My 12/07 Contagious Marketing ezine went out last week.

Click here to read the latest article on how to create revenue streams that come in even when you’re lying on the beach sipping a cold drink.

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My 11/07 Contagious Marketing ezine went out last week.

Click here to read the latest article on how to create a win-win money-back guarantee.

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a marketing tool every small business owner should have

A couple months ago, someone sent me this email:

“Hi Judy, I am a personal trainer and I want to get more clients. What do you suggest I do?”

I really appreciate when people are interested in getting my advice and take the time to contact me.

But I get kind of stuck answering the question, “how do I get more customers?” because it’s a big question with a lot of potential answers depending on the asker’s particular situation.

There is No “Take Two Aspirins and Call Me in the Morning” in Marketing

There can be hundreds of reasons a small business isn’t attracting enough customers. For that reason, it’s really difficult to pinpoint one specific solution.

This would be like someone calling their doctor and saying, “I have a terrible headache, what should I do?”

Unless the doctor knows the patient very well, she is going to ask several questions to hone in on what may be causing the headache. For example, she may ask questions like:

• How long have you had this headache?
• Did the pain gradually get bad or has it been bad from the beginning?
• Have you gotten headaches like this in the past
• Is your vision blurred?
• and so on.

Asking these questions helps the doctor determine whether the caller’s headache is because they missed their morning Starbucks or because of a potentially serious medical condition. The former situation can be solved by a couple aspirins. The latter can be a 911 emergency.

Although we joke that doctors always say, “take two aspirins and call me in the morning,” no matter what the complaint, the truth is, they rarely do. They ask questions until they’re reasonably sure it the problem doesn’t require immediate attention.

The problem of not getting enough new customers is not a 911 emergency. It is, however, potentially threatening to the longevity of your business depending on the cause. This is why, I too, ask questions rather than giving a “one size fits all” answer such as “attend more networking events” or “hire someone so you get a higher page rank in Google.”

The 10-Point Marketing Checkup

Getting new customers is the process of building a trusting relationship with people who need your products and services so that you have a strong foundation to do business. For this to happen, you need to

• become visible to people who don’t know you
• cultivate credibility with those who want to learn more about you
• encourage those hanging out with you to become customers

If you aren’t getting enough customers, your marketing isn’t doing its job at one of these three points. The Marketing Checkup tells you where in the customer attraction process your marketing needs help. When you know where the problem areas are, you can take action to address them.

The ten questions are: 

1. How many strangers are learning about my business?

If you have a website, how many new visitors do you get each week. If you attend networking events, how many new people do you meet that you would like to get to know better?

2. Is the number of people learning about you getting larger?

For example, are you getting more and more first time visitors to your website?

3. How many strangers become prospects that you know about?

A prospect may know about you but it’s even more important that you know they know. Why? Because it’s hard to convert a prospect to a customer if you don’t have multiple opportunities to demonstrate what makes you credible.

4. Do you ask prospects how they found out about you?

5. Do get in touch with your prospects on a regular basis?

6. Do you offer free, no obligation opportunities that allow you to demonstrate how you help customers solve their problems?

7. When a prospect contacts you and is clearly interested in buying something from you, do you ask questions to learn more about them?

For example, do you ask them about the problem they need your product to solve, the results they want, the expectations they have so that you understand exactly what they see as “value added?”

8. Do you explain formally, in a proposal or informally, in conversation what needs to happen for your prospect to attain the results they want?

9. Do you have a way to clearly “ask for the sale.”

If you are feeling “yes, I can help this person get what they want” then you need to let them know that and what the next steps are.

10. Do you have a way to “close the deal” and tell your prospect what the next steps are?

Closing the deal means you both formally acknowledge “Yes we want to work together to accomplish this,” that your prospect knows what they need to do to start the process. Common next steps are signing an agreement, making an initial or entire payment, etc.

How Did You Do? 

Your results from taking the ten-point check up indicate where you need to work on your marketing program to attract more clients.

• If you don’t know how many people are learning about your business and checking you out, (Questions 1-3) you need to find out how many first time visitors (or new contacts) you are getting.
• And, if you’re getting a lot of visitors (strangers to prospects) who aren’t sticking around, you need to begin creating low cost, low risk opportunities to demonstrate to prospects what you can do for them.
• Finally, if you have lots of ezine subscribers, class participants, blog comments, who have not yet become customers, you need to do more to make it clear, easy, and rewarding to buy.

No matter where you are in the process, there are actions you can take to advance.

Talkback 

Did you find this article helpful? Did it bring up more questions? Do you have a totally different opinion? Click here and add your voice to the conversation.

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I am not a golfer and what I know about golfing professionals is limited to what I pick up from the sports pages and the sports segment on the nightly news.

And yet, by pure chance, I caught Ed Bradley’s interview with Tiger Woods on 60-Minutes which aired about a year ago and some of the things they discussed made a big impression on me in the way I think about my business and marketing.

One of the main topics of discussion in the interview was Woods’ reason for intentionally changing his swing twice in the ten years he’s been competing as a professional golfer. Each time he changed his swing, in 1997 and in 2004, his game suffered to the point that there was speculation his career was finished. And it wasn’t just a tournament or two when he did badly. It was the entire season.

So why would someone, like Tiger Woods, who could easily have kept doing what he was doing and remained one of the world’s greatest athletes, purposely mess with his “golden” swing?

For Tiger Woods, the reason was very simple, he knew he could do better and changing his swing enabled him to. And even someone who is as clueless about professional golf as I am knows that the change has more than paid off. That, after a period of adjustment, Woods became that much better.

As a small business owner, there was an important lesson I took away: that in order to take my business to the next level, I was going to have change some of the things I was doing. And that although make the change might feel uncomfortable and I might lose some clients and even see my income dip, the change would enable me to take on better projects and make far more money than I could had I not gone through the transition.

What kind of changes am I talking about? They typically fall into one of these categories:

Investing Time and Money

How much time and money would you be willing to invest in order to take your business to the next level? $100? $1,000? $10,000? How may hours each week are currently dedicated to activities that will expand your business? 1 hour? 2 hours or more?

Sometimes the hardest thing I do is to spend time working on things that won’t get me cold hard cash in the short term. It’s really hard when I’m also spending money that I really “don’t have” for these long term projects. But I’ve also seen investments I made a year ago; even two-years ago more than pay off so I know I’m doing the right thing even if it is sometimes rather painful.

Disappointing Other People

When. in 2004, Tiger Woods game suffered because of changes he was making in his swing, there was a lot of criticism and speculation about his judgment, professionalism, even his character. His former instructor even accused him of “being in denial.” It couldn’t have been easy for Woods but he continued to work on and refine his new swing.
Frankly, for me, disappointing people whose approval I want is even tougher than investing time and money into long-term pay-off activities. My reluctance to disappoint family, friends, peers, and clients has caused me to hold off on making decisions and taking actions that I know are what I need to get the results I want.

A former coach gave me a great piece of advice that I always remember in these situations: Every time you say no to an opportunity or request that’s not right for you; you say “yes” to yourself. This is not about saying “no” for its own sake but saying no because it’s not the right thing for you.

Feeling Uncomfortable and Awkward

When I was about ten years old, I took diving lessons at the local pool. I’ll never forget my first dive off the high dive. The water seemed to be 100 miles away and I had a huge knot in my stomach. The instructor helped me get into position and I jumped. The dive was sloppy but at least I want in head first instead of doing a belly flop. I kept practicing and, eventually, my body “learned” what to do without me having to think about it. By the end of the summer the diving from the high dive was my favorite thing to do at the pool.

That learning a new swing involved discomfort and awkwardness was apparent in Tiger Wood’s performance in the months following his decision. But at some point, Wood’s mastered the new swing and that has showed up in his performance as well.

Bottom Line

Significant growth in your business (really in any human endeavor) is proceeded by periods of unease, risk, and discomfort. It is rare that growth and advancement is a steady, linear upward progression.

The growth of most businesses looks more like an “S” curve with a slow start, a steep rise and the initial investment pays off and a leveling off as the resources and actions that took the business to that first level are no longer as effective. Unless your business, any business, invests in new resources and activities to take it to the next level, you risk stagnation, even failure.
To take your business to the next level you don’t need Tiger Wood’s determination, tenacity, and desire to win. You just need to be willing to do what is right to grow your business even if that requires you to live outside your comfort zone for relatively short periods.

Question: What are you doing that feels uncomfortable but will take your business to the next level?

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When it comes to referrals, the most frequent request I get from small business owners is “Do you have a script I can use when I ask my customers to send me referrals?”

Why a script? Because it can feel so darn awkward to ask customers for referrals! And when we feel awkward we either don’t ask at all or we ask in a way that is so vague or abrupt that we don’t get the results we want.

I don’t use a script to ask for referrals–at least not the detailed type of script most folks have in mind. For that reason, I don’t have much in the way of scripts to offer when people ask.

Instead I use a simple four-step process to educate my customers around how and when to send me referrals. Why “educate?” Because if you are like me, you have clients who really, really like your work and want you to be successful. But they may not know exactly how to help.

This process is a great way to help your customer do what they want to do: help you and look good at the same time.

Four Steps to Painless Referral Requests

Step #1 Make a Commitment to Tell Your Customers You Want Them to Send You Referrals

This step is more a mind shift step than one that requires specific activity. I find that when I shift my focus from worrying about how I will ask to the fact that I am going to ask, I stop spinning my wheels trying to make so many decisions at once.

Try it out and you’ll see what I mean.

Step #2 Use Specific Situations and Problems to Help Your Customers Identify Good Referrals

If your referral sources don’t know what a good referral is for you and how to identify a good referral, it will be difficult for them to come up with people to send you.

This may seem counter-intuitive to you because you would think the fewer constraints you give them, the more likely that your referral sources will find someone to send you.

The problem is that when you give people too many choices, they get overwhelmed and simply don’t choose at all. A few qualifications actually makes it easier for your customers
and colleagues to identify a few specific situations that might be good referrals for you.

Example: Massage Therapist
A massage therapist I know tells her referral sources that she offers pre- and post-natal massages. Women who are pregnant and complain about back pain and muscle pain are
great referrals for her as are moms who have recently given birth and need a little baby-free rest and relaxation.

Step #3 Plan How You’ll Make Your Request

This isn’t exactly a detailed script but it will help you plan how you will ask so that you have confidence around what you will say.

Here’s the format:

“When you talk with someone who is struggling with (situation you identified in step #2)
tell them you know someone who helps people (brief description of the results you help your customers achieve.)

Here’s the massage therapist who offers pre- and post-natal massage would use this format when she talks to her customers.

“When you are talking to a mom-to-be who mentions she is having trouble with back pain, tell her you know a massage therapist who helps pregnant women with back pain. Sometimes their back pain goes away completely!”

Some issues to consider when you adapt this format to your own business:

• Remember that you are coaching your customer on what to say and do when they are with someone who might be a good referral for you.
• Keep it conversational. The point is to ask for referrals in a way that is natural and comfortable.
• Talk about results NOT process. Notice in the example the massage therapist doesn’t say “I use Reiki and hot stone massage to help pregnant women with back pain.”

Your referral sources can only remember so much about you and your business. It’s more important that they can tell prospects the results you produce rather than howyou create the results.

• When it’s appropriate give your referral source something tangible to pass on to prospects. Often this is a business card but I encourage you to be creative.

I’ve seen business owners use seed packets, double-sided business cards with tips printed on the back, pens with clever sayings, product samples (great if you sell skin care or cosmetics), to name but a few.

Step #4 Implement and Refine

Once you have a good idea of how you will ask your referral sources, start asking.

I recommend that you first try your request out with one or two customers who are your “greatest fans” because they want you to succeed and will give you constructive feedback.

You need to make sure they feel comfortable using the phrasing you created in Step #3. If they aren’t comfortable they won’t use the phrase and they may not send you referrals.

Not because they don’t want to. Because they don’t want to look dumb if they aren’t sure how to tell others about you.

Bottom Line

If you have customers who love what you do then you have customers who sincerely want to send you referrals.

Rather than get hung up on “how” to ask for referrals in a way that doesn’t make you look like a pest, look at the request as a way to help your customers who want to help you!

This is a very different way to think about referrals. It makes your customer a willing partner rather than someone that you are trying to “get” to do something.

No pain, no strain, and best of all, you’ll get referrals.

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