How to use Direct Mail effectively...

My friend Jose Palomino from ValueProp.com recently did some web research and collected these dozen or so smart tips from the two resources linked below on increasing your results from your direct mail campaigns. 

Consider this a direct mail crash course for small business owners, entrepreneurs and indepent professionals. 

A. Write a letter? Cheap and inexpensive, but how?

• Your letters should sound as if they were written by a human being.
• One-to-one and conversational is usually best. Forget corporatese, it’s snooze-inducing.
• Try a live stamp, even better, try two live stamps.
• Try to find common ground. One of my favorite first lines is “I don’t know how you feel about (whatever), but I …”
• Test a lot of different approaches and lengths.
• Offer something they can get only by responding to your letter.
• Ask for the order and make it easy to reply.

B.  Direct Mail Tips

• Use only direct response direct mail campaigns – Direct response refers to what the name implies; all mailings should have a ‘call to action’ or request a direct response.  There is nothing that sabotages a direct mail campaign more than to not give the recipient a ‘call to action’.  Tell them what to do next . . . . call, write, pick up the phone, etc.
• Make Your Mail Peer-To-Peer Personal - Consider sending a personalized direct mail letter "written" by your CEO, CFO, CIO, etc. on his or her corporate stationery to his or her counterpart. Play up the commonalities both people share, the business and professional challenges they face that only someone in their position truly understands. I call it "honcho-to-honcho" marketing and it can be very effective. For example, one organization had success with a simple peer-to-peer letter bearing its CEO's name, personal telephone number and a brief description of what the company offers.
• Follow a formula when writing copy - there are a number of formulas that you can use to produce effective copy, but the easiest one out there and probably the simplest to use is the tried and true AIDA formula.  AIDA is an acronym for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. If you follow this formula when writing your copy, you will produce better copy.
• Test your copy – always test your mailings with a small number of mailings before sending out “the” campaign.  A simple method to accomplishing a test is the A/B split test.  This is where you have a small sample size of say 200.  You mail 100 hundred of your target market a mailing with one headline; and the other 100 a mailing with a different headline to see which mailing will get a better response.  An important note for you to remember.  If you use the A/B split testing method, you can only change one element of your direct mail piece at a time so that you can determine what factor made one piece more effective than the other.  The three parts of your mailing you may want to test include the headline, the call to action or the P.S.

There you have it - all you need to know to kick some serious ass with direct mail.

Is creating a series of sales letters or direct mail postcards one of your to-do items that you've been putting off for WAY too long?

p.s. Crafting some solid direct mail pieces may be one of several things you might want to get DONE during our next DO IT DAY.

Check it out - it may be exactly the boost of accountability you've been looking for to help you make significant progress in ANY part of your business - all in one super-focused day! 

"Direct marketing is to social marketing what a one-night stand is to marriage." -- @dnewman

The above statement is a tweet that gets a lot of reaction - some positive, some negative, and some asking for more detail. So - you asked for it, you got it. Let's dig in...

Quick sidenote before we start: I find it telling that people read the analogy wrong - they sometimes misunderstand and think I'm saying that social marketing is the one-night stand. NOT AT ALL - direct marketing is the one-night stand. Social marketing is a marriage (unless you do it like an idiot - More on that later.) 

The purpose of direct marketing (short for direct response marketing) is just that - to get a response. A hit. A lead. A sale. A little badda-bing in your pants, ya dig?

The purpose of social marketing (short for social media marketing) is to establish trust, build a strong relationship and deliver value over time. Can you hear the wedding bells?   

A big mistake that a lot of business owners, entrepreneurs and indepent professionals make is to think of social marketing in the same way that you might think of direct marketing or outbound sales activity. (As a marketing speaker and marketing coach, I see this mistake all the time and it's the source of MANY bad marketing decisions and idiotic online sales antics.)

Think about it: Cold calls. Email blasts. Direct mail like postcards and sales letters. Do those things and the natural question to ask is - OK, how much did you SELL TODAY?

You made 100 dials, you connected with 20 humans, you had 14 conversations, you qualified 5 serious prospects and then how much did you SELL TODAY?

You sent 10,000 postcards. Requests came back for 300 quotes. So how many widgets did you SELL TODAY?

All that scorekeeping, bad pick-up lines, hitting on people (not to mention the need to do it over and over again the next day, the next week, and the next month) is starting to sound a lot like Leisure Suit Larry's dating life, doesn't it?

Social marketing doesn't work that way. Social marketing is... well, social. It's about relationships and trust. Relationships and trust don't have an ON/OFF switch - they develop over time.

Transactions happen today from relationships you built last week, last month, and last year. The benefit of that - and the reason it's worth the "wait" is that social media gives you a permanent asset - TRUST.

Oh and by the way, married people DO have crazy good sex. But those transactions happen BECAUSE of the relationship, not instead of it!! It's the permanence of the relationship that gives you both the long-term love (trust) AND the short-term lust (profitable transactions) you want and need.  

Think about the long-term impact of your social media marketing assets and the fleeting nature of your direct marketing investments:

Blog entries are forever. They continue to sell your expertise, your company, and your value day after day, week after week, year after year.

LinkedIn recommendations are forever. People that wrote glowingly of you in 2002 are still "selling" for you and your reputation TODAY.

A voice mail? BEEP - gone.

An email? ZAP - deleted.

A sales letter or postcard? THUNK - into the recycling.

Those happen today and they're gone today. 

Sure, you have to sell today. You have to make your quota today. You have to feed your family today. But social media marketing helps you ensure that what you create ONCE today works and lasts and brings customers and clients to you for many years to come...

Not because you SOLD them like an idiot -- but because you built the trust and relationships that HELPED THEM BUY today, tomorrow and beyond!

Are you a DO IT freak? Welcome to the club!! Please use the social media buttons at the top of this post to share it with your network. YOU are a rock star!

This blog post inspired by ideas from my friend, Tom Davidson, who is THE leadership expert for the forestry industry. Tom says he used to be a victim of "You Never Know" ...but NOW he knows. And his business is booming!

When it comes to small business marketing, "You Never Know" will kill you...

See if these scenarios ring a bell with you...

1. "We've been talking with this prospect for YEARS and now they've suddenly expressed interest... You never know!"
2. "We've been running that expensive ad month after month and sure enough, someone just called... You never know!"
3. "This guy asked me for a proposal last year and then disappeared on me. Couldn't get a hold of him to save my life. But he just opted into our website... You never know!"
4. "We wanted to stop offering that program and focus on more profitable services, but just last month, two clients signed up before we could pull it off the website. You never know..." 
5. "We were in the process of changing our tag line because nobody knew what the heck it meant. But then a new prospect just told me, 'I love your tag line' so we're keeping it. You never know..."
6. "Although 70% of our business is in this industry - we don't want to exclusively focus on them because we'd be cutting ourselves off from other business. You never know..."
7. "We love working with small companies, but my sales coach told me that if we're ever going to seriously grow revenue, we have to start selling to much bigger companies. He may be right. You never know..." 

You're breaking my heart... 

And you're killing your business... 

STOP IT!

Look at you... Spinning your wheels, chasing all your random maybes.

STOP hedging your bets. 

(Thank you to Peter Sheahan for hammering that point home in a speech.)

You need to focus on a SPECIFIC audience, dedicate yourself to ONE distribution channel, lead with one FLAGSHIP service, promote one CORE program, sell one MAIN product line, PRESENT prospects with a PRIMARY investable opportunity. 

The sound bite I share with my marketing seminar audiences and marketing coaching clients is "Focus on what you want - you can always take what comes."

Big problem: Maybe your business model IS "we take what comes."

5 Signs Your Business is a Victim of "You Never Know"

1. You feel you're chasing your tail and spending too much time and too much money bouncing from idea to idea or initiative to initiative...
2. You have no idea where your next lead is coming from...
3. Your pipeline is full of "maybes" but it's been months since you've closed a deal and cashed a check...
4. You find yourself succumbing to too many sales pitches for marketing ebooks, get-rich-quick courses, social media services, online sales tools, subscriptions, advertising, directories, web software...
5. You are relying on hope as a marketing strategy...

Bottom line: The truth is that you may very well never KNOW...

But you sure as hell can DECIDE.

And as my pal Jim Canterucci likes to say, once you DECIDE, your choices are easy. 

That's the key you need to unlock marketing success for your small business so that you get better traction, make faster progress and make more money.

And then leave a comment below with your questions, thoughts, and advice on the ideas above.

Are you a DO IT freak? Welcome to the club!! Please use the social media buttons at the top of this post to share it with your network. YOU are a rock star!

As a marketing coach for business owners, entrepreneurs and solo professionals, I'm often asked some variation of the following questions:

• What's more important - a focused marketing plan or consistent marketing activity?
• Do I need to change my marketing strategy? 
• What should I be doing more of - and less of - to get more clients? 
• How do I know the kind of marketing that will work for what I offer? 
• How can I stop spinning my wheels and do a FEW simple things consistently to generate leads, prospects and sales?

Here's my answer in very sophisticated and technical marketing lingo:

"Wow, man... I dunno."

Now before you dismiss me as a complete marketing moron, let me put that insightful statement into some context for you.

If you don't know where you are, who you're marketing to, what they want, what they're willing to pay for, and how to position yourself as the "Ah - at last!!" solution they've been looking for, then all these questions will do is: 

• Confuse you
• Scare you
• Piss you off

And the bottom line is that it's tough to be a successful entrepreneur when you're running around confused, scared and pissed off all the time. 

So stop it. 

The first thing you need to decide is - which do YOU need more of? A revised and refocused master plan? Or some healthy ass-kicking to DO what you ALREADY know you need to do?

Follow the Teddy Roosevelt principle of "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." What does that mean?

That means you need to STOP GETTING READY TO GET READY until...

• You get your next professional certification...
• You finish writing your book...
• Your kids are a little older...
• You build your updated website...
• You have a few more clients...
• You start making more money...

Hello?

Can you SMELL the stinky pile of rotten excuses suffocating you with their disgusting stench?

DO YOU NEED A ROCK SOLID MARKETING/BUSINESS STRATEGY? 

The short answer is a screaming YES with racing stripes and flames coming out the tailpipes.

Do you need a 60-page marketing/business plan with charts and graphs and financial projections for the next 5 years? No you do not. 

You need some flip charts, markers, paper, plenty of wall space and at least half a day to map out: 

• Your business and marketing objectives and strategies
• Your current and future revenue streams
• Your thought leadership strategies (speaking, publishing, social media)
• Your business systems and processes
• Your current and future staffing and outsourcing game plan
• Simple templates and scripts to operationalize your plan
• Your pricing structure including new ways to monetize your expertise
• Your marketing action plan with daily, weekly and monthly tasks 

I do this with my clients all the time - it's called a VIP Coaching Day and the process and the output look something like the flipcharts and action notes you'll see smack in the middle of this page.

DO YOU NEED TO FOCUS ON AND EXECUTE YOUR ACTION ITEMS?

The short answer is a screaming YES with racing stripes and flames coming out the tailpipes.

Do you need a 1,000% laser focus with a non-stop implementation mindset? No you do not. That's not realistic and it's never going to happen. 

You need a calendar, just a little bit of focus, some serious accountability for a short period of time, and your to-do list (which probably contains some long-overdue "big ideas" which you've simply never gotten around to doing even though they might be the exact things you need to FINISH so that you get out of your rut, find your groove and grow your business significantly!)

What kinds of to-do items might you tackle on such a focused day of implementation?

• Rewrite the home page of your website
• Record a series of videos or audios that showcase your services
• Do some writing to better articulate your fabulousness
• Create a few simple tools to help you generate more leads
• Clean up your office or empty your inbox to streamline your daily work
• Develop (or refresh) your consulting or service/project offerings
• Optimize your social media profiles so that more prospects find (and contact!) you
• Draft the outline for your book, product, or signature program
• Map out your proactive referral and networking strategy (who, what, where, when)

I do this with my clients all the time too. It's called a DO IT DAY and you can find out more about them here. Sign up for the next one - I'd be honored to do a little ass-kicking with YOU over a single focused day... and cheer you on as you cross the finish line on what YOU need to get done. 

What do you think? Use the COMMENTS area below to talk about your experiences with strategy vs. implementation for YOUR business...

911 means emergency response.

The sooner, the better.

You get there quick or the patient dies. 

As a marketing speaker and marketing coach, I encourage my clients and seminar participants to UP the urgency of their marketing and sales response times. 

Why? 

Well... Do you know the lead follow-up time that maximizes your sales for online leads that come through your website or email? Or your leads/prospect inquiries that come in by phone?

Do you think it's: 

a. 48 hours

b. 24 hours

c. 8 hours

d. 1 hour

e. 15 minutes

f. Whenever we get around to it - they can wait

Research from MarketingProfs and Hubspot proves that the lead follow-up time that maximizes sales is e. within 15 minutes!

What does that mean to you, your marketing efforts, your sales team, and your own personal schedule as a business owner or entrepreneur?

Simple - when it comes to responding to leads, the mantra is "Now or never."

Bad news: Your leads won't wait - they're SEEKING a solution NOW. You are not the only service provider they are calling. Not by a long shot.

Good news: A lead converted to a prospect FAST (meaning you had a conversation within 15 minutes of first contact) is much more likely to stop looking. Once they connect with a real live human being who conveys the fact that they understand the situation AND they are in a position to help... the frenzied dialing and emailing stops. All the previous unanswered calls, emails, and web forms go by the wayside and YOU HAVE YOUR SHOT. 

So don't blow it. Don't be tempted to start waxing poetic about how great your product, your service, your program and your people are. STOP.

A conversation that is mostly listening on your end is much more likely to build trust and rapport on their end. 

But the point is speed. Why? Because responsiveness in the sales process equates to responsiveness in the business relationship.

The bottom line is that your leads CANNOT wait.

Your prospects won't wait.

Think of your own buying behavior. You leave a message - you keep dialing. Someone answers, and you're problem is 80% solved and it's THAT salesperson who gets the chance to win your business. 

The only exception to the 911 rule is a publicity lead. When a reporter calls, it's NOT a 911...

It's a FIVE ALARM fire in your pants.

So if 911 is emergency response, putting the fire out in your pants would be a critical right-now drop-what-you're doing this second response. Reporters' deadlines are expressed in hours, sometimes minutes. They have sources coming at them all day, every day. If a reporter wants to feature or include you in their story - RUN, don't walk to the nearest phone or internet connection and get them what they need. Otherwise, you're toast.

And you looked so good in those pants, too. A real shame.  

Remember - whether it's prospects calling you to do business or journalists responding to a press release or interview request, speed KILLS (the competition!)

And then leave a comment below with your questions, thoughts, and advice on the ideas above.

Are you a DO IT freak? Welcome to the club!! Please use the social media buttons at the top of this post to share it with your network. YOU are a rock star!

In my role as a business coach, my clients often ask me if they should spend the time and money to be listed in this directory or that trade show book or some magazine's "Marketplace" section. 

Here's the answer for YOU and YOUR business if you've ever wondered the same thing. 

But first, remember the Yellow Pages?

Their old tagline was "Let Your Fingers Do the Walking."

It was more convenient - in the 1960's and 1970's - to use the Yellow Pages and your rotary phone to find out what you needed to know about local businesses than to literally walk from store to store or office to office.

Check out this sign and you'll see where this tale starts to unravel: 

Photo credit: Rolando Pujol

Yes, you can find Tony's One Hour Cleaners in the Yellow Pages. 

Along with Sam's One Hour Cleaners, Jiffy Dry Cleaning, and dozens of other competitors all over town. This was great for consumers up until about 1992 when the web took over much of this same functionality (and multiplied its marketing power by about 1000-fold.)

And it's pretty dumb for business owners today. 

Why? Because the moment you're "in the book" - you're a commodity. 

You are ACTIVELY inviting your prospects, customers, clients and influencers to comparison-shop your ad vs. their ad. Your listing vs. their listing. Your trade show booth vs. their trade show booth. 

And don't even get me started on trade show exhibiting. Unless you're in the top 5% of folks who TRULY know what they're doing, exhibiting at a trade show is nothing more than endless days of exhaustion, massive expense and being proactively ignored by people walking rapidly to the back of the exhibit center to get their bagel while working insanely hard to avoid eye contact with you and your staff at all costs. 

As I share in my small business marketing seminars, we're living in an ATTENTION economy. Meaning, first you must earn your prospect's attention. And only then do you get the chance to earn their money.

And these days, it's damn difficult to earn anyone's attention with a BIGGER ad, a BOLDER directory listing, or a SPLASHIER banner. 

Nobody cares. Truly. So give it up.

The expiration date on that strategy has come and gone like a bucket of old yogurt.

Today, you can save all that money and put it toward creating resources, tools and content that your target market will VALUE, will KEEP and will SHARE. 

Am I nuts? Is directory advertising still working for YOU? 

And then leave a comment below with your questions, thoughts, and advice on the ideas above.

Are you a DO IT freak? Welcome to the club!! Please use the social media buttons at the top of this post to share it with your network. YOU are a rock star!

Here's the problem for you:

• you have integrity
• you have smarts
• you have standards
• you have ethics
• you have conscientiousness
• you have detail orientation
• you have an innate desire to only deliver your best work

Why is any of this a problem? 

Because you're competing with idiots who have no hesitation to: 

• charge more (way more in some cases)
• deliver less (way less in MOST cases)
• shoot faster
• shoot more often
• brag and boast with nothing but hot air and smoke
• overpromise and package their offerings with more sizzle
• underdeliver but become brilliant at evasion and deceit
• game the system to win meaningless awards, garner inflated reviews, and continue to deceive the world that they are better than you.

Truth: they're not better than you at all. Not for a second.

But here's the rub: perception is reality.

Let me repeat that: perception IS reality.

You're fighting the wrong war.

• You're trying to win the wrong game
• You are who Google says you are
• Your clients see what your LinkedIn recommendations tell them to look for

You are really fighting a two-front war:

1. Managing the perceptions of you and your firm

2. Managing the reality of you and your firm

The fakers are better at FAKING it.

So you better be better at DELIVERING it.

For real. Every minute of every day.

If perception is reality, then the sooner you get busy changing your perception, the sooner your prospects and clients will appreciate your reality.

Keep it real, people.   

It's amazing to me how many professionals fall right into the marketing trap of overt self-promotion, pathetic begging, and self-commoditization. 

What am I talking about? 

I belong to several online forums, special interest sites and private message boards for organizations like the National Speakers Association and Vistage International, the world's largest CEO organization. 

At least weekly, there are requests for referrals to various types of speakers, consultants, coaches and training firms.

And sure as the sun goes around the moon, there are desperate goofballs who emerge from the murkiness and respond to these like hungry sharks chasing chum in bloody waters. Instead of positioning themselves as experts and giving the REFERRALS as asked, they see these as opportunities to play their favorite game of "Pick me! Pick me!"

Here is a recent example: 

===

I'm working with a client who needs a keynoter on growth (franchise-related, if possible). Can anyone recommend a fantastic and engaging executive-level speaker on this topic?

===

Response 1: I am a professional speaker with topics from communication, diversity & personal & business growth. My firm has grown 15% in the last year, so I have some insights into the topic. [Excerpted]

Response 2: We work extensively with franchise organizations on business growth, strategy, and marketing. I'd be happy to explore whether the vast body of knowledge we have about franchise growth in our industry might be adapted to your client. [Excerpted]

Response 3: I'm a former VP with Hilton Worldwide. Specifically for the Homewood Suites by Hilton brand. I played an integral role in helping double the Brand's size - from 75 properties to 150 - in a four year period. Not sure if the hospitality industry would be an optimal choice for your client, nonetheless I'd be happy to hear more about your client's needs to see if there's a fit. [Excerpted]

Response 4: There is a fantastic niche bureau in the franchise world run by my pal Katrina Mitchell - some of these folks are extremely well-versed in the franchise world: http://www.franchisespeakers.com/ Also T. Scott Gross would be a home run for this type of group as well - which is why he's among the folks Katrina works with!!

Response 5: I'm both a speaker and a retail franchise owner, so I may be a good fit if they are still looking. I'm a leadership keynoter who focuses on building trust in teams. I also own two franchises, and am in the process of expanding into a third. View my profile for more info if I can help.

===

I'll stop there only because to quote more of these people would make me nauseated. 

Lesson: There was only ONE "trusted advisor" answer in the whole bunch. Can you see which one it was? It was the one that gave the requester what she WANTED - namely, a REFERRAL and not a self-serving sales pitch. 

The definition of a trusted advisor is a professional who puts their client's interests before his or her own.

The folks who respond like #1, 2, 3, and 5 position themselves as PEDDLERS, not PARTNERS. 

Remember: Chasing Chum Makes You a Chump

Don't do it.

What's a smarter approach? There are three:

1. Ask one of your clients for whom you have done similar work to visit that forum and post an honest recommendation of your work. A third-party endorsement means a TON more than a self-serving sales pitch.

2. Take the conversation offline. Connect the referral requester with the person you'd like to refer (or if we're back to promoting yourself, then simply connect your past client with the requester's contact details and ask them to get in touch directly.)

3. Trade referrals and endorsements. This is one of my favorites - smarter than self-promotion and easier than connecting back with previous clients. Establish a trusted circle of 5-7 experts, consultants or professional services providers whose work you believe in and would gladly put your reputation behind. Offer to tee each other up regularly for opportunities like the one above. 

in my circle, for example, I have: 

• A women's leadership guru whose message focuses on women's sanity, confidence and fun
• A NY Times bestselling healthcare author and Hall of Fame speaker
• One of the nation's top experts on building sales culture
• A top-notch trainer on presentation skills (virtual and in-person)
• One of the funniest motivational humor speakers on the planet
• A networking and referral marketing expert in financial services
• A small business leadership expert, bestselling author and Hurricane Katrina survivor

Stop chasing chum and you'll stop looking like a chump.

Question: Who is in YOUR referral circle? Get busy and create yours today!

Please use the COMMENTS area below to share your referral and lead sharing advice, success stories and feedback.

Had a high-output day today after hearing my friend, personal productivity and goal achievement expert Michael Gidlewski present a seminar yesterday.

By the time you're done reading this post, you will get the secrets to create your OWN high-payoff productivity burst any time you wish.

But it takes more than wishing - it takes resolve and action. 

One hint - It is simple but not easy. 

Back to today. What made it so special? Imagine having a day where...

• You get IMPORTANT stuff done
• You have more FOCUS 
• You FEEL better about what you accomplished
• And you accomplish more of what really matters to you and your business

In fact, it's very possible I accomplished more today (Friday) than in the four prior days this week combined. 

After Michael's executive workshop, I got a better handle on what my key high-payoff activities TRULY were. I then put them on my calendar in specific time slots. And the screen that was under my nose all day was my CALENDAR, not my email INBOX.

Quick tips for you: 

1. Plan your day - what MUST get done and WHEN?

2. Chunk your day down into blocks and assign specific tasks to those blocks - Phone calls, emails, client tasks, whatever it is YOU want to do that will move you closer to your GOALS.

3. Keep that damn calendar under your nose. All day. Make it your default screen. Hide, minimize or (gasp) close your email until "check email" pops up on your calendar.

4. Make note of COMPLETING your high-payoff activities. Check them off your task list or change their color on your calendar so you have a visual roadmap of achievement for your day. 

So what's the big deal? What did I get done? 

• Coaching call with one of my awesome clients in Canada
• Answered LinkedIn request for conversation with new prospect **
• Followed up with FIVE key prospects who were in various stages of follow-up mode by sending high-value article on referrals
• Wrote this blog post
• Connected with my 2 co-presenters for the Magnetic Marketing Seminar (if you're near Philadelphia, you're invited - it's FREE.)
• Followed up with an editor of a financial publication about doing a podcast and speaking at several of their banking conferences over the coming year. 
• Took care of some financial nonsense which I've been procrastinating on for 2 weeks. (I hate that stuff, thus keeping my bookkeeper and my accountant profitably busy!)
• Made one important prospecting phone call (the only thing I hate more than financial detail work is using the phone.)
• Connected with my Vistage Chair to ask him an important favor. 
• Got a solid No from a prospect on the phone and ended the prospecting/sales process with her on a strong positive note. (Did I mention how much I hate the damn phone? Gotta use it, though...) 

All together, I had EIGHT high-payoff activities on my calendar and knocked all of them out before 3pm. Changed their colors, made follow-up notes, and felt great about the results of the day.  

** NOTE: You may have noticed that my second item was to respond to a LinkedIn request that came in via email. The reason I was able to do that was because of point #5 in this post - I did a "Money Pass" through my email inbox and the new prospect inquiry from LinkedIn QUALIFIED as a high-payoff activity so I proactively added it to my day in real-time. 

The short lesson is: Live Out of Your Calendar and NOT Out of Your Inbox!!

p.s. For a smart support system and specific tools on HOW to do precisely that, check out my pal Marsha Egan's awesome program called INBOX DETOX. 

p.p.s. If you'd like some personalized help - and your very own customized marketing and sales toolkit PLUS an easy-to-implement speaking-driven game plan for 90 days, book your free speaker strategy session here.

As a marketing speaker and marketing coach, I preach and teach and continually refine my own ability to stimulate more and better referrals in addition to helping my small business and professional services clients do the same. 

Although I am not a referral expert - check out my pal referral marketing expert Michael Goldberg for that - I am indeed a referral enthusiast. 

A client of mine - a consultant with a midsized firm - asked me a great referral question.

After reading this post, YOU will see where your own referral generation process may be stuck - and how to fix it. 

My client said to me, "David, I don't seem to have any problem generating referrals. In fact, my clients and colleagues are always very generous and forthcoming with referrals. The problem is not with QUANTITY - it is with QUALITY."

She went on, "No matter how successful my referral source may be, they seem to always refer me only to losers. I hate to say that - but you know what I mean. People who can't afford what we do, folks who are not decision-makers, or folks who for a variety of reasons are simply not the right fit."

Her question: "How can I get out of referral jail?"

Here are five ideas to help YOU get out of referral jail and put YOUR allies, advocates, friends and fans in the best and most likely position to refer you to the right people for the right reasons with the right fit. 

1. Ask for what you want. 

Be specific. "Business owners" is not specific. "IT managers" is not specific. "Front line salespeople" is not specific.

• "CEOs of 20-100 person companies in the food distribution industry in the Northeast US" is specific.
• "Female sales executives in the technology industry" is specific.
• "IT managers in Canadian call centers" is specific. 

Some of my clients also like to include a "phrase book" in their referral description. This means the phrases to listen for that indicate someone may be a good fit as a referral to you.

The WORST kind of referral request is, "I'll talk to anybody who needs [your product/service.]"

Stop making dumb referral requests and you'll stop getting dumb referrals.

2. Show them names, companies, and proof that you can make those people happy.

Let's face it - the reason people don't want to give you referrals is because they're putting their own relational capital (aka reputation) on the line. And that's risky.

If you can remove the risk of the referral, you will open the floodgates to getting more and better referrals for life. 

Hint: They won't believe YOU. They WILL believe your clients, past referrals, and people who have given you money and been thrilled to do so. 

Print up a sheet called "Referral Success Stories." Put in 5-7 specific referrals you've gotten over the last 12 months. Put in TWO kinds of quotes from both:

a. Clients who were referred and eventually hired you (Client success)
b. Your referral sources who are quoting how good they looked for making the referral (Referral success)

3. Tell them exactly what to say or send.

I hate to repeat myself so let me simply point out this post on the power of referral blurbs. Follow the templates given here to create your own referral blurb and START USING IT.

4. When a bad referral comes in, give some referral coaching.

When you get referred to a dud, diplomatically tell your referral source why it wasn't a great fit AND how they can tune their radar better next time.

Here's the template you can adapt to your own situation, style and tone. This is a delicate communication so you will want to re-word this carefully. Definitely not a cut-and-paste cookie cutter response but here's your starting point: 

===

Michelle,

I've kindly and gently turned down the opportunity to pursue a business relationship with [referral name.]

Too many red flags and especially after listening to his concerns, he's just not a good fit for us.

Thank you very much indeed for the referral - and in my book, it still counts. (EVERY referral counts no matter how it turns out!!)

If this causes you any strain in your relationship with [referral name] (and I doubt it will), please accept my apologies in advance.

For the record, his PROFILE was perfect - [DESCRIBE 2-3 ideal qualities about the referral.] The disconnect was in OUR FIT with his expectations and [lack of budget, lack of need, lack of authority, whatever was missing] -- two factors over which YOU had no control.

Always appreciate your advocacy, guidance and friendship.

-- David

===

5. Ask smart Referral-GIVING questions to generate smart Referral-GETTING answers. 

If you want to increase both the quality and quantity of your INCOMING referrals - the fastest way to do that is to increase your OWN track record of GIVING high-quality referrals. 

And to do so, you need to stop guessing and start targeting. 

Become a referral detective.

Learn to ask consultative questions of your current clients, vendors, partners, suppliers, friends, colleagues, and networking associates -- anyone to whom you wish to GIVE more targeted referrals. 

Your questions might include: 

1. Who is your best client and why?
2. How did they come to you? 
3. What situation were they in? 
4. What did they say or do to show interest? 
5. How could you tell they were a great fit? 
6. How have you tried to get more just like them? 
7. What should I be listening for? (Ask for details and specifics)
8. What's the DNA of a great prospect for you? (Ask for details and specifics)
9. What phrases, key words or problems should I be listening for on your behalf? 
10. What wants, needs, desires, and aspirations do your best clients have in common? (Ask for details and specifics)
11. What heartaches, headaches, obstacles and challenges do your best clients have in common? (Ask for details and specifics)
12. If I programmed my GPS to home in on perfect prospects for you, what would those settings look like? (Ask for details and specifics)