Word-of-Mouth referral is the most powerful tool in business. It’s better than advertising for numerous reasons: it’s free, it has higher credibility (as prospects are hearing it from people they trust), and it has the power to “snowball” and gain momentum. When enough people talk about you all at once, you’ll have more leads than you can handle.
Here are some simple ways to get the ball rolling:
Social media is a form of word-of-mouth referral. Consider, for example, what happens when you like or follow a post: the algorithm will give you future updates whenever similar content, from the same person, is created.
Perhaps more importantly, people share posts – and these are more powerful than simple ads. When a friend or relative shares a post, this tells the reader the content is curated – someone they respect or trust is indirectly “verifying” the content, thus giving it a higher level of trust.
This makes social media one of your most powerful tools, in creating word-of-mouth referrals. Be active and talk about your job, what you’ve done for clients, even pitching in to like and follow your clients.
To amplify this effect, don’t just give your phone number and name cards. Ask if your prospect will like you on social media, so you can contact them later. This has two advantages:
First, people are more willing to give you a like or subscribe than to give a personal phone number: it feels much less intrusive.
Second, if they do like your posts, they will constantly be updated on what you’re doing. You won’t just become an unused phone number, languishing in their address book.
When was the last time you noticeably lauded a client’s achievements, or helped to promote them?
Consider a simple scenario: your client has a side-business in home baking, and has just made her 500th sale. You could drop them a message saying “congratulations”, and that would be nice.
But what if you put in more effort, and made a longer post (blog post, short TikTok, etc.)? For example, make a series on “attaining success”, and include an interview with the aforementioned client.
If you’re sharing news of their successful business, they’re quite likely to repost your content with a kind word. And just like that, they’ve given you the equivalent of word-of-mouth endorsement on their own page.
If you want word-of-mouth and client advocacy (i.e, your clients promote you by talking about you), making the occasional post doesn’t cut it.
You need to stay in touch: respond to clients when they comment on your posts, and initiate the conversation if they’re quiet. You should have a dedicated process in play; for example, make it a point to set aside one to two hours a day, for social media work or other client interaction (e.g., volunteer work in the same community club as a client or two).
Word-of-mouth marketing requires genuine relationships – you cannot expect to start interacting during sales seasons when you want results, and then just ignore everyone afterward.
If you tell your clients to just “refer you”, they’ll probably just tell others things like: “Hey, this is my financial advisor”, or “this is the person who sold me my house,” and so forth.
While that’s still word-of-mouth, you can make it more effective by suggesting how you want your clients to refer to you. For example:
The goal is for your client to say something like “This is the person who helped me save up for my house”, or something equally impactful. Doing so helps to position you as a trustworthy expert, in a particular area.
Incidentally, you may notice that some businesses do this when you make phone calls; this is why the phone operator often says things like “I’m referring you to our leading expert in (whatever service you’re looking for)”.
Most people will feel happy they’re talking to “the right person”, even if they actually have no way to verify it!
It’s quite common to ask clients what they like about you, in order to get good testimonials.
However, you can sometimes turn clients into powerful advocates, by reversing the equation: tell your clients what you like about them. For example, you could say things like:
This affirms that both you and the client are on the same page, or have the same overall view on the situation. Besides building a bond, clients become more likely to refer you to others, as they’ll differentiate you from the mass of salespeople they meet (remember: the more you appreciate others, the more they’ll appreciate you).
All of these methods require some extra effort; you need to think of ways to weave these into your conversations and social media practices. Keep doing it though, and in time it will become second nature. For more hands-on guidance and mentorship, drop us a note; we help people of all experience levels find a head start in Singapore’s thriving finance industry.
