Marketing Alchemy

We love customers. There’s always room to add new customers and get the opportunity to prove our value to them. We’re just as delighted when existing customers choose to increase the amount of each sale or the frequency of purchases made.

We’re ecstatic when customers tell their friends about us. It’s the ultimate compliment to have your customers telling their friends about your business. Word of mouth referrals have a very high perceived value.

Leveraging the power of 10s involves referrals. Your happiest customers are more likely to tell their friends about your business. When we talk to customers about referrals, we find that each customer typically recommends a specific business to 10 of their friends. If we can delight each customer, we stand a good chance of having that customer tell 10 people about our business.

Ten delighted customers means the name of our business is favorably positioned in front of 100 people. The graphic at the top illustrates how one person, represented by the number 1, can influence 10 of their friends. Each one of those 10 friends can influence 10 of their friends. Simple math: 10 times 10 equals 100. One customer could produce hundred(s) of customers.

Marketers work dilligently to develop clever and creative ways to get referrals. Some programs are designed to “tell-a-friend” through email links or social networking. Some marketing programs offer a financial incentive to the customer and to their friend. Sites can offer services in return for potential customers.

An example would be services that allow you to post your photos online. We know it costs money for these services to write the software and provide the infrastructure to post all your photos in galleries. Each time you invite a friend or family member to share your gallery, it’s an opportunity for the photo services to sell prints. Their business model depends on having a portion of your friends and family members decide to purchase prints. You’ve “referred” your friends and family to this online service by sending out the link showing your photos. Weddings, new babies, life events and family provide plenty of opportunities to leverage those links to a wider network.

We believe the real power is in a strong referral. We’ll try a new restaurant based on the recommendation of our food loving friends. We’ll hire a contractor based on referrals and recommendations. Even our choice of financial consultants, insurance agents, healthcare professionals and dog sitters are based on recommendations.

By making customers happy, we build a profitable and pleasurable relationship with each one of our customers. By making our customers delighted, we gain tens and hundreds of new customers through referrals and recommendations.

What are you doing to leverage the power of 10s in your business today?

I’m listening to Internet radio from Paris - one of my favorite stations with a playlist whose mood matches the time of day in Paris.  There are no commercials to interrupt the Brazilian jazz during the quieter times of the day/evening and the trance/dance beat during the livelier times.

I’m not listening to radio commercials.  The advertisers who use radio and expect me to be an alert listener aren’t getting my attention right now. I may be a target for their products, but I’m not available for their message.

Marketing depends on a synergy of things all converging in the same place and time. It’s reaching the right prospect with the right message at the right time. Marketing requires making enough of an impression (or cumulative impressions) to get results.

Once we have someone’s attention, we need to make the product or service the consumer wants available and offer it at the “right” price to cause action. In addition, Marketing requires that we make sure that the customer lifecycle is watched closely and each entry point of the lifecycle has marketing designed for results.

There are only four ways to increase the sales of any company. The first is to add new customers (or clients). Second, is to increase the amount of the average sale. Third, is to increase the frequency of purchase. And, last is the referral value of a customer.

Will your customers tell their friends about your products or your company? Viral marketing is a way to leverage the power of 10s. More about that later.