Word of Mouth via Taxi

How often do business people tend to try to reach new customers by spending large amounts of time and money on new ad and marketing campaigns, when the best new customers can come from those who are a part of your contact sphere professions?

A contact sphere, as defined by Dr. Ivan Misner, are those professions who are related to yours but do not compete directly with you in which you share the same pool of clients or resources. (For example, a mortgage broker's Contact Sphere includes a real estate agent, property & casualty insurance agent, a home inspector, an appraiser, electrician, interior designer, etc.)

Many times people can identify the obvious contact sphere professions, but often times there are many that are overlooked. Here's a great example of this:

I was reading this article on USA today back in April about Las Vegas headline acts and the opening paragraph stood out to me:

"Since 2005, Barry Manilow has set up camp for extended runs at the Las Vegas Hilton, where he has drawn crowds for months on end. How does he do it?"

"Taxi drivers' word of mouth," Manilow quips. Actually, he's not kidding. Before launching his Manilow: Music and Passion show, the crooner put on a free performance for hotel employees and … cabbies. No fool he!"


Now when thinking of an international superstar performer/musician/singer/songwriter, one normally wouldn't expect taxi drivers and hotel workers to be a part of his contact sphere. But they are!

As the article details and suggests, Manilow knew that tourists almost always ask taxi drivers and hotel workers for recommendations for shows, restaurants, etc. He identified them as sources who can drive the business to him (literally and figuratively). If he wanted people to come to see his show, he needed to convince the sources that it was worth seeing. No wonder why Manilow's show, "Music and Passion" has been consistently sold out since it started in 2005 and he's been extended until 2010!

Who are the "not-so-obvious" sources for your business? I have advised financial advisors that their contact spheres should include the dance school instructor/owner, the day spa owner, the landscaper and the dry cleaner. Why? Because those professions cater to clients that are part of a demographic sought after by the financial advisor.


Stop and think about the not-so-obvious referral sources and begin your plan of action to reach out to them.

Word of mouth travels by taxi, or boat, or plane, or Internet, and of course by people.

The question is, what are you doing to drive it to you?

I Refuse to Participate in a Recession...And I Will Create Prosperity For Others and Myself

I forgot to mention that Dr. Ivan Misner and I collaborated on what is the lead story for the May 2008 edition of SuccessNet. Both Ivan and I have been getting many reactions (both positive and negative -- but more positive!) Please read it and leave me your feedback.

It's also the basis of a workshop that I am presenting to various businesses and organizations.

On Taxes and the Internet

Well, the sages in the press are claiming that it's the end of internet shopping as we know it.  New York State has (quietly) passed a new law that went into effect on 4/23/08 which requires online merchants to collect New York State sales tax from anyone who purchases anything on the internet -- even if the merchant does not have a physical presence in New York but has affiliates in the state.

The new law, nicknamed by the press as the "Amazon Law", has had another effect on the small business owner:  Overstock.com has terminated all of their relationships with their New York affiliates so that they will not be required to collect the sales tax.  

As someone who is an affiliate with  Amazon and who was an Overstock affiliate, it bothers me to no end that this law (which was another  brilliant idea left-over from the disgraced Elliot Spitzer administration) was passed with little reporting from the New York press until Overstock decided to dump their affiliates and Amazon, to their credit, filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court against the State, the Governor and also New York State Tax Department.

This new law has reaches beyond New York State.  The Associated Press has reported that 

 Chicago is now suing eBay and StubHub for taxes that were not collected on tickets sold for concerts and other events held in Chicago.  The same story also reports that Chicago is also suing companies like Hotels.com for not collecting the taxes on reservations for bookings in Chicago.  Also, Texas is contemplating suing Amazon in the wake of the New York legislation.

Now while I am in no way advocating that people should avoid paying taxes, what I am concerned (and annoyed) about is that the small business person, is once again, getting screwed and in some cases, will be put out of business.   Affiliate income from places like Amazon and Overstock, can play an important role in a small business person's bottom line.   Moreover, I am very concerned about how the State can completely ignore a US Supreme Court ruling from 1992 which prohibits the state to force the collection of a sales tax unless the business has a presence in the state  I am equally concerned about the "knee jerk" reaction from Overstock to dump their affiliates.

An online affiliate is an independent contractor, not an agent or employee the company it represents. They get no vacation time, benefits, or any form of salary from the company that is represented by the affiliate they get a 1099 form each year and pay taxes on the income that is generated by the affiliate's ads on their websites.

The problem that I have is that the affiliate's website is hosted somewhere in Cyberspace.   My websites are hosted not only in different states but perhaps in different countries as well on many different servers.   If one of my ads is seen by someone in Wisconsin, why should New York get any revenue in the form of a sales tax

 

So to all New York business people: contact your local Chamber of Commerce as well as your elected representatives and insist that they lobby for the rescinding of this law.  

I'm also waiting for a brilliant tax attorney to file a class action lawsuit against the state on behalf of those affiliates who the state has now either put out of business or have interfered with the revenue stream.

More on this story as it develops

Helping Hands

On Monday morning, I was heading into restaurant to conduct a BNI training in one of their private rooms. It was raining and slippery and my hands were full of boxes with training materials.

A gentleman, who had just came of the restaurant, turned around, and opened and held the door for me.

"Thank you very much, " I said.

He said "God gave us two hands for a reason: one for our use and another to help someone. Have a great day!" And off he went.

I stood in the entrance for a second and thought about what he said. It's amazing how something as simple as holding the door for someone whose hands are full, can have an impact on a person's day or even life.

Next time when I see someone struggling, I'll remember the words of that stranger and instead, offer my free hand to help somone else. I know it will come back to me at some point in the future.

That's truly what Givers Gain is all about.

Are your Samples worth Sampling?

I was recently at a Panera Bread to enjoy a rare 30 minutes of free time during my day. I noticed that they introduced a new breakfast sandwich which I decided to try with a nice cafe mocha. It looked great in their ad and looked (and tasted) equally as nice when my order was delivered.

As I was finishing up with my meal, one of the employees came around offering samples to the patrons sitting at tables. It turned out to be a sample of the same sandwich that I ordered and just finished eating. I politely declined but I did look at how it looked on the tray and noticed that it looked identical to my sandwich and their ads. Not only that, but the lady who was coming around knew all about the product right down to the number of calories, allergy information (such as if it contained or was made near anything that contained allergic ingredients such as peanuts), and even described it in an appealing manner.

Contrast that to my experience at Costco a few days ago.

As almost all Costco members know, there times during the day when they have people hired by an outside company, whose job is to offer samples of whatever new or special product they are pushing. These folks are easily recognized by their trademark hairnets, green aprons and white shirts. They stand behind rolling carts, some have a microwave on it while others just have the product. They cook, cut, scoop and otherwise just "throw" these samples on small, white cocktail napkins. Because people are naturally attracted to "free stuff", they tend to draw vast lines, (but I always have to wait for another batch to be prepared by the time I get to the front of the line).

Sometimes these samples look horrible. It looks nothing like what is on the box or bag it comes . Nor do the people offering these samples have enough knowledge about the product. For example, whenever I've asked any of these sample people some specifics about their product, I always get answers like "they're very good" or "this is delicious" or "these are in the frozen food aisle next to the frozen shrimp".

Every once in a while, a special vendor brings in their own "sample staff" to promote their specific product. While at Costco, one vendor was promoting their new line of sausages and meatballs. They had a vibrant, excited group of demonstrators who made you want to try all of their samples. They were presented nicely and the people doing the demonstrations looked like they were having fun compared to the other sample people who are at Costco each and every week. I even noticed a few "evil eyes" being cast towards the sausage vendor's staff because they were attracting more folks than the others.

If your business offer samples of its products or services to potential and existing customers, it must be consistent. If you're a baker and are allowing the public to try your chocolate chip cookies before they by, please try them yourself before you put them out. Make sure whoever is doing your promotions knows about your product/service and your business. Don't just give them a tray with food or some pens or whatever it is you're promoting and throw them to the lions (i.e. the potential customers). Granted there will be freeloaders who will want anything you put out because it's free, but your job at this point is to create a "want" so that they buy from you. After all, you can have the best product in the world but if that want isn't there, then you're not going to make money.

There's the old saying: "you can lead a horse to water but can't make him drink." Someone once added the following phrase: "....unless you know what makes him thirsty." I agree. If you're going to offer samples to "make them thirsty" please make them worth sampling, otherwise you may find your business dying of thirst.

I Agree to Create Prosperity -- Even in a Recessson!

Dr. Ivan Misner has written an excellent post on his Blog, Networking Now called "I Absolutlely Refuse to Participate in a Recession!" The story in this post was originally published several years ago in Dr. Misner's Book The World's Best Known Marketing Secret but has been updated to reflect and respond to the current economic conditions.

One of the comments that Dr. Misner wrote struck a cord with me. He said:

"While you cannot control the economy or your competition, you can control your response to the economy. Referrals can keep your business alive and well during an economic downturn. During the last recession, I watched thousands of businesspeople grow and prosper. They were successful because they consciously made the decision to refuse to participate in a recession. They did so by developing their networking skills and learning how to build their
business through word of mouth."

After reading these comments, I made an affirmation to tack on to Ivan's: I Refuse to Participate in A Recession AND I Agree to Create Prosperity For Others and Myself!

Building on Ivan's comments, networking and referrals are essential keys to surviving an economic downtown (as the political pundits are calling our current economic state). I came up with several, simple ways to create Prosperity for You and Others even in a Recession that I have now developed into a workshop for businesspeople.

I'd like to share with you three ideas that are taken from this workshop:

1. Restart a Relationship With Old Referrals Sources: Ideally, your business should be in constant contact with your referral sources, but there will be times when, for some reason, an old referral source may have stopped referring to you or you may have stopped referring to them. It doesn't necessarily had to have been over a negative experience. Perhaps you or they were "out of sight" and thus "out of mind". Go back and look at your old referral sources and make contact with them. Send them a letter, make a phone call, offer to take them to lunch or dinner in order to restart the relationship.

One of the easiest ways to get their attention is to send them a greeting card. Using a great busines tool such as SendOutCards.com makes this easy. I'm willing to help you get started in reestablishing a relationship by providing you with a FREE GIFT ACCOUNT to send a few cards that you can customize and send via US Mail. (After they receive a card, I'd like to hear your feedback on how this worked. Click here to contact me)

2. Get A Referral For The Giver, From The Prospect that THEY referred to You: All too often, someone referred a prospect to you (the Giver). The prospect became your client. You did a great job for them. They are happy, your source (the Giver) received great feeback about the experience and you made money. That's nice for you. but what about The Giver of that referral? What if there was a way for you to get the Prospect to refer business to the Giver and you?

To generate more referrals from a prospect that was referred to you, you need to start laying the foundation for future referrals from the minute you first meet them by doing the following:

a) Focus on and acknowledge the source of the referral (The Giver) by talking highly of The Giver in your first meeting with the Prospect. After all, The Giver referred the prospect to YOU. Now your job is to place The Giver high enough on a pedestal so that there is credibility and confidence in the eyes and to the ears of the Prospect that The Giver did the "right thing" by referring the prospect to you.

b) Talk about the Giver's services/product to the Prospect before you talk about your own. In advance of the meeting with the Prospect, talk to the Giver and ask them "What should I say to the Prospect about YOU?" The reason to ask this question is that sometimes, the prospect knows The Giver from another aspect of life. The Giver may the coach of a baseball team and the Prospects are the parents of one of the kids on the team; maybe The Giver is belongs to a local organization and the Prospect only knows The Giver in that light and doesn't really know what they do for a living or how they can be helped. Maybe the Prospect is already a client of The Giver but The Giver doesn't want to "hard sell" them on a new product or service. A third-party testimonial by You to the Prospect may help them to contact The Giver to either buy the product or to refer someone to them.

You are planting the seeds so that the Prospect starts thinking outside of the transaction he/she will have with you. You are seeking to create a win-win-win situation for all of the people involved: The Giver, The Prospect and You (The Receiver)

3. Seek Referrals From Your Current and Former Clients for You and Your Referral Partners: Seems simple, right? Yet so many business people are too focused on getting newer clients that they forget about the old ones as valuable sources of referrals. There's absolutely nothing wrong with seeking referrals from your current and former clients - provided that you have established a good relationship with them.

You don't want to ask for referrals immediately during the sales process or right after the sale because that will turn people off. You don't want to pressure them by using the old, outdated technique of telling them to "refer three people who can use my services" because, quite frankly, it turns people off and puts undue pressure on them.

As you develop the relationship with your client/customer/patient, you should make reference to the fact that you prefer to deal with people that are referred to you by satisfied customers/clients/patients. Show them testimonial letters and thank-you notes from others who have referred business to you or were referred to you. Third-party testimonials not only help you to establish additional visibility and credibility, but they also act as a catalyst for your prospects to refer you business. It's the concept of Social Proof that Donald Trump and others use which I wrote about in my contribution to Masters of Sales

To get referrals for your referral partners from your existing and former client base can be done in a simple way. When I opened my consulting practice in 1996, I sent letter to my clients and everyone who I had a relationship with which basically said that I know people who offered the following services. After I listed them, I told my contacts that if they ever needed the services of one of these professionals, please contact me for a personal introduction.

Many people did and that, in turn, helped me to develop referrals for my referral partners. What ended up happening in many cases is that not only did I get a referral for people I did business with, but also for myself. I became known as the "go-to guy" to many people because I had the connections. When the need arose for my services, the people I was marketing too (or their referrals) hired me because I helped them to solve a problem or to find a service which was unrelated to mine.

These three simple techniques that I have shared should help you to realize that you always have the ability to create prosperity for yourself and others (and you don't need to wait a for a recession to do so). The dividends it pays to you and to others are priceless not just in terms of money, but in the satisfaction you will get knowing you helped someone to get what they want or need, but also from the relationships (new and old) that are improved. This is what Giver's Gain is all about.

Latte Listening: Now being used at a Starbucks or coffee shop near you!

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a Starbucks, in between appointments. While checking my email, I couldn't help but eavesdrop on a few conversations that were taking place around me. The conversations ranged from someone who was just dumped by a significant other, to another person complaining about the weather. But it was the third conversation that captured my interest.

There were two women engaged in a very lively (and somewhat loud) discussion. After listening for a few moments, I deduced that one owned her own business while the other's husband was laid off from his job, last week. The business owner (I'll call her Mary), was explaining what COBRA was to her friend (I'll call her Jane) and how the costs are astronomical these days for basic health insurance. Mary was complaining to Jane that to cover her employees, under a basic health care plan, costs her in excess of $4,000.0 a month. When Jane asked if Mary's insurance carrier would issue a policy to a non-company, Mary said she "doubted it".

Jane just kept going on how they needed to coverage because of the two kids. Mary's was trying to tell Jane that the solution would eventually come about when Jane's husband got a new job. She even encouraged Jane to tell her husband to get a job at Starbucks since they offer health coverage to their employees. Jane's husband could still try to seek employment but at least the benefits would be there. Jane basically said that she could not wait that long and that her husband, would never do such a thing because "he's a professional" and "wouldn't stoop that low".

What amazes me is that these two women, just bantered about, complaining about things but yet did not have a solution-focused approach to resolving not one, but two problems: 1) coverage for Jane and her family and 2) lower premiums for Mary's company.

I couldn't help to stop by on my way out. I apologized for intruding, and explained that I couldn't help but overhear their conversation. I went on to explain that I may have a solution for the both of them. I asked if they would like to be introduced to a colleague of mine whose insurance company provided coverage at extremely competitive prices and they also covered individuals and families as a "group of 1". Jane's expression went from depressed to full of hope. Mary too was intrigued as to who this person was that may be able to help her lower her monthly costs.

I asked for their information and immediately called one of my BNI members with the referral. I put them on the phone with him so that they could schedule an appointment. They did and thanked me for my assistance.

Later that week,I heard from Jane who gave a glowing testimonial about the person I referred her to. I didn't however, hear anything from Mary. Curious, I emailed the health insurance rep and within 3 minutes of sending that email, the door bell rang.

I walked to my door to find a big fresh-fruit arrangement from the health-care rep, thanking me for the referral for both ladies. I went back and called this person and he told me that he signed up both of them and that Mary also referred him two other business owners who he was meeting with this week.

So should I be mad at Mary for not reaching out to even communicate or thank me? Probably not. I was not fully visible to her. I was just some nosy guy doing some "latte" listening while drinking coffee at Starbucks who later but into her conversation. I didn't have any visibility let alone credibility with her. (Still some should say she should have had better manners).

Looking at the bigger picture, I realize that what I call latte listening works very well -- provided of course that you do more than just listen. Growing up, our parents told us never to talk to strangers and that it was impolite to eavesdrop. As business people, we need to talk to strangers and it can be as simple as doing some "latte listening" at a local coffeehouse. (OK if you don't like lattes, substitute your favorite drink, food or activity). We are surrounded by opportunities to help people to resolve problems, and at the same time, make money for others and ourselves. It's just a matter of moving out of the comfort zone that we are in and taking action.