Sing-Your-Praises Marketing for Solo-preneurs
June 28, 2009
How do you get your clients and customers to sing out for you? And how important is that, anyway? One 
recent piece of research says that 15% of your customers will be “influencers.” These people can bring a fair amount of new work to you on a consistent basis. Makes you want to spend a little time thinking about who your “influencers” are, doesn’t it?
We all already know that word-of-mouth marketing is 5 times more powerful in its effect than advertising. The statistics vary, but one article I read a few days ago stated that about a third of consumers try a brand due to a personal recommendation by someone they know. Even in the business-to-business (B2B) world this holds true. And here is a HUGE important point – the “influencers” who talk about your business have to know you but do not have to be an existing client. You can get a significant amount of business from someone who knows and likes your work even if they have never spent a dime with you! Don’t forget that, it’s important.
So, how can you get this “sing-your-praises” word of mouth buzz going?
- You can’t beat starting your “sing-your-praises” marketing by making sure that you meet your customer’s need each and every time. ASK if what you have provided has solved their problem, and if it has not then offer to change it now.
- Notice who naturally send others to you, and make sure to thank them each time with a note or phone call. Let them know you notice how they are helping you build business, and keep in mind that those who refer to you may not be buying from you. Treat them as if they ARE customers, for they are of great value to you.
- If you have customers who sing your praises to YOU but have not referred others, send them a carefully crafted note and ask them to consider referring their friends or business acquaintances who might need what you offer. If they follow through and you gain a new customer be sure to offer your thanks for the follow-through.
With consistent follow-through, you can thank those who sing your praises and create even more good will and good energy for your business. Set up a system to do this, delegate it to a trusty assistant, and watch your business grow.
(C) Sue Painter
Why Do We Procrastinate?
January 23, 2009
I’d bet a lot of money that procrastination costs businesses more lost sales than any other single factor. And I know from hard experience that the “p-word” causes suffering in families, too. Why DO we put things off? Procrastination seems to fall into two categories. The first category includes when we really do NOT want to take the action. Here are two examples:
- We don’t want to do whatever it is, but we also don’t want to speak up and disagree. Instead, we take the passive way out and sit on it, silently expressing disagreement through inaction.
- We are angry with the person this action will affect, so we procrastinate as a silent expression of anger.
The second category is when we say or think that we want to take action, but we just don’t ever get to it. Usually, the inaction can be traced to one of three issues:
- We don’t know how to do it
- The action isn’t really necessary – it’s a should and it therefore isn’t a high priority
- We are missing a piece of information we need to move forward.
So how can we move past procrastination and into action? In the case of silent disagreement or anger, it helps to remind ourselves that only action will shift disagreement or anger, inaction bottles the energy up in us and has ill effects.
In the case of “I want to do it, I just never get to it” we can apply a few rules to help get us unstuck.
- Prioritize your “to-do but never gets done” list SOLELY by return on investment (ROI). This is not usually how we go about prioritizing, but in business it should be!
- Take each item on your list and literally write each into your schedule, using a realistic time frame for completion. (Hint: These tasks usually take longer than we wish, which is one reason we keep putting them off.)
- Hand it off to someone else on your team to get done (with a clearly stated deadline).
Accept that procrastination’s cost is too high for both your personal and business lives, and you will get more focused and live with greater clarity and peace of mind. These two will definitely help your business thrive.