Give Some Love, Make More Profit!

Give Some Love, Make More Profit!

Hi, there

I’ve come across this article that was e-mailed to me this morning – all about “Word of Mouth” marketing and building relationships. Happy reading…

Regards,
M.

P.S. Its by Brian Walsh from entrepreneur.co.za

Today I want to talk aboutrelationship and word of mouth marketing. Since I started researching and presenting Master Marketer, I have realised that most entrepreneurs use word of mouth as their primary means of marketing. The thing is that word of mouth happens (both in the negative and the positive) even if you are not actively working at it. And many entrepreneurs are so involved with selling that they forget about how important relationship-building is, and the impact word of mouth has, whether positive or negative. So I thought I would share a simple principle with you today.

The quality of your relationships is directly related to the success, or lack of success, of your business. It is essential to understand these relationships, and work hard at ensuring you develop and maintain the best possible relationships. This relates to your suppliers, your staff and your clients. The big mistake that many entrepreneurs make is to focus only on pushing a sale through, and thereafter, not being too concerned about these clients at all. This is such a short-sighted approach with potentially far-reaching, detrimental effects for your business.

There are three primary stages of building relationships with people, including clients. Let me explain these:

1. The first stage is initial contact where we have the opportunity to attract a client.
2. Next comes the rapport stage, which is where we establish a common ground conducive to making the client want to buy from us. (These first two stages are what most entrepreneurs focus on, although many don't fully understand the rapport concept.)
3. The third stage is arguably the most important. It is the trust stage, and this is often not effectively pursued by many entrepreneurs. This stage can usually only really develop after a client has made an initial ‘test’ purchase from you - it is once you’ve proven the value you offer via your product, service or both, that the trust stage can unfold fully. Once trust is established, clients will be likely to come back for more purchases, and refer others to you. This stage is what can really separate successful entrepreneurs from the many who continue to struggle.

I refer to this trust stage as giving some love. When we act with love, people sense that we care about what we are doing, the quality of the product or service we’re selling, about the outcome of customer satisfaction, and they sense that they can trust us. When you concentrate only on pushing a sale through, consider that you are doing serious damage by not evolving your relationships to the trust stage –it is during the trust stage that clients become loyal supporters bringing regular business, and spreading positive word of mouth. Think about it...and then go and give some love.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Brian Walsh
Founder and CEO of Entrepreneur.co.za