There’s the old joke about the two buzzards sitting in a tree overlooking a highway. One responds to the other, “Be patient? I’m hungry. Let’s kill something.” Just like that buzzard, it is not in the nature of most marketers to be patient for business to grow. They want to go out and “kill something,” too.

The trouble is that most marketers go after new business the wrong way. They want to “take down” the new piece of business using all the tools of the trade from advertising and direct mail to cold calling and event marketing. This is an expensive way to drum up business. Your existing clients are just waiting to tell you about people they know who could use your services, and then help sell you in to these people they refer. Not only is this more cost effective, it practically guarantees the prospects will share the same characteristics of your best customers.

“OK, Harry,” you’re asking, “but how do I do it?”

The first rule of getting referrals: ask. When should you ask? Let’s review.

- After your customer has purchased something from you is a great time to ask. The new customer is pumped up about your offering and you can harness that energy by asking for names of others who could beneft from doing business with you.

- Upon delivery of your product or service is the next time to ask. The benefits of your offering should be readily apparent now, so you can remind the customer of the importance of their referrals.

- Anytime you have personal contact with your customer is a good time to ask. You are continuing to build a relationship with them and can use the opportunity to ask for referrals. Don’t ask more than three times per year.

Many people hesitate to ask for referrals because they are not sure how to do it. Just be honest. Tell your customers that referrals are very important to the growth of your business, and that you want to grow it with people just like them. Remind them that the people they know will benefit from your service the way that they have. Then, ask.

Tell your prospect that you’d like for them to give you the names of three or four people who might benefit from your services. Pull out a sheet of paper and pen and look expectantly at them. If they can’t immediately give you names, ask some prompting questions. Such as:

Who are your three best friends? Who are the most successful business people you know? Can you think of anyone who would benefit from my services?

Write the names down and keep writing until the customer runs out of names. Then, go back and ask for contact information for each one.

Thank the customer in the way you feel most comfortable. Some people like to send a gift, others will just drop a note of thanks. Some wait to see if the referral becomes a customer and then send a higher end gift. Do whatever works for you, but do thank them and keep them in the loop, letting them know about your follow up and the outcome of your prospecting.

So, don’t just sit there in your tree. Get out there and kill something.

About the Author
Harry Hoover is a partner in My Creative Team. He has 30 years of experience in crafting and delivering bottom line messages that ensure success for serious businesses like Bank of Commerce, The Bray Law Firm, Brent Dees Financial Planning, CruisingTheICW.com, Duke Energy, Focus Four, Levolor, North Carolina Tourism, TeamHeidi, Ty Boyd Executive Learning Systems, VELUX, and Verbatim.

1. Web, web, web -
The first thing most journalists do when they are looking for experts to interview is search the internet. The bigger the footprints you leave on the web, the more chance there is for a journalist to track you down. If your business does not have a website you are making it harder for the media (and your clients) to find you.

2. Write a book -
The second thing most journalists do is to find out who’s written a book on whatever subject they’re covering. Writing a book automatically makes you an expert in your field.

3. Write letters to the editor -
Comment on a current issue and your letter may be printed on the letters page, instantly raising your profile considerably.

4. Approach the journalists directly -
Journalism is a notoriously undervalued profession and not one where there’s a lot of feedback. Contact anyone who’s written a piece you admire and let them know. Establish a relationship.

5. Invite journalists along to your public speaking gigs -
Then they get to see you in action.

6. Offer your services freely -
Media professionals get offered a lot of free stuff, so they can be blasé about it. Still, a person who’s successfully used your services is much more likely to become an advocate for it. So offer your services or products freely to journalists and you may be paid in publicity. Remember that there are no guarantees and this is not a bribe.

7. Offer case studies -
Do you have a client for whom your product or service has made a noticeable difference in their life? Are they happy to speak publicly about your business? If so, their local paper may be interested in featuring you both.

8. Offer a prize for a competition -
Many publications are happy to mention your business if you donate a competition prize – and then again when they’re announcing who’s won. The value of this sort of free publicity will far outweigh what it costs you to donate a prize.

9. Be topical… -
Link what you do to something that’s happening currently or is coming up soon.

10. …And timely -
Most monthly publications plan issues 3-6 months in advance, so for example if you want to be featured in the January issue you will need to submit information by the preceding September. Topical TV and radio shows have a much shorter lead-in time so ask if you’re not sure.

About the Author

Joanne Mallon is a journalist, media coach and author of “The Beginner’s Guide to TV Interviews”. To receive your free media marketing newsletter, visit http://www.MediaLifeCoach.com, email Joanne@medialifecoach.com or call 0870 741 4278.

When it comes to public relations, what can work best for you as a business, non-profit, government agency or subsidiary manager, is doing something meaningful about the behaviors of those key outside audiences of yours that MOST affect the department, group, division or subsidiary you manage.

You confirm that success by helping persuade those key folks to your way of thinking, then moving them to take actions that allow your unit to succeed.

What you’ve actually done is apply public relation’s underlying premise. Namely, people act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is usually accomplished.

What you will soon come to see is that the right public relations planning really CAN alter individual perception and actually lead to changed behaviors among your key outside audiences.

You will do well to recall that your PR effort should require more than talk show tactics, special events and news releases if you are to receive the quality public relations results you believe you deserve.

The payoff for using this approach to public relations will soon be apparent: community leaders begin to seek you out; capital givers or specifying sources begin to look your way; new proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures start showing up; politicians and legislators begin looking at you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities; welcome bounces in show room visits occur; customers commence making repeat purchases; membership applications begin to rise; and prospects actually start to do business with you.

You’ll want to be certain your PR people really accept why it’s SO important to know how your most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. Because they’re already in the perception and behavior business, they can be of real use for your new opinion monitoring project. But, most important, be sure they believe that perceptions almost always result in behaviors that can help or hurt your operation.

Also insure that a solid discussion with your PR staff takes place re: your plans for monitoring and gathering perceptions by questioning members of your most important outside audiences. Suggest that questions like these be asked: how much do you know about our organization? Have you had prior contact with us and were you pleased with the exchange? Are you familiar with our services or products and employees? Have you experienced problems with our people or procedures?

Please stay aware that it could cost considerably more to use a professional survey firm to do the opinion gathering work versus using those PR folks of yours in that monitoring capacity. But, whether it’s your people or a survey firm asking the questions, the objective remains the same: identify untruths, false assumptions, unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions and any other negative perception that might translate into hurtful behaviors.

In all likelihood, you uncovered a few serious problem areas during your key audience perception monitoring. Because you now must call for action on the most serious distortions, you will have to set down your public relations goal. Will it be to straighten out that dangerous misconception? Correct that gross inaccuracy? Or, stop that potentially painful rumor dead in its tracks?

An equally specific strategy that tells you how to get there is now called for. However, only three strategic options are available to you when it comes to doing something about perception and opinion. Change existing perception, create perception where there may be none, or reinforce it. The wrong strategy pick will taste like crème anglaise on your bratwurst. So, be sure your new strategy fits well with your new public relations goal. You certainly don’t want to select “change” when the facts dictate a strategy of reinforcement.

Good writing becomes crucial when you realize that you have to prepare a persuasive message that will help move your key audience to your way of thinking. It must be a carefully-written message targeted directly at your key external audience. Assign the task to your very best writer because s/he must come up with really corrective language that is not merely compelling, persuasive and believable, but clear and factual if they are to shift perception/ opinion towards your point of view and lead to the behaviors you have in mind.

How will you carry your message to the attention of your target audience? By selecting the communications tactics most likely to reach those key folks. There are many such tactics available. From speeches, facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer briefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and many others. But be certain that the tactics you pick are known to reach people just like your audience members.

HOW you communicate your message can affect its credibility and fragility. Because of such uncertainty, you may wish to unveil your corrective message before smaller meetings and presentations rather than using higher-profile news releases.

In order to produce a comparison between opinion at the beginning of the program and now, you will need to begin a second perception monitoring session with members of your external audience. The need for such a progress report will cause you to use many of the same questions used in the benchmark session. But now, you will be on strict alert for signs that the bad news perception is being altered in your direction.

Should the program lose any of its steam and actually slow down, you can always speed things up by adding more communications tactics as well as increasing their frequencies.

What will have worked at the end of the day, are your efforts to marshall the resources and action planning you need to alter individual perception leading to changed behaviors among your most important outside audiences. During which, you will have helped persuade those key folks to your way of thinking, and moved them to take actions that allow your department, group, division or subsidiary to succeed.

About the Author
Bob Kelly counsels and writes for business, non-profit and association managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has published over 230 articles on the subject which are listed at EzineArticles.com, click Expert Author, click Robert A. Kelly. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. He holds a bachelor of science degree from Columbia University, major in public relations. bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:http://www.PRCommentary.com

As a former Director of Publicity for a non-profit organization, I am often asked the age old question “how can I get publicity?” My answer “be your own best representative and don’t be afraid to share your knowledge.”

When you hear the word “publicity” or “PR” the first thing that pops into your mind is print, radio and television. Those are only a few of the avenues available to entrepreneurs. In our age of technology, you hold the key to your own best PR. If you can afford the traditional publicity route, I say “go for it!”, but if you can’t, don’t think that you aren’t able to do it yourself.

Let’s see what Matt Bacak has to say…

Enjoy!
Becki

Unleash the Powerful Promoter Within

You are ripping me off. What?! How? You may even be thinking, “We just met. How could I possibly have ‘ripped you off’ or taken anything away from you?”

But you have! In fact you are still ripping me off as you sit there. The fact is that you have valuable information inside of you. You have golden nuggets that could make my life better – easier, more fulfilling, or more comfortable. Perhaps your nuggets could make everyone’s life better. Maybe you have already developed your gold into products, services, seminars, newsletters or email newsletters. But if you do not market your golden nuggets, how will anyone know?

Beyond marketing, you must persuade your prospects to buy and actually use your products. People are overwhelmed with all the options they have so you must help them by sharing your gold. But, if you never make your wisdom available, make it the obvious choice even, then you are hurting others and you are hurting me.

It doesn’t matter if your passion is a security alarm, a beauty product, financial services, a business opportunity, or anything else. Your knowledge, product, or service could be helping people solve their problems. And if you do not think what you have to offer can help people, why are you offering it in the first place? So many times I see people out there and they have the best product in the market. Unfortunately, that best is sitting on their shelf in storage (or it is still in their heads) and they are not telling anyone about it. And at the very same time, their competitors – with less to offer and inferior products – are selling to people and hurting them.
Imagine all the people that you could be helping, imagine all the lives you could be changing, because you have something that could save them time, money or energy. Think of the last time that you were searching for something and bought what you could find, but were not happy with it. Maybe the right thing was out there but it wasn’t marketed so you never found it. So give people the opportunity to make the right decision, let them know about you. I must say again that you have to believe in your product or service and know that it will help people. A while back I learned a huge lesson: if you plant bad seeds, you get a bad harvest. Well, it’s time to start planting good seeds and lots of them. “You reap what you sow.”

This is how you have been ripping me off – it’s because you have never shared your unique knowledge and products with me. Not only did you rip me off, but you also ripped off all those you could have been sharing your message with. Quite possibly, you have ripped off the world! You also ripped off someone that should be at the top of your list… yourself. Right now, you could be putting a lot of cold hard cash in your own pocket. It is your job, your duty and your right to market, to sell and to persuade people to use your services and products.

But how do you market your products and service so that you can get them out to the world?

The bottom line is very simple; marketing is an exchange between you and someone else. The more important of the two is the other person – your prospect. In their pocket is money that they have worked hard for. And if they reach in their pocket and feel money, they are going to spend it somewhere, whether it is with you or not. Whether it is the best choice for them, or not. Your job is straightforward; let them know about you and your golden nuggets. Are you ready to unleash the powerful promoter within you and get rich while you are doing it? Great, because that puts you in position to let the world know! Well, I am about to tell you the quickest and fastest ways to making that happen.

But first, just a few weeks ago my wife and I lost our baby. I was devastated about the loss. I had even begun to see him taking over my empire, growing insanely rich and having more than I ever have had in my life. All because, I would tell him the real secrets to my success, to being the powerful promoter, and one day I planned to hand over the reigns.

Understand that the things I am about to tell you are the things that I would have told my son to prepare him to either take over my business or to start building his own empire. Not just any empire or business, but one that would make him rich beyond his wildest dreams.

Here is what I wanted to say to my child, so now I’m saying it to you:

You can make a decent income selling products and services but you can become insanely rich by creating and controlling markets. You see, the Internet is the cheapest and easiest way to attract and capture people who are interested in what you uniquely have to offer.

How?

With e-zines, newsletters, e-courses, or Internet magazines. (They are all the same just a variety of names.) Think back to the last time that you did a search on the Internet. Were you looking for something to solve your problem? Yeah, tons of people everyday are doing the same exact thing and they are looking for you.

Don’t be the average person with an “internet presence,” they just have a simple website that searchers can view. The majority of searchers check out a site then they leave. (Can you ever find a website a second time? Even if you enjoyed the information on the site it can be difficult to retrieve later.) The people who once found you disappear into cyberspace and you never have any idea who they were, and thus, you have no way to follow-up. Boy, you are missing out. Big time!

Because the fortune is in the follow-up.

See, if you created an ezine or whatever you want to call it, you could capture their email addresses, build relationships, and market to them over and over again.

Now, you can make millions because you have created and control a huge market that is hot and hungry for your information, products or services.

The second thing that I would say to my own child: You must learn to become a great platform sales person. Learn to sell and persuade people.

One great way to generate a lot of cold hard cash from the list that you create and control is by putting on teleseminars. I have found that one of the fastest ways to make a lot of money from your market is by giving teleseminars. Many people do teleseminars but just to deliver information. (FYI: Teleseminars, telecalls, teleclinics and teleconferences are all the same thing – again just a name choice.)

What I’m talking about is giving teleseminars to sell high-ticket items. You see, I view teleseminars just as any other media for selling your nuggets and other people’s nuggets. It is just like a live seminar. And if you don’t adopt this belief, you will be doing a disservice to your listeners – they want more from you.

Always transform what you already know into persuasive speeches and sell during your public speaking opportunities. If you get asked to speak in front of a live audience, use that time to inspire them to jump out of their seats and rush your table. If you are on a telecall, make sure that they can purchase right away because the likelihood of them buying days later is very slim. The third thing that I would have told him is:

Become a great self promoter. Become the powerful promoter. Whatever you are passionate about, become great at learning how to sell and market your information, products or services. A great powerful promoter, isn’t in love with words, he is in love with people. All kinds of people, everywhere and anywhere. He is extremely interested in people, watches them closely, listens when they talk, lives their bad moments with them, and rejoices in their victories. He is so interested in other people he forgets all about himself, his own needs and wants, and after a time he knows why they think as they do. And he recognizes himself in them and knows that what they do, he is capable of doing whether it is good or bad. The best way to become a great self promoter is to love people. Know what every living person fears, hates, loves, and rejoices – it is in a sense knowing yourself because others experience what we ourselves experience. Let everything you write say to your reader, “I understand you. I have been in your shoes, I can help you, please let me try.”

The fourth thing that I would say:

There are two common characteristics of highly successful people:

Highly Successful People are ACTION-ORIENTED. This means you take action immediately when a good opportunity presents itself. Highly Successful People are EDUCATION-FOCUSED. This means that you take it upon yourself to know everything you possibly can about your field, and you learn from many different sources.

So when you see the opportunity to invest in yourself and your business to develop your skills, grab it! Seek out opportunities to learn the art of self promotion from the leaders. If they were not great marketers, you would not have heard of them – right?

Oh, one last thing… Forget about what you learned in school. Follow your dreams, your heart and more importantly your gut or intuition.

About the Author
Matt Bacak, The Powerful Promoter was entrepreneur Magazines e-Biz radio show host and became a “#1 Best Selling Author” in just a few short hours. He has helped a number of clients target his specialty, opt-in email direct marketing systems. The Powerful Promoter is not only a sought-after lead explosion specialist but has also generated leads for some of the world’s top experts and businesses whose reputations would shrivel if their followers ever found out someone else coached them on their lead generation strategies.