If you are a business owner, you may have used several marketing methods to increase your business. Then you may have also found that most of your business is generated by referrals. Do you have a method that can systematically and effectively generates more business by word-of- mouth marketing?

Practically every business owner knows how important word-of-mouth is, and yet very few people really know how to develop it effectively.

Word-of-mouth has long been recognized as one of the most cost-effective form of marketing.

Advantages of word-of-mouth as compared to other forms of marketing and be summarized as below:

• is easier to close
• has fewer objections
• has a stronger sense of loyalty
• has a higher sense of trust

People like to be referred when looking for services. How often have you look through the telephone book or pick up a pamphlet from your postbox when you are looking for a lawyer, a renovator, an electrician, a mechanic or an accountant? Almost never. People want referrals!!

As business owners recognize the amount of business generated by referrals, and understand that people want your service as badly as you want their business, business owner can begin to develop a structured word-of-mouth campaign within their organization.

Referral Tips:

• Good customer service help reduce or eliminate negative word-of- mouth, but it contributions little to positive word-of-mouth
• If you want to have good word-of-mouth marketing, you must generate it yourself
• You cannot let word-of-mouth take its own course. You need a plan specifically designed to bring in referrals.