Referral Business is the Bomb

2022-02-09T21:58:20-08:00

“I was referred to you by a friend. How do we get started?” she said enthusiastically. These words are music to the professional’s ears! The sales cycle just got reduced to a nanosecond. New business is coming through the door effortlessly. Yahoo! Was it really that easy? Can you sit back and just enjoy the referral business walking through your door day in and day out? Yes…and no. In the past year, I’ve watched at least two businesses thrive on the referrals they’ve exchanged. I sat down with both recently to learn how they developed their referral business.

Referral Business is the Bomb2022-02-09T21:58:20-08:00

The Power of Referral Business

2022-02-09T22:03:23-08:00

“I used to never refer people,” stated Bill Welch, owner of Northern Lights Electric, a 40-plus year resident of Sonoma. “You couldn’t trust people,” he explained. I asked him to explain how it was that in more than 40 years of business in Sonoma he felt he couldn’t trust another contractor to refer work to them? After all, according to Nielsen, ninety-two percent of consumers trust referrals from people they know. “Well, my reputation’s on the line! The couple of times I tried to refer someone, they either didn’t follow up on the referral, or they botched the job so much it embarrassed me.”

The Power of Referral Business2022-02-09T22:03:23-08:00

Waiting for Marketing Results

2022-02-09T22:04:54-08:00

Anticipation. It fuels the world! Just like waiting for that perfect cup of coffee, every business owner has a vision of what will happen once their marketing campaign kicks in and sends a flood of new business to them. If you’re like the zillions of coffee lovers in the world, you anticipate the aroma of percolating coffee and espresso. You know exactly how you feel when you get that warm ceramic mug in your hands, watching the steam swirl above and dissipate into the morning air. Then there’s the warm ‘n’ fuzzy feeling of your coffee drifting down your gullet as you swallow the first sip. Ahhhhh! But what happens when you think you’ve waiting too long for that coffee to be served?

Waiting for Marketing Results2022-02-09T22:04:54-08:00

The Allure of Shiny (Marketing) Objects

2022-08-06T11:06:15-07:00

It caught your eye. A turn of phrase. A gleam in the sunlight. And voila! You were distracted by some shiny new object.

A hundred and fifty years ago we would have called it a nugget of gold, gleaming on a river bank. Today, it’s likely to be some shiny new app online. “Look what it does!” “Wouldn’t that be a great thing to offer our customers?” “Can we use that next time?!”

The internet brought us […]

The Allure of Shiny (Marketing) Objects2022-08-06T11:06:15-07:00

Is My Digital Marketing Working?

2018-02-01T21:39:53-08:00

Is My Digital Marketing Working?

The answer depends upon whether or not you have some goals and expectations for what digital marketing should bring to your business’ growth.

I am surprised when I ask this of clients and many say, “I had no idea what to expect.” Really? Why on earth would you spend money on any marketing without some expectation? But in recent survey, fully 46% of small business owners said they didn’t know if their […]

Is My Digital Marketing Working?2018-02-01T21:39:53-08:00

Where do customers come from?

2018-01-31T10:32:48-08:00

Where do customers come from?

Ask them! If you’re not already collecting this data, start today!

“I don’t remember,” can be heard frequently from customers who don’t want to be bothered with answering the query.

Rather than letting them off the hook, consider the consequences of not knowing: You won’t be able to predict the growth of your business if you don’t know where it’s coming from or at what frequency. It also leaves you in the dark […]

Where do customers come from?2018-01-31T10:32:48-08:00

Measuring Website Success

2016-12-11T16:09:17-08:00

Several months after I launch new websites, I check on their results in my page rank software as it takes upwards of 60 days for Google’s spider bots to “crawl” the site and rank its search success. When I see that most of the keyword terms we optimized the site for generate a #1 or #2 ranking in Google results (as I did for the client above), it’s like getting a nice pat […]

Measuring Website Success2016-12-11T16:09:17-08:00

Waiting for Facebook* Results?

2016-12-11T16:09:17-08:00

As a child, do you remember bugging your mom, “When’s supper gonna be ready?” Or, “Are we there yet?” Or waiting for the train to arrive (with your dad in it coming home from work)?

It seemed to take for-e-ver to arrive, didn’t it?

That’s what everyone wants to know about social media marketing: When will the customers come banging on my door in droves?

First, remember how your mom said, “A watched kettle never boils”? Or, “If […]

Waiting for Facebook* Results?2016-12-11T16:09:17-08:00

Secure the Battlements!

2016-12-11T16:09:17-08:00

Do you use custom post types in your WordPress site? You may have some fixin’ to do…

Security experts just found a breach in which hackers manipulated a common WordPress plugin to do “bad things” (I’m leaving out the jargon) to your site.

What’s so special or unusual about this announcement? The type of hack. Most security breaches begin as brute force attacks – all those attempts to gain entry to your site via the “admin” […]

Secure the Battlements!2016-12-11T16:09:17-08:00

What Does It Take for Successful Facebook Marketing?

2016-12-11T16:09:17-08:00

A recent report on Marketing Profs provided interesting statistics to see how businesses stacked up against one another on this topic. A key finding by research  firm TrackMaven in the report, was the overall decline in consumer engagement. That wasn’t particularly surprising. But what got my attention was the sheer volume (or lack thereof) of work involved. And I’ve been pondering the results ever since to see how it compares with my own clients’ results. […]

What Does It Take for Successful Facebook Marketing?2016-12-11T16:09:17-08:00
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