Word of Mouth has always been and will continue to be the most powerful way to grow any business or non-profit organization…hands down! When a business has it, it’s beautiful. They get new customers for what we refer to as “zero-cost marketing.” And in today’s world, where it is getting harder and harder to get someone’s attention, Word of Mouth is more valuable than ever.
I know, all this makes perfect sense…motherhood and apple pie, and everyone knows it and wants more for their business. Sadly, most businesses have very little “true” Word of Mouth, and many get less than 20% of their leads through Word of Mouth…some getting even fewer.
Here’s the problem…most businesses I talk to don’t know how to get it…PROACTIVELY. They run their business and HOPE the things they do will build more Word of Mouth…almost by accident. While some might get more, most don’t. In fact, in many businesses, they actually generate NEGATIVE Word of Mouth…not POSITIVE.
Stop reading for a minute and think about your own business. What percentage of your new customers come from Word of Mouth? Before you answer, there are a few caveats you need to consider.
You first have to answer one critical question…
WHY ARE PEOPLE TELLING OTHERS ABOUT YOU?
If customers (and others) tell people about you because of any of the four conditions listed below, it doesn’t count…that is COMMODITY WORD OF MOUTH…it isn’t true Word of Mouth (I’ll explain later why this is the case). The four conditions are…
Here’s why this isn’t the type of Word of Mouth you want. The four conditions above are what we call THE FOUR COMMODITY FACTORS. When a business competes on any of these four factors, they act like a commodity. And when a business acts like a commodity, its customers treat them this way. If a competitor beats you in any of the four factors, your customers leave and will most likely buy from them. They buy because you have the best of one (or more) commodity factors.
And the number one reason they buy from a business based on one of the Four Commodity Factors is that they are competing on their Product or Service. Competing based on their products or services generally leads to competing as if they were a commodity and in one of the Four Commodity Factors.
However, if your customers tell others to buy from you because of HOW YOU TREAT THEM, because they completely TRUST YOU, or because you go out of your way to HELP THEM IMPROVE THEIR LIFE OR BUSINESS, you are building the right kind of Word of Mouth.
When your customer feels important, special, like they matter and trust you, you not only get MASSIVE LOYALTY, you GET TALKED ABOUT and create an ADVOCATE for your business. This is the most desirable state any business can achieve.
SIDE NOTE: I have never understood why businesses spend so much time and money on “customer acquisition” instead of spending on “customer retention.” After 30+ years in business, my only conclusion is that they truly don’t understand how to retain their customers…how to get them to a point where they have become ADVOCATES and do their marketing for them. This is a topic for many other posts in the future.
In case you didn’t catch it, I gave you the answer above on HOW TO BUILD MASSIVE WORD OF MOUTH. The three things a business absolutely positively has to do to make this happen are BUILD TRUST, give your customers an INCREDIBLY AWESOME AND AMAZING EXPERIENCE, and find ways to HELP THEM IMPROVE THEIR LIFE OR BUSINESS.
Sounds easy and straightforward, right? It is, and it isn’t. It is straightforward but incredibly difficult…as evidenced by so few companies achieving this coveted position in their market.
For example, let’s take one of these three factors, TRUST, and discuss WHY it is so critically important. Here’s the simple answer…
NO ONE ON THE PLANET WILL EVER RECOMMEND YOU UNLESS THEY TRUST YOU…NO ONE!!
Let me repeat that in case you didn’t get the emphasis on this one point…
NO ONE ON THE PLANET WILL EVER RECOMMEND YOU UNLESS THEY TRUST YOU…NO ONE!!
Would you? Nope…not a chance. Think of it another way. Let’s say someone asked you where you bought a particular product. You gave them the name of a business. Then they ask you the killer question, “DO YOU TRUST THEM?” If you don’t give them an immediate and resounding YES, they won’t go there. They will know you bought from them because of one of the Four Commodity Factors instead of because you TRUSTED them.
Trust is absolutely positively critical if you want true Word of Mouth.
You can read more about how to build trust on my website if you are interested and in several of the blog posts I have written. Again, it is straightforward but not easy. In fact, building trust is one of the hardest things my clients struggle with implementing in their organizations. Lots to talk about here at another time. Suffice it to say, focus on BUILDING TRUST, and you will become the one your customers talk about…GUARANTEED. You will build MASSIVE Word of Mouth faster than you could ever do with any other formula you might try…GUARANTEED.
So, if you truly want to build MASSIVE WORD OF MOUTH, focus on the THREE CORNERSTONES of BUILDING TRUST, giving your customers an INCREDIBLY AWESOME AND AMAZING EXPERIENCE, and HELPING THEM IMPROVE THEIR LIFE OR THEIR BUSINESS. You will create an army of Advocates and Marketing Agents who will go out of their way to tell others about your business. They will literally do your marketing for you…at zero cost…guaranteed! I hope this helps…
