You can build a thriving business on just a handful of great clients and referral partners.

It's simple, really.

Pick great people, serve them to the best of your ability, and put your long-term relationships with them ahead of any short-term sales.

That last part is vital.

The relationship must come first. When you take care of that, the money will follow. But if you put money first, you will churn and burn your way through clients and find yourself on a treadmill of costly advertising and funnels.

When you're talking to your best clients and referral partners by phone or in person -- email is NEVER a substitute -- listen for personal details that pop up in conversation.

Where did they go to school? What are their hobbies? Names of their spouse or children?

The more you learn about your best clients and referral partners personally, the better you can treat them personally, and the more they will reward you professionally.

This is how you go beyond intangible concepts like retention, and build a business on real and lasting relationships.

One more thing ...

If you found these ideas helpful, request your Free Client Cloning Kit at my website

How to Grow Your Business by Listening

Alfred Fuller went from semi-literate farm boy to multi-millionaire in just over 10 years.

It all began in 1906. With a $375 investment, he started the Fuller Brush Company in Hartford, CT, selling brushes door to door.

You can learn a lot from his story, which you'll find in the book, The Supersalesmen. On page 28 it says:

"Almost entirely, the ideas that resulted in the steady growth of his business came from customers. Alfred Fuller's genius lay in his ability to elicit information about cleaning problems from the women of Hartford and then to solve the problems they posed, giving the ladies one new product after another."

By 1919, Fuller Brush sales were over $1 million -- that's $14,334,848 in today's dollars.

Bottom line: Your clients can make you rich. All you have to do is listen to what their problems are. Then give them solutions.

And if you found these ideas helpful, please request your Free Client Cloning Kit at my website

Vonage Customer Service Fail - The Joseph Jaffe Trainwreck; UPDATE: Resolved

You know the Golden Rule: "Treat others the way you would want them to treat you."

We've heard it since childhood and it still makes sense.

Especially if you deal with customers -- you know, those people who your salary?

In fact, since the advent of digital technology, which lets us record nightmarish calls with customer service or take videos of sleeping repairmen ... you would think every business that wants to stay in business would have taken notice.

Every smart business in 2010 should have a sentence in their Employee Handbook that reads: Every conversation you have with a customer may be recorded for defaming purposes.

But somebody forgot to tell Vonage.

Take a look at the following Tweetstream from Joseph Jaffe (@jaffejuice), which I've been following for the past hour or so ...

It's the latest textbook example of customer service gone wrong, thanks to dual-use technology in the hands of customers. By dual use I mean that, like sickles or hammers, Twitter can be used for peaceful purposes or as a weapon of war.

And Joseph Jaffe, as you can see above, is on the warpath. Very publicly.

Look. It is never a best practice to threaten a customer ("We will have to block you") as Melissa, the soon-to-be-former customer service agent, is quoted as saying above.

But it's a worst practice to treat customers rudely now, when that conversation is instantly made public to millions of people, as it is on Twitter.

So here's a new Golden Rule of Customer Service, submitted for your approval (and Vonage's education):

"Treat others the way you would want them to treat you ... so that you won't mind if they share it with the planet."

UPDATE: There is a happy ending to this story. Within the hour, Vonage called Jaffe to fix things. Good catch by Vonage! I hope Melissa gets to keep her job ...

(Kevin M. Donlin is author of Guaranteed Marketing for Service Business Owners.)

Nimble Marketing from a Big Company - GotoWebinar Thank You

Pop quiz: What comes in those small, square envelopes you get in the mail?

Answer: Good news.

Usually, it's a party invitation or a thank-you note.

Either way, good news.

Never a subpoena, a bill, or a letter from your ex-wife's attorney. Those come in #10 business envelopes.

Sending thank-you notes to your clients may be the best use of a first-class stamp I can think of.

That's why it's always puzzled me ... why don't more small businesses send more thank-you notes?

Think about it: If you know there's something your clients want, and you can give it to them at a very low cost ... why don't you?

Now. Want to know something more puzzling?

A very big company just sent me a thank-you note (pictured above). It's from Gotowebinar, signed by my account rep, Kristen.

Hey, Kristen -- way to go. You've added a personal element to an otherwise big, impersonal company. I will return the favor by remaining your client, giving you thousands of dollars in business in the coming months.

That's a nice ROI on a 44-cent stamp.

But this is the puzzling part -- if a business giant like Gotowebinar can mail out handwritten thank-you notes, why can't you?

(For more ideas like these, download Guaranteed Marketing for Service Business Owners.)

Flip Your Funnel, Explode Your Profits

In Flip the Funnel, Joseph Jaffe wrote the book I largely base my consulting practice on.

He (and I) believe it is more profitable to grow your business by convincing current customers to buy more often and refer others, rather than spending most of your time and money chasing new customers.

The subtitle of Flip The Funnel says it all: How to use existing customers to gain new ones.

By creating a more memorable customer experience and acknowledging those people who buy from you, you set the stage for increased customer loyalty -- and profits.

Here are three takeaways from Jaffe's book that you can use today:

1. Flip the funnel

Traditional marketing focuses dumps many prospects in at the wide top, to get out a small number of customers at the bottom, where the process ends. This can be time-consuming and costly.

By flipping the funnel, you can start with the first purchase and turn a small number of existing customers into many new ones. This can be faster and less expensive, because you are building from a base of people who already trust you -- your customers.

2. Deliver a memorable customer experience

The customer experience is the sum of all contacts, transactions, and encounters between customers and your company, your brand, your people, and your products and services.

Companies like Apple, USAA Insurance, Virgin America, Zappos, and others put serving the customer ahead of profits in the NOW, when customer service happens. This has made them highly successful -- and profitable -- over the months, quarters, and years.

3. Do more of what really matters

You can grow your business in four ways: getting more clients, getting them to buy more often, getting them to spend more, and getting them to refer their friends.

Most businesses spend most of their time on money on the first goal only. This is insanity. Don't be insane.

Instead, follow the ADIA model:

• Acknowledge - Clients, like all people, crave recognition. Examples: a personal thank-you note, regular progress reports, a gift. 
• Dialogue - Encourage clients to engage in conversation by giving them multiple ways to contact you, such as Twitter or the old-fashioned phone. 
• Incentivize - Encourage clients to recommend your business to their friends. Example: Reward them, either in cash or with gifts, for every new client they send your way. 
• Activate - Use social media to communicate with your clients, and encourage them to pass the word via blogs, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and Facebook. Example: Create a money-saving tip sheet that clients can download from your blog and share with friends.

My own "inside marketing" model departs from Jaffe's in several ways, especially when it comes to marketing for small office/home office (SOHO) service business owners -- my specialty.

But we agree on the same basic premise: Stop stepping over the dollars that lie hidden inside your business (in the form of existing customers) to chase pennies down the street (in the form of prospects who don't know you from Adam).

Instead, start using existing customers to gain new ones.

(For more ideas like these, download Guaranteed Marketing for Service Business Owners.)

Is Delay Killing Your Business?

There I was last Friday, credit card in hand, trying to give someone my money.

The price? $1,500.

The impetus for my order?

I had already bought one product from a renowned marketing guru, for $199, and was very satisfied. When the product arrived by mail, out fell brochure with a 20%-off coupon code, good for anything in her catalog.

Smart! She knew that the easiest sale to make is to an existing customer.

And she was about to make a second sale to me, for $1,200 ($1,500 minus that 20%). Good for her.

So, I went online and tried to use the discount code in her shopping cart. But the code failed to work. After two tries, I gave up.

Strike one.

I picked up the phone and called the customer service number listed on her site. It was at least two hours before her company was scheduled to close.

But, instead of reaching a live operator to take my to order, I got voicemail. The message? "This mailbox is full. Please try your call again later."

Strike two. And three.

The owner of this business, despite being an outstanding marketer, didn't get the memo.

The memo reads as follows: "Your customers don't give you three strikes any more, if they ever did. Today, when time and money are at an all-time premium, it's two strikes and you're out. Or maybe just one strike. Thanks for playing."

Now. I'm not refusing to buy from this company because I feel slighted.

I'm not buying because delay is the enemy of any sale.

And, after a few hours of forced delay to think about my $1,200 purchase, I suddenly found a myriad of reasons not to make the buy:

• I don't have time to use the product;
• I have other books that I could re-read at no cost and profit from just as much;
• I could better use that money elsewhere in my business;
• Etc. etc.

Am I right or am I wrong? Doesn't matter. I'm not buying.

Your customers are just as (ir)rational as I am.

Forced to endure a frustrating buying process with your business, your customers will think thoughts similar to mine. They will take their money and go home.

And you will be out that sale.

Meanwhile, if you want to more clients like your best clients, my free Client Cloning Kit can help. Grab your free copy now, while they last. 

How I Doubled Sales Twice -- And You Can, Too

Do you own a business?

Want more revenue?

This is for you ...

Back in the 1990s, I doubled revenue twice in four years -- to a comfortable six figures -- for a resume service I operated amid fierce, price-cutting competition.

The methods that worked then still work today. They can get you more clients tomorrow.

Here's what I did: followed up, kept clients happy, and generated referrals.

1. Follow up
Using CRM software (Goldmine), I followed up by email and phone at least three times with every qualified prospect. And I used it to mail all clients at least once a year with news and/or promotions.

If I were doing it today, I would use Salesforce.com as my CRM. And I would mail clients every month. Not email -- snail mail. Prospects would get a monthly newsletter by mail, too.

2. Keep clients happy
My strategy was simple: I tried to over-communicate. That solved most problems when they were tiny flickers of dissatisfaction, before they grew into bonfires of anger.

Examples: I told clients what to expect at every stage of the process, then told them exactly why I did what I did for them, to resell them on the thought that choosing me was a good idea. Also, I sent them an extensive "user guide" to help them actually use what I created for them.

All of which worked very, very well.

3. Generate referrals
I used 10+ different referral methods, but the easiest to explain here is my formalized referral system.

Here's what I told clients:

For every new client you send my way, I'll discount their order $20 (as a gift from you), pay you $20 cash, or send you a $20 Amazon gift certificate. I settled on these 3 choices after much input from clients.

Any client who referred two or more people was upgraded to Best Client status in my CRM. These clients got more mailings, more phone calls, and all-around "rock star" treatment. They responded by referring even more new clients. Virtuous circle.

What do all three have in common?

None of them requires you to spend another penny on advertising.

You can grow your business from the inside -- heck, double it -- by converting more prospects (by following up diligently), retaining existing clients (by keeping them happy), and "cloning" those clients (by generating referrals).

Try any or all of these in your business. Grow your business from the inside. Repeat as needed.