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Effective Referral Marketing Starts With Good Communication

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

You have an expertise…

Whether you sell insurance, give legal counseling, or clean gutters; you know the ins and outs of your particular industry.

You have all of this knowledge and expertise but do people even know what you do?

The key to effective referral marketing starts with good communication.

1. Never Assume

Experienced professionals can become so entrenched within their specific industry that they lose the ability to effectively describe their services to the general population. Your referral marketing success is contingent on your prospects not industry insiders and competitors.

2. Lose the Jargon

Save the the acronyms and jargon for industry newsletters and colleagues, convoluting your message with superfluous detail and terminology may make you appear intelligent in an abstract way, but it will not land you the sale. You’d be surprised how quickly people will be put-off if you make understanding your services a big challenge.

3. How’s your pitch?

Seriously, you need a pitch. You may not be selling investors on the reinvention of the wheel but even an informal pitch is an incredible asset. Word of mouth won’t be very effective if half the people you count on advocating for you, can’t accurately relay the value of your services.

4. The worst type of referrals are the ones that never happen

Even something as straightforward as landscaping is subject to interpretation:

My fictitious pitch: “Referral Key Landscaping provides outstanding commercial landscaping services, specializing in tree removal, landscaping masonry, snow removal, and all aspects of planting and landscaping design.”

Good: Later on today your brother tells you he needs to redo his patio and might need a mason. Armed with the right knowledge you would say, “You should consider a landscaping mason. I know this great guy Chris at Referral Key Landscaping, he has commercial contracts with some very scrupulous clients but I bet he’d be willing to take a look at your patio and give a reasonable quote. I’ll tell him to give you a call”

Now imagine I take the assumptive approach when you ask me what I do:

“I do landscaping, cmon’ you know, lawns and stuff”

Bad: Later on today your brother tells you he needs to redo his patio and might need a mason. You don’t know any masons so you never refer your brother, I never get a sale, and your brother misses out on quality services.

5. Practice

If an attorney can effectively explain their legal services to a young child, they are golden. If a programmer can give their elderly aunt an idea of the opportunities and limitations of a complex programming language; they’re not only a good programmer but a talented business person as well. It’s easy to do a lot of back slapping and ego boosting over lunch with an industry insider. Seek out people who don’t have anything to do with your industry and see if they can absorb what you say and then accurately relay it.

The Test

Referral Key members generally fall into one of about 150 service industries. This is by no means a complete list but it will give you an idea of the diversity of small business professionals out there. Take a look. If you are unsure what just one of these service providers actually does, there’s a chance someone is looking at this list right now and may be unsure what you do.

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Tags: referral, referral marketing
Posted in CPAs, referral, referral marketing | 2 Comments »

For CPAs, the End of Tax Season Marks the Start of Referral Season

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

Elmer Fudd had a very difficult time differentiating between “wabbit” season and duck season; it’s probably why he never found Bugs Bunny. Knowing not only where and when to focus on referral marketing is the key to generating sales leads.

Every industry has its own particular work cycles. Real estate agents may work early mornings, architects may work all night, and accounting is seasonal.

Because tax season leaves accountants with absolutely no time for anything else, it’s important they recognize the off-season is actually open-season for relationship building.

Many CPAs are eager to relax after tax season and it is a well deserved decompression. When you get back though, it’s time to shake of those Bermuda shorts and start networking.

The first strategy should be to follow-up with your clients or add a profile to the small business directory. Many accountants fail to do this simple task and it can make a huge difference. Even just a short phone call can be the difference between being perceived as a close colleague or “that accountant” who reappears once a year when it’s time to make a sale.

A follow-up after tax season may also be a great opportunity to introduce tax clients to other, more robust services you may provide.

Don’t think of following-up as additional season of work; think of it as a day at the beach with your loyal clients.

Tags: CPA, Generating sales leads
Posted in CPAs, Generating sales leads | No Comments »