By Derek R. Iannelli-Smith, IT Strategist, Progressive Integrations, Inc.,

This article was first published by ACRBO.  I am continuing a series based upon a couple of observations.

1. Our group (ACRBO) is hungry for marketing ideas.

2. The current trend of looking for the quick fix and watch the $ come rolling in has to be dispelled.

In my last article, I outlined some basics on getting started; don’t even start on this article if you have not completed the basics outlined previously. Moving on…

Your best business marketing is through referrals. Let me say that again, your best business marketing is through referrals. If you’re not getting referral business, then you’re going to get stuck with break/fix for the rest of your life – which as you know is short-lived.

What are some ways to do/participate in referral marketing?

1. Have your techs take a ‘Feedback Form’ on site for EVERY service call and give it to the client before you start working. I learned this from Robin Robbins. If you already gave one to a client, you obviously don’t have to continue to give them one (I realized I needed to say this due to the ‘ASSUME’ rule). Here is the exchange I usually have with my client who has not filled out a ‘Feedback Form.’ “Before I get started I have a couple of items I need to hand off to you and I would like them before I finish today. Thank you for doing that.” That’s it. Oh, and of course you have to ask for it when you leave. My feedback form is a one-page with 4 questions, and they sign it with a statement that also releases their feedback for my marketing.

Why did I adopt this?

    a. Emailing them a form resulted in never getting response.

    b. Having a feedback form on my website has only generated ONE testimony in 4 years.

    c. When I handed it to them and said, “You can get it back however you like”, I never got it either.

If you would like a copy of my feedback form that I R&D (robbed and duplicated from someone else) e-mail me.

2. Take those testimonials immediately and edit them (also from RR), and email the client with something like this: “Thank you for taking the time today to fill out our feedback form, I have taken your feedback and edited it for our testimony archive. Please take a look at this and if it is good to go, and you have no problems with us sharing this testimony in our marketing, reply to this message with “OK”.

Why did I adopt this?

    a. If you don’t immediately do this, it is NOT fresh in anyone’s mind, and folks may change things. By immediately editing it, and sending it off, it is fresh in everyone’s mind and is another opportunity to ‘touch’ your client and say thank you for business.

    b. People like to be published. I put these testimonies in all our newsletters, on our website, etc. It has been amazing to me to hear from my client’s things like, “I saw XXXX in the newsletter; I never knew they were a client of yours…” or “It was cool to see me in your newsletter this month, thank you.”

    c. I keep a Word doc titled, “Testimonials” which houses all these testimonials in one place. When a client asks for references or I am producing new marketing material, I have it in one place. I have 4-pages of them currently and want more!

3. Offer incentives to your current clients to refer folks. Because word-of-mouth (referral) marketing is the most powerful marketing technique, soliciting your current satisfied clients to participate in ‘spreading the word’ becomes a win-win situation. Here are some ideas I have used for my MSP clients in their monthly executive summaries;

    a. “Remember, if you refer a client to us; make sure they know to tell us you sent them as we want to thank you for your confidence in us. If the referral turns into a billable invoice or MSP client, then you get 1 free month of service! “

    b. “We want to thank you for your confidence in us, and the top referring clients this month were: XXXXXXXX” (again capitalizing on the 2b above) and it doesn’t cost anything!

    c. One area I need to get better on is educating my clients to what it is I do besides what I do for them so they can tell others. This is something I am always working on.

Why did I adopt this?

    a. Bottom line and most importantly – a satisfied and low maintenance client refer satisfied and low maintenance clients.

    b. Your clients become your sales force. I would love to be able to afford a sales/account manager person; the reality is you have to grow your business to get to this place.

4. Get involved with BNI. I have heard objections from other business model friends (“Meeting every week is hard for me…” “It’s too expensive…”, “I don’t know these people, so I am not going to refer them to my current clients…”

Handling those objections

    a. “Meeting every week is hard for me.” – If you had a client that called you today and said, I want you to come every week at XX time and spend an hour here doing XX, what would you say? Exactly! We make time for things that are important to us. Meeting every week is hard for you because you don’t see the value of weekly meeting (an opportunity to pitch your business, getting last week’s referrals, and networking ), the meetings last 1 hour plus travel time. The price I pay for 30 minute travel time both ways and the 1-hour meeting with the referrals I have received, have more than compensated for my time.

    b. “It’s too expensive” – so is not having any business – Application fee is $100, and yearly membership is $365 ($1 per day). It is a business expense – write it off. In my case, I told my boss if they sprang for the membership I would pay for the lunches and one-on-one meetings (Boss: $465 – Me: $720). Set a goal to work the BNI system to obtain the ROI on your membership. I have been a part of BNI for two months, and already my membership from Tier 1 (when the members use your services) referrals have already paid the membership price. My particular group also has its meeting at lunch (I am going to be eating lunch anyway so this is an added cost – figure it into your ROI goals) In my particular group we have 19 members, it is ‘expensive’ for me NOT to show up or do one-on-one meetings. I jeopardize the 19 guaranteed and accountable ‘sales’ folks from assisting me with Tier 2 (outside referrals that are possibly repeat business).

    c. “I don’t know these people, so I am not going to refer them to my current clients…” or “I already have a network of these business professionals that I would refer that I have developed over time” – Imagine if the other BNI partners coped that same attitude about your business? The referral system would not work. So you already have a real-estate agent you like (or you put your non BNI member professional in the example), is he/she referring business to you on an active, accountable, and systematic basis – probably not. If you do, be a true friend and invite them to your group. Are you actively working for your referral buddy, the one NOT in BNI (your lame objection) on a weekly accountable, consistent, and systematic basis – probably not. The main motto of BNI is “Givers Gain” which means you’re going to have to take your eyes off yourself, take a risk and refer your fellow BNI partners for things. The risk is that maybe ‘they’ don’t operate like you do in business? Believe me; if that is the case they will not last long in your group. My second week in my group, after being spoken to by our leadership team, one of the members apologized to the rest of the members for not following up on referrals and doing his part in referring others. A powerful moment for me in that it showed that there was a level of accountability with this network. So how do I refer besides keeping my ears open and piggy back with what I am already doing, in my case, I already have a marketing packet I give to new clients, now it is filled with the professional literature of my other BNI partners too. It provides a great ‘Welcome’ packet with reputable business partners in the area in one place and it is an added-value service my clients have responded well to. Further, when I have a one-on-one meeting with another BNI member, I do a social media posting (blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter) about their business and how we know them. This is another easy way I am able to advertise to my existing clients, future clients, and to reinforce the relationships with my BNI partners. We call it ‘back-linking’ when it is really all about referrals.

Why did I adopt this?

    a. I got tired of the Chamber, Facebook groups, etc. touting referral business when in actuality it was ‘Happy Hour’ while competing with the other computer repair/MSP businesses in the area. BNI only allows 1 profession in an industry in each group. For instance of the 9 groups in my area, when I joined there was only 2 groups that had an opening for an IT guy. That means the other 7 groups have BNI members referring business for them. I like the ‘hook’ that BNI makes about this – “join before your competition does”

    b. I personally needed accountability when it came to marketing efforts. Let’s face it, we are busy as techs (break/fix, service contracts, MSP, vendor management, etc.), and finding time to do marketing on a regular and consistent basis is hard. I currently send out 2 newsletter (one of the methods I market) each month and I have to do it ‘after hours’ most of the time because my days are packed. Being accountable to my BNI group each week has me pitching to my group at least 2x per week (weekly meeting and a one-on-one meeting with another BNI member) which means I intentionally market my business 2x per week in person (very important).

    c. I get to learn about other businesses in the area. If I did not have this BNI group experience I would not have known that painters, landscapers, handy men, real estate brokers, etc. rely heavily on their technology working to make their business work. They get viruses, need backup, and new workstations, iPad’s, and smartphones just like everyone else. Having these experiences also helps me talk to other similar businesses in the area and be able to intelligently and professionally without sounding like a dork.

    d. My BNI group is mentoring me. I get regular feedback from my BNI group on my marketing efforts and they want to help me succeed, why? Because I am not competing with them. I have learned how to pitch my business in 60-seconds by having value added propositions that BNI calls ‘LCD’ – lowest common denominator. I have learned how to talk to folks (let’s face it most techs have the personality of a whale booger – much less can they hold a conversation with someone other than another geek). I have learned to refine my presentations through 10-minute presentations of others and having to do it myself (July 12^th is my first). I am also reading the material they gave me. About 50% of even the BNI members I have talked to so far, don’t read the books or material, thus not getting full benefit of the referral system – sounds like some of the techs and end-users I know. Again, I will read it because it is available and most of the time it is telling me pitfalls others have had and how to avoid them. I have been devouring podcasts, reading articles, and will be getting some more books than the ones I received in my orientation class.