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6 Ways Others Can Promote Your Business

6 Ways Others Can Promote Your Business

How many times have friends, family and associates said "If there's anything I can do to help you, let me know"? How often have you said "Well, now that you mention it, there are a few things you could do"? If you're like most people, you aren't prepared to accept help at the moment it's offered. You let opportunity slip by because you haven't given enough thought to the kinds of help you need. You haven't made the connection between specific items or services you need and the people who can supply them. But when help is offered, it's to your advantage to be prepared and to respond by stating a specific need.

Don't let the next opportunity for others to help slip through your fingers! Being prepared with some simple requests can make a real difference in the success of your business. Systematic referral marketing requires that you determine, as precisely as possible, the type of help you want and need. There are many ways your sources can help you promote yourself and your business:

1. They can provide you with referrals. The kind of support you'd most like to get from your contacts is referrals--the names of specific individuals who need your products and services. They can also give prospects your name and number. As the number of referrals you receive increases, so does your potential for increasing the percentage of your business generated through referrals.

2. They can introduce you to prospects. Your contacts can help you build new relationships faster by introducing you in person to people they think need your products and services. Furthermore, they can provide you with key information about the prospect. They can also tell the prospect a few things about you, your business, how the two of you met, some of the things you and the prospect have in common, and the value of your products and services.

3. They can endorse your products and services. By telling others what they've gained from using your products or services in presentations or informal conversations, your sources can encourage others to use your products or services.

4. They can display your literature and products in their offices and homes. If these items are displayed well--such as on a counter or bulletin board in a waiting room--visitors will ask questions or read the information. Some may take your promotional materials and display them in other places, increasing your visibility.

5. They can distribute your information. Your contacts can help you distribute marketing materials. For instance, a dry cleaner might attach a coupon from the hair salon next door to each plastic bag he/she uses to cover customers' clothes. Including your flier in the middle of their newsletter is another idea.

6. They can publish information for you. Your contacts may be able to get information about you and your business printed in publications they subscribe to and in which they have some input or influence. For example, a source who belongs to an association that publishes a newsletter might help you get an article published or persuade the editor to run a story about you.

Keep this list with you and add to it as other needs occur to you. Knowing how to match your needs with the right sources is key to obtaining the type of help you need. But remember--it's a two-way street. These support activities are also things you can do to help your contacts promote their businesses and generate referrals. Helping your sources achieve their goals goes a long way toward building effective and rewarding relationships.

Finally, it's good practice to develop a list of ways to reward referral sources for helping you. Once a referral has become a customer, be sure to recognize and reward your source appropriately. Doing so encourages them to send you more referrals. Distinguish between tangible (e.g., cash) and intangible (e.g., a public thank-you) rewards. Estimate the cost, and set aside some money to pay for your recognition program. The key is to find a unique, memorable way to say "Thank you" and to encourage your colleagues and friends to keep sending you referrals that turn into business.

It may take a while, but if you've selected and trained your sources well, and if you use the system to its best advantage, you will speed up the process of turning the ever important referral into business.
________________________________________
Dr. Ivan Misner is the Founder and Chairman of BNI, the world's largest business networking organization, which has more than 4,600 chapters in 37 countries. Dr. Misner is also the author of several books, including the New York Times bestseller TRUTH OR DELUSION? (www.truthordelusion.com), and he is the Senior Partner for the Referral Institute (www.referralinstitute.com), a referral training company with operations around the world.





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Dave Kurlan
Dave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website

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David Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website

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With nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website

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Are your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website


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Ivan R. Misner
(Visit Ivan's Website) Dr. Ivan Misner is the Founder & Chairman of BNI, the world’s largest business networking organization. BNI was founded in 1985 and has thousands of chapters throughout every populated continent of the world. Each year, BNI generates millions of referrals resulting in billions of U.S. dollars’ worth of business for its members. Dr. Misner’s Ph.D. is from the University of Southern California. He has written ten books, including his latest bestsellers; The 29% Solution, Masters of Sales, and Truth or Delusion? Busting Networking’s Biggest Myths. He is a monthly columnist for Entrepreneur.com and is the Senior Partner for the Referral Institute – a referral training company with trainers around the world. In addition, he is an esteemed member of the iLearningGlobal.tv faculty and has taught business management and social capital courses at several universities throughout the United States. Called the “Father of Modern Networking” by CNN and the “Networking Guru” by Entrepreneur magazine, Dr. Misner is considered to be one of the world’s leading experts on business networking and has been a keynote speaker for major corporations and associations worldwide.

Ivan R. Misner is a Platinum author on EvanCarmichael.com
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