I’m often asked about how to best generate referrals and develop word of mouth for those who are running their businesses out of their homes. Let me start out by stating that I ran two home-based businesses for many years. Working from home has its own unique rewards and challenges. As one of my businesses grew, they began to take over the house and I was forced to move the business out (so that a new baby could join our family). During the eight years I worked from home, I learned a great deal about the pros and cons of working from home and how it related to my networking efforts.
The networking techniques that work for any business truly work for most home-based businesses; however, there are at least two important issues that I think apply to a home-based business more than any other.
The first relates to introducing yourself to others in networking environments. One important thing I learned while being a home-based business related to how I promoted myself at networking groups or in meeting people one on one.
My opinion in this area rubs some home-based business owners the wrong way, but I feel strongly about it: when networking, I don’t recommend you share that you are a home-based business. I believe that this characteristic is a “neutral-negative” feature of your business. That is, telling people you meet in networking environments that you “work from home” has either a neutral or a negative impact. Either it doesn’t matter to them, or they are not impressed that your business operates in a house.
When I worked from home, I rarely, if ever, met anyone who said “oh, FANTASTIC, you work from home – I must do business with you!” I had a home I was proud of, but working from home was not something that I found made people “want” to do business with me; therefore, why should it be emphasized when meeting people through networking?
I open with this issue because it is something that I see done to this day. Often, when I attend a networking function, I see someone stand, say what they do, how people can refer them and then add at the end that he or she runs a home-based business. I believe that bit of information will generally have no impact or a negative impact on what people think of your potential abilities – it almost never has a positive impact on people wanting to do business with you. Please note that I never hid that my business was home-based. I simply didn’t bring it up until after I had a business relationship with the individual.
The second thing relating to developing a word-of-mouth based business that I think is more important for home-based businesses than the average business is that it is important to break out of the Cave Syndrome.
I find that many home-based business owners suffer from the Cave Syndrome. They get up each morning in a large cave with a big-screen TV called their home. They go out to their garage and get into a little cave with four wheels called their car. They go to another really big cave with plenty of computers called their office. At the end of the day, they get back into their little cave with four wheels and drive back to the large cave with the big-screen TV, and they can't figure out why no one is referring them. If you want to build your business through word of mouth, you have to be visible and active in the community by participating in various networking groups and/or professional associations. It’s even harder for those working from home to get out of the cave. You don’t even get into that little cave on wheels to drive to the large cave with the computers!
It is critical for home-based business owners to join organized networking groups and/or professional associations. I talk about the different types of networking organizations in my books about networking. To recap, they are: open contact networks (like the Chamber), closed contact networks (one person per profession, like BNI), professional organizations (like the National Association of Professional Organizers), and service clubs (such as Rotary International). You will have to not only join, but serve on committees, volunteer to be a visitor host, be as active as you can for added visibility.
Look for other ways to be very visible in your circle of influence; for example, be active in your child’s school PTA or church. Keep your eye open for opportunities to be involved in groups of people who come together for a common cause.
These opportunities will afford you the chance to build relationships and that is what social capital is all about. Visibility leads to credibility which, in turn, leads to profitability.
So, the bottom line is that word-of-mouth marketing doesn’t change too much whether your business is based from home or a corporate location. The dynamics of developing a strong word-of-mouth based business transcend your business location. The caveat for the home-based-business owner is that you will have to be even more diligent and focused about finding those networking opportunities.
Called the father of modern networking, Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author and Founder of BNI (www.bni.com), the world’s largest business networking organization. His latest book, Truth or Delusion can be viewed at www.TruthorDelusion.com. Dr. Misner is also the Sr. Partner for the Referral Institute, an international referral training company (www.referralinstitute.com). He can be reached at misner@bni.com .
Working from Home and Word of Mouth - To learn more about this author, visit Ivan R. Misner's Website.
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I’m often asked about how to best generate referrals and develop word of mouth for those who are running their businesses out of their homes. Let me start out by stating that I ran two home-based businesses for man...
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Ivan R. Misner
(Visit Ivan's Website)
Dr. Ivan Misner is the Founder & Chairman
of BNI (Business Network Int'l.). BNI (www.bni.com) was
founded in 1985. The organization has over
4,200 chapters throughout every populated
continent of the world. Last year alone,
BNI generated millions referrals resulting
in billions of dollars worth of business
for its members.
Dr. Misner’s Ph.D. is from the University
of Southern California. He has written
eight books, including his New York Times
best seller, Masters of Networking and his
#1 bestseller, Masters of Success. He is
a monthly columnist for Entrepreneur.com
and is also Chairman of the Board for the
Referral Instititute - a referral training
company with trainers around the world.
He has taught business and social capital
courses at several universities and is on
the Board of Directors for the Colorado
School of Professional Psychology.
Called the "Father of Modern Networking"
by Ecademy.com and the “Networking Guru”
by Entrepreneur magazine, Dr. Misner is
one of the world's leading experts on
business networking and has been a
keynote speaker for major corporations and
associations throughout the world.
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