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Word of mouth viral marketing & sales leads generation
Positive word of mouth and customer testimonials are essential for any organization to be successful. Endorsements from customers to their friends is not only more persuasive than any advertising campaign, but also far more affordable. Word of mouth marketing is essentially the original viral marketing strategy. Sales referrals from happy customers to their friends is a sales leads generation tool that should be paramount for any company. After all, sales leads generation is the very point of marketing.
However, regardless of how powerful objective customer testimonials can be, many companies do not take advantage of them. Either they do not dedicate resources, or they simply do not know how to stimulate, grow, or measure positive sales referrals.
KudosWorks provides an essential toolkit to virtually any size business that wants to get a better grip on the dynamics of word of mouth marketing and grow their sales leads generation capability without costly time & expense.
The following article by Marty Foley outlines six key components of any successful word of mouth marketing effort.
They are...
1. Focus on quality
2. Seek customer feedback
3. Pay close attention to customer service
4. Keep promises
5. Exceed expectations
6. Fix customer problems
It is very clear from this set of recommendations, that it is the entire customer experience that must be addressed for word of mouth to become a positive viral marketing reality. It is true that disgruntled customers tell 2-3 times more people about their experience than a happy customer. But with a little encouragement, your happy customers can make a much larger impact in terms of your positive word of mouth exposure. Sales leads with a stronger closing percentage will result.
Visit KudosWorks for more information on how word of mouth marketing can be something you actively stimulate in your day-to-day marketing & customer service efforts.
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Essentials of Word of Mouth Marketing
By Marty Foley
What's the least expensive, yet at the same time, the most credible form of advertising? Yes, it's word of mouth.
Every business, either knowingly or unknowingly, generates word of mouth that is either positive - which helps build their business, or negative - which hurts it. There are even some fortunate (but relatively few) businesses that rely entirely on word of mouth to generate more business than they can handle.
How many times have you made a decision to do business with (or avoid doing business with) a certain company based on what someone else told you? Probably more than you realize or can even count.
When someone says good things about your business to someone else, it serves as a real-life testimonial, which is much more believable than when you toot your own horn by saying good things about it.
Studies have shown that the vast majority of dissatisfied customers and prospects won't voice complaints to responsible persons in a business which they've experienced some dissatisfaction with, but will quietly take their business elsewhere. And since they'll likely spread negative word of mouth about their experience to others, not only does the business lose future business from the dissatisfied customer or prospect, but also from others that may be repelled by hearing such negative word of mouth.
That doesn't have to be true in your case, however. Here are some tips on generating positive word of mouth advertising for you and your business:
1) The foundation of generating positive word of mouth is offering quality products and services. If what you offer is shoddy, you'll generate word of mouth, but it will be negative, which will hinder others from doing business with you as word gets around. You'll be shooting yourself in the foot.
Therefore you should aim to make your products and services the best they can be. Realize there is almost always room for improvement and be willing to make such improvements when reasonably possible.
2) Solicit, yes, actively seek feedback in the form of questions, comments, and even complaints from customers and prospects. View these as opportunities to improve your products, services and customer support.
3) Another key is delivering excellent customer service. So many business people treat customers and prospects as though they don't count for anything.
How many times have you been treated rudely by customer service personnel at a place of business? What about business people that tell you they will call you right back, or that they will send the information out to you right away, or that they will do this, that, or another thing, but consistently don't follow through on their word?
Granted, nobody's perfect. But if they practice such things consistently, you tend to believe less and less of what they tell you, like the boy who cried wolf. Will you be eager to continue doing business with them? Not likely.
Especially since repeat business is crucial to most any business, such practices - although common everyday practice - are self defeating.
4) Do your best to follow through with what you say you're going to do. Don't make unreasonable promises you know you can't keep. If something unforeseen comes up that prevents you from living up to your word, try to let the other party know about it in advance.
5) Don't just try to meet your customer's expectations. Exceed them. In other words, under-promise and over-deliver.
6) If a customer is not satisfied, take reasonable steps to try to make them happy. You might even convert a disgruntled person into one of your best word of mouth advertisers.
The above things aren't just the right thing to do; they are smart business practices.
If you (and any employees you may have) act differently than the run-of-the-mill standard, you'll stand out from the crowd, be a welcome business associate in a commonly rude and selfish business environment, and your satisfied, loyal customers will be your best form of advertising.
Internet Profit Strategies Revealed!
Discover eye-opening techniques, tactics and strategies in Marty Foley's revealing handbook, Internet Marketing Goldmine
Genuosity's KudosWorks helps businesses automate customer referrals by providing the tools that their customers need to provide testimonials and to recommend them to friends.
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