Learn for Profit

Monday, March 5, 2018

You Don't Have to Pay Your Dues Before You Start a Business

- Guest Writer

Founder of Startup Black Belt

My job consists of building cool stuff, helping people build apps and helping startups grow and scale. This means I field a lot of questions and hear a ton of startup ideas.

One day, an impressive young entrepreneur came to me with an interesting idea. It sounded promising, so I thought he should go for it. He did and found a gaping hole in his local market. As any good entrepreneur would do, he went in full-force to exploit it. The idea was solid, he was able to validate it and went to build.

But before he got started, he wanted to incorporate. This is a great idea. It helps protect your personal assets if something goes wrong. It can help you with taxes depending on where you are and honestly, it helps make you look professional if you are in the B2B, consulting or services spaces. It’s quick and easy, and you can get it done for a small fee in a few dozen places online.

Lucky for this young hustler, he had a family friend who was a lawyer. Time to save some cash and get some expert advice in the process, right? Sadly, that’s not what happened. Instead, my young student got an earful of horrible advice that put him down and out. “You’re in high school. You’re too young for this. Focus on getting into a good college, work hard, get a job, then start this business.”

That pissed me off.

The opportunity was right in front of him. There’s no law saying a high school student can’t start a business and make money. There’s no rule that says you can’t have an app and get into a good college. The time to do this was now -- when there was a gap in the market, and he was in the best position to fill it.

When I was in high school, I ran a business with one of my buddies selling bootlegged anime. I didn’t know that was legally frowned upon at the time, I promise. When I was in college, I started a web development agency and a SaaS company, which I later sold.

I didn’t wait to start those companies because someone told me I was young and inexperienced. I didn’t put my dreams on pause to get good grades and an entry-level job. I didn’t want to wait and pay my dues. I knew I had a skill that others were willing to pay for, and I offered my services to them. Funny thing is, my customers didn’t seem to care that I was still a student with no real job experience.

Does that sound like “skipping to the front of the line?” It should because it is.

There were definitely people doing what I was doing and doing it better, but I was competing on their level. And I didn’t work my way up for 10 years before I started. I built my empire one client at a time. And I’m definitely not alone.

So why do authority figures -- I'm talking parents, legal counsel, etc. -- tell people to pay their dues so they can get a good job before they work on their real dreams? And then, focus on your job and do this entrepreneur thing on the side for a while to test the waters.

Building an app on the side when you have a job is a good idea. It’s called a “side hustle” and if you want to do it, do it. It’s a great way to transition out of your boring 9-5. And if you don’t want to go full time, it’s a great way to make some passive income on the side.

But if you’re a student, why not start your business right now? You’re in a perfect position with limited responsibilities and endless resources -- resources to help you with business or technical challenges and tons of time to get some solid training on the internet.

So why wait to pay your dues before you find your success? Screw the old ways of the business world. Don’t wait for the world to give you permission. If you have an idea; if you have a dream; if you have the passion and the drive -- do it.

Let them say “you can’t” right up to the day where they ask you “how did you do it?”

Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/306712

How Marketing and Advertising Are Bound to Change In 2018

Eran Halevy

- Guest Writer

Freelance data security consultant and user acquisition expert

Digital marketing hasn’t seen any major shifts in a while. Sure, we had to optimize our websites for mobile user experience, tweak SEO a little as the algorithm gods required and make a few other minor changes. Social media has been booming, too -- but nothing very thought-provoking.

This new year is bound to be a different story, and we can’t sit around and wait. Look at what’s already happening: social media is changing, the law is changing, and there are murmurs about how net neutrality (or lack thereof) will affect digital advertising. It's easy to predict the industry will face significant changes in 2018. Here are four key aspects that will shape the new landscape.

1. Privacy.

One successfully could argue the internet is funded mostly through ads. Websites use cookies that allow companies to target their customers based on what those consumers view in their own browsers. But users constantly are changing devices, and that makes it difficult to keep track of all the consumer touch points. Even savvy marketers are working hard to determine the channels with the most impact and justify their methods to clients.

Still, it’s doable. Robust marketing tools can track and connect user data to target individuals. But certain privacy concerns make this a little harder for internet advertising.

Ad blockers are just one of the challenges. According to a PaigeFair report published in January, 11 percent of internet users employ some type of ad blocker -- a 30 percent increase from the previous year. Consumers want to protect their privacy, security and time from ad interruption. To curb this, some websites use walls that prevent browsers with ad blockers from viewing their content. These sites ask users to manually disable the blocker, but 74 percent of people in the PaigeFair report simply abandoned the site.

2. Live video.

Visual content has become more popular on the internet, and many companies are poised to make this their primary communication tool in 2018. That means rich media, creative videos, GIFs, memes and more are bound to be trendier this year. And there’s a good reason for it: Users interact better with visuals.

Of all the options, live video is the one to watch. A 2016 Buffer survey discovered more than 80 percent of marketers wanted to create more video. At the time, an impressive 42 percent wanted to target live video. In the same year, Facebook reported live videos were seeing as much as triple the watch time as the traditional video. It also was garnering 10 times the comments. Live video is so effective because it’s authentic, human and littered with errors.

It's not just live video versus recorded video -- it's live video versus everything. According to Livestream, 82 percent of users would rather watch a brand’s live video than read the same company's social media posts. A close 80 percent would rather tune in to a live video than read a blog post.

3. Artificial intelligence (AI).

Think it’s too early to talk about AI's impact on marketing and advertising? Think again. AI already is entrenched in our daily lives, and it’s quickly becoming a rib in marketing. Worldwide, 58 percent of chief marketing officers believe companies will have to compete within the AI space to succeed in the next five years.

Enter AI marketing. This is how to bridge the gap between data science and marketing. Technology enables marketers to sift through a drastically multiplying data load to unearth insights that will help them provide value to target customers while gaining returns on their investments. Even better, this form of marketing doesn't have to to take up all their time -- they can automate much of the tasks to run in the background. With so many benefits, why would AI be incorporated into marketing strategies?

Over to you.

Whether 2018 turns out to be a good or bad year for the industry wholly depends upon the stakeholders in this marketing disruption. Professionals must begin to study the trends (if they haven't already) and adjust their current strategies. What they have right now might not get them past the first quarter of what's sure to be a highly competitive year.

Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/306162

How to Drive Marketing Results When You're Facing Budget Cuts

Aaron Agius

- Contributor

Search, Content and Social Marketer

Budget cuts may be a necessary evil in uncertain economic times. But even declines in funding don’t take the pressure off your marketing team to deliver results. If anything, hitting key metrics becomes even more important to your company’s future.

Along the way, there's a personal cost: Stress results when you’re afraid your head is on the chopping block, and you aren’t certain what kinds of resources you have to work with.

If you find yourself in this position, the advice below -- based on my years of engagement with companies in these financial circumstances -- may help.

Be clear about your goal during tough times.

The first thing you need to know is that, during tough times, it isn’t just your tactics and strategies that need to change. Your whole approach to marketing needs to change, as well.

So, rather than stretching and testing new channels, your goal should be to take the ambiguity and risk out of marketing. Learn how to pull data insights out of the information you have in order to achieve results.

Here are six ways to do that . . .

1. Put out the fires first.

Start by proactively identifying any past marketing strategies that could put your future profits at risk.

As an example, I recently worked with a company that had hired a different SEO agency in the past. Unbeknownst to the company, the old agency ran a black-hat back-linking campaign which pointed thousands of spam links to the client company's site.

The company began to notice the results when the strategy was first executed, but the company's leaders were put into a precarious position since 85 percent of their customers were coming from organic search. At best, they knew their links would be devalued at some point in the future, causing them to fall in the rankings and lose business once the links were removed.

At worst? They were risking penalties that could literally put them out of business.So, don't let this happen to you; stay on top of this risk. Fix problems like these before you invest in more proactive marketing, prioritizing them based on both their likelihood of occurring and the potential impact they could have on your business.

2. Rethink the way you do SEO.

While we’re on the subject of SEO, whether you’re facing budget cuts or not, it’s time to start looking beyond keyword research.

Look at the questions being asked in real time to understand your customers’ linguistics and the pain in their voices. Cross-reference what you’re seeing with Google Trends and PPC data. By getting better at honing in on the language your customers are using, you’ll be able to laser-target the strategies you execute and get more bang for your SEO buck.

3. Make more informed content decisions.

Be as critical about your content investments as you are with your SEO. There’s a ton of information out there. Get as much of it as possible before coming up with and executing on content ideas.

See which websites in your industry have the greatest impact in terms of voice. Try to see why things are ranking well. Understand what your content needs to achieve in order to be successful. Reverse-engineer content that’s performing well, so that you can be certain that there’s a hungry audience already looking for the work you’re about to produce.

4. Look for strategies that pull double duty.

No matter how you decide to invest in SEO or content, look for opportunities to maximize the value of your marketing investments.

Which content pieces do you have that can be repurposed into new formats? Which ones can be submitted to new publications, online or offline? How can you work existing content into your lead-nurturing sequences?

The more uses you can get out of a single content asset, the lower your average cost per use will be.

5. Get more comfortable with your data than ever before.

I mentioned the importance of data above, but the truth is that when budget cuts are in the works, you have to be able to justify the value of every decision you make. That means knowing your:

Organic traffic click-through rate (CTR)
PPC cost-per-click
Average customer acquisition cost (CAC) by channel
Average conversion rate by channel
Customer lifetime value (LTV) by channel

There are plenty of different tools and tutorials online that will help you find these numbers. There’s no excuse not to use them.

6. Bring the right partners on board.

Finally, understand that budget cuts don’t necessarily mean “DIY’ing” your marketing. You may actually get better results -- whether in terms of greater revenue, speed or something else -- if you bring on specialists, versus trying to learn something new from scratch.

It’s up to you to have a clear understanding of your organization’s metrics and the strategies necessary to move those forward. After that, consider carefully whether you or a new partner will be the best person to get there.

What other tips would you add, based on how you’ve driven marketing results when facing budget cuts? Leave me a note below with your thoughts:

Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/308914

Friday, March 2, 2018

Step-by-Step, This How You Create a Facebook Ad That Sells

John Lincoln

- Guest Writer

CEO of Ignite Visibility

Advertising on Facebook is a must for any marketer. First of all, it’s a goldmine when it comes to users. As of June 2017, the channel boasts more than 2 billion monthly active users and an impressive 1 billion+ daily users. That’s an extremely powerful channel to tap into, but in order to reach those masses, businesses have to advertise.

Following Facebook’s latest algorithm update, it’s harder than ever for businesses to reach users organically. Even before the latest update, brand’s organic reach sat at an unimpressive 2 percent on average.

Luckily, Facebook ad’s reach is greater than ever. Time and again it proves to be the most popular social media advertising channel, with 93 percent of social media advertisers using Facebook ads.

The key takeaway here: your target audience is likely on Facebook, but to reach them, you need to advertise.

Key elements of a great Facebook ad.

Now that you know that you need a Facebook ad, the next logical step is making that ad great. To do so, there are a few elements every ad must have.

1. It’s visual.

When it comes to social media, visual content is 40 percent more likely to get shared than other types of content. And that extends to advertisements. In fact, images account for 75-90 percent of Facebook advertising effectivity and performance. Simply put, an effective and must have an effective visual.

So what makes an image effective?

It takes up the majority of your screen
It features your product or service, either stand-alone or in use
Any text is simple and legible
Backgrounds are bold to attract attention

2. It’s short and concise.

Your ad isn’t what sells your product; it’s what catches potential customer’s intrigue. And you only need a few words to do so. The most effective length for an ad title on Facebook is just four words -- and 15 words for a link description. This tells us that users don’t want to read paragraphs and full product descriptions; they want to immediately know what you’re selling and where you’re trying to send them.

They do, however, want to know what your product or service will do for them and how it’s different from anything else on the market. That’s your value proposition, and it needs to be clear to your readers.

3. It has a clear call to action.

You may have created the most visually stunning and of the year, but it won’t lead customers anywhere if you don’t tell them where to go. That’s where a clear call to action (CTA) comes in. Tell your users you want them to click, download or call today. And because a CTA takes up precious text, it’s okay to think outside the box. Get creative with your CTA, and give users an even bigger reason to pursue your product.

Introducing Facebook’s Mobile Studio.

Now that we have the basics down, it’s time to put them together into an ad that turns heads. And thanks to Facebook, it is simpler than it sounds. All it takes is a mobile phone.

As Facebook says, it’s a “small but mighty tool. It houses everything you need, from a brilliant camera to a ton of easy to use apps that empower you to make world-class advertising for your business.” These apps can transform your otherwise stale ads into something eye-catching and creative, and it takes zero design experience or knowledge. The best part? You can remix your existing assets, or start from scratch.

Here are a few ways you can use apps to transform your ads.

1. Create gifs.

Fun fact: 47 percent of the value of Facebook ads happens in the first 3 seconds. Nothing will capture that attention quicker than a gif.

First, select images from your website that you’d like to use. Then, download the GifLab app to turn your pictures into a gif. Keep in mind, your gif doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Select even one photo and make the colors change or have it fade in and out. It’s simple, but will still catch attention.

2. Create pop-ups.

Pop-ups are another attention-catcher. And again, there’s an app for that. This time, select your image and download VideoShop. Through it, you can add movement to your ad, add in text pop-ups, and play with different backgrounds.

3. Tell a story.

These days, an ad can do more than advertise a product; it can tell a story. Bring that story to life through videos, text overlays and before and after photos. Apps like Legend and Snapspeed can help.

4. Use your resources.

Not a lot to work with? No problem. Sometimes the key is just to fake it ‘til you make it. Shooting a short video or product photo doesn’t mean fancy equipment and sets.

In an example video from Facebook, the advertiser creates the illusion of a kitchen by using foam boards for marble countertops and a simple phone tripod to capture the shots. The result? A slew of Boomerang videos that show off what the product can do.

4. Improve your images.

Adding effects to images can help take your ad from ordinary to extraordinary. All it takes is one image -- no matter how bland -- and an app called Layout. By rotating and playing with the picture’s position, you can create incredible visual effects.

Take this ad by Pescara, a fish restaurant. They started with one image of a fish and ended with this.

Facebook’s top 10 apps for creating ads.

These days, there’s no end to the number of design apps out there. And while many have their merits, Facebook’s done the work for you on this one and chosen their top 10 apps most useful for business. The winners are:

For photo enhancing:

For video enhancing:

Tips for creating a great ad on Facebook.

While the existence of apps certainly makes the process easier, it’s important to keep in mind that any effects or add-ins still have to support your overall goal. Beyond just catching attention, images or videos you choose need to support what you’re trying to sell and relate well to your overall brand, as well as the audience you’re trying to reach. All creatives must tie-in and support your goal.

Facebook has a few tips for you as well:

Select an app based on your ad idea
Use your best photos/videos
Combine multiple apps

If shooting a video:

Find natural lighting
Use an inexpensive tripod
Use foam core to bounce light

Start creating great ads on Facebook.

Apps have made a major impact on the way we market -- straight down to how we advertise.

Remember, always keep the core principles in mind. Your ad needs a great visual, call to action and value proposition. Then you can add a little life with visuals, videos, and effects through apps.

Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/307940

Great Marketing Strategies You Can Steal From the Most Successful Super Bowl Ads

Jim Joseph

- Contributor

Marketing Master - Author - Blogger - Dad

The Super Bowl has been called "The Marketer's Holiday" for good reason. At $5 million for a 30-second spot, it's one of the highest-grossing media events in the world. And with all the hype around previews before The Big Game, it's become a frenzy to follow all the activity of the big brands before and after the game.

And while the Super Bowl is the ultimate in big brand marketing, there are a number of takeaways that would apply to a business of any size. Entrepreneurs can learn a lot from this year's crop of advertising. After all, marketing is a spectator sport, and 2018's spectacle was no exception.

Consider the environment

Context is everything. Make sure you serve up your brand messages in a way that is appropriate to the environment. The Super Bowl is a massive stage, but it's also a space for family, fun, friends, and gatherings.

So, advertisers stuck to lighter messaging, product benefits and sheer entertainment. Febreze is a great example. The brand reminded people who were throwing a Super Bowl party that there is a key ingredient that they shouldn't leave out.

Use multiple channels

The best Super Bowl advertising used multiple channels to spread a fully integrated campaign. In those cases, the broadcast advertising is just the launching pad. Many previewed the spots ahead of time via YouTube, utilized influencer networks to review and share, built installations onsite at the game and maxed out engagement on social media.

Rocket Mortgage is a good example. The advertising quickly led to an online resource to learn more, and social media also kicked in to generate leads throughout the game. Since it's highly likely that, as a small business owner or entrepreneur, you won't be using broadcast advertising, it's even more important that you use a mix of media to spread your messages.

Lead with an insight

All good marketing starts with a consumer insight to grab the audience's attention. This should be a given in effective communication. The more emotional your connection, the more memorable the messaging . . . especially if it's tied to a product benefit.

Verizon is a good example. The brand honored first responders by connecting survivors with those who rescued them -- by having them place a call on the Verizon network, of course. Big brands don't own any special territory when it comes to finding an insight, and in fact, it's quite the opposite. Since small businesses are even closer to customers, finding an emotionally unique insight should be easier and more fruitful.

Make someone smile

Messaging that makes us smile is much more memorable and shareable. So, try to find a sense of humor in the work, and the work will more likely get noticed. Amazon's marketing with Alexa is a good example -- it gave us a good laugh as it simultaneously showcased how it can add value to our lives. You should certainly stay true to your brand indeed, but don't take yourself so seriously. The NFL certainly did a good job of that!

Rinse and repeat

In order to be effective, messaging needs to be repeated to be remembered. So be sure to repeat over and over again to ensure message penetration. Tide is a good example. It owned the night with repeated variations of their "This is a Tide Ad." And guess what, the messaging stuck. Yours can too if you put it in repeat mode.

As you plan out your own marketing activities, keep these Super Bowl Big Brand lessons in mind. And as you also watch other brands in action, pay attention to how you can apply what they do to your business. After all, marketing is a spectator sport.

Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/308756

Thursday, March 1, 2018

Here's Why so Many Successful Entrepreneurs Got Their Start in Sales

Mike Monroe

- Guest Writer

Digital Strategy Manager at Vector Marketing

Everyone has an opinion about salespeople, and it’s often negative. But according to a 2017 survey conducted by Heidrick & Struggles, nearly 15 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs got their starts in sales. Say what you will about the oftentimes incorrectly portrayed “pushy” salesperson but, along with a few other unique strengths, their persistence is exactly what makes them successful.

It’s also why you -- if you have ambitions to be the next Mark Cuban, Elon Musk or Oprah Winfrey -- should learn to sell.

One of the first truths you’ll learn about entrepreneurship is that you’re 100 percent responsible for your success or failure. It can be hard to adjust at first, but selling products or services to strangers and living off commission is a perpetual training ground for that very lesson. Besides that, experience in the sales world helps you develop several skills that you’ll need to overcome the challenges of being your own boss.

Planning to launch the next great Kickstarter campaign or turn your startup weekend idea into a part-time business? Consider making your mark in the sales world first.

A training ground for great entrepreneurship.

All of my beginner jobs, from washing dishes to painting to working as a prep cook, paid by the hour rather than by the quality and amount of work I put in. My co-workers and I were just trading time for money. We had very little incentive to do well. When I finally gathered the courage to join my first sales team -- even though multiple family members told me I wasn’t cut out for it -- I experienced the power of performance-based income. I never measured success the same way again.

I learned to confront and shrug off rejection. I mastered the art of a true work ethic. I learned to close a deal, to persuade people that my solution was the best for their problems.

Here’s a breakdown of those skills and how they can help you navigate the road to successful entrepreneurship:

1. Eat the frog first.

Early on in my sales career, I would stare at a list of potential customers I was reluctant to call. But procrastinators don’t make money, and my manager insisted that I learn to eat the frog first.

The lesson was this: tackle the most important and dreaded task, regardless of whether I felt like doing it. I also had to do it with enthusiasm. In sales, rejection, defeat, and disappointment are par for the course. Entrepreneurship is the same. Develop the discipline of facing it head on, and it’ll lose all its power over you. If you can master this habit as a salesperson for another company, you will have a much easier time doing it on your own.

Eating the frog means waking up earlier than your friends with “normal” jobs. It’s no secret that the most successful people start their days a lot earlier and work a lot harder than less successful people. Ever hear of Hal Elrod's “miracle morning?” In his must-read book “The Miracle Morning,” Elrod argues that willing yourself to get out of bed early and get into a routine will help you build the life of your dreams. Victory in the business world goes to the stubborn and persistent, after all.

2. Create an opportunity for doing, not just wanting.

My first commission-based paycheck was for more than $700. Not bad for a 19-year-old in his first week at an entirely new gig. Before then, the biggest paycheck of my life had been for $300, and it required an overnight shift breaking down a banquet and scrubbing fossilized cheese off catering dishes. At that moment, I realized that the value I can produce wasn’t limited by hours in the day. My resolve and imagination are all that matter.

Sales isn’t a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. commitment; neither is entrepreneurship. In fact, both can take as much as 10 to 14 hours per day, including the occasional weekend and holidays. Both positions are professions. They feel more like callings than mere jobs. People can get lost in them. And while I don’t condone workaholism, starting and succeeding at anything requires hustle.

The 2015/2016 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor survey found that 31 percent of surveyed entrepreneurs listed innovation and creativity as most important to their education. Sales, just like entrepreneurship, is a “You’re only limited by yourself” career path. As soon as you start thinking about how much value you can add, you start to see opportunities for innovation everywhere. You start to think: “There should be an app for that,” “This should be easier,” or, if you’re Elon Musk, “Humanity would be better served if ...”

3. Find your vehicle, and drive it relentlessly.

In my sales days, making 20 calls an hour was considered productive. If I wasn’t feeling motivated, though, then it was OK to make only 15 calls, right? Wrong. Five calls might not seem like much, but 75 percent effort won’t get you 100 percent results in your sales career or as an entrepreneur.

Once you find your “vehicle” -- the opportunity that you can’t stop daydreaming about -- drive it relentlessly. Manifesting that vision requires the same principles as sales. Entrepreneurs who can’t close a sale, finish a pitch, negotiate a deal or onboard talent won’t last long in the marketplace; fortunately, this highly tactical skill and the emotional confidence to wield it can be learned through sales.

For Xerox CEO Anne Mulcahy, for example, her entrepreneurial vision was making the printing giant profitable again. It required reinventing the entire strategy, making bold decisions and enduring a few sleepless nights, I’m sure. Those are the requirements to succeed. For me, it was the dream opportunity of starting my own brick-and-mortar Vector office, which required building a team that was just as driven as I was.

When I started in sales, I knew it would be different. And it was. What I didn’t realize was just how well that experience would prepare me for my next big leap to entrepreneurship. Sure, not every successful entrepreneur has a sales background. But salespeople learn to exercise discipline, cultivate opportunities and drive those opportunities forward, and those qualities are critical for those of us determined to take on the challenges and possibilities of the entrepreneurial world.

Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/309158

4 Mindsets That Earn You More Customer Referrals

Joseph Pigato

- Guest Writer

Chief Marketing Officer of Sparked

What’s the first thing you do when you get a referral from a customer? Chances are, you’re so excited as you build your startup that you fire off an email to the new lead hoping to turn them into a new customer.

If you’re doing this, you’re missing out on the quickest, least expensive and most effective new business generators you can find. And you’re also missing the entire point of referrals. Referrals are not about drumming up new leads to turn into new customers, and if you look at them this way, then you’re probably shooting yourself in the foot when it comes to growing your business.

If you want to dramatically increase referrals, you need to radically redefine what referrals are: A customer referral is an opportunity to celebrate and show deeper appreciation to your current customers. Once you can accept this new thinking, you’ll see happier current customers and more new ones.

This model works both for B2B and B2C companies, but let’s focus on a B2B model. At every startup in my career, I’ve approached referrals not simply as new business leads, but as a validation that we were providing value to the customer. With each new referral, we paused and took time to say thank you to our customers rather than rush to email or call the new lead. We didn’t wait to see if the customer’s friend became a new customer to decide if the referral were valuable. After all, the immediate value of a referral isn’t based on whether you get a new customer out of it. The real value is that one of your current customers has gone out of their way to validate and support you, and your recognition and celebration of this lead to happier customers and more referrals in the long run.

I put together a four-step framework for our new approach to referrals. Here’s the blueprint:

1. Earn the referral.

It’s obvious, but it so often gets overlooked. If you want a customer to refer you, make them happy, and give them value. Make that your focus, and ensure that you’re doing this instead of just asking them over and over for referrals. If they’re happy, sometimes you don’t even have to ask.

2. Offer help.

When you’re just looking for business leads, you ask your customers to give you a referral because it helps you. When you believe that your service truly helps your customers’ businesses succeed, you want to offer your services to help their friends’ businesses because it truly will help those businesses. Right after a customer refers you to a friend of theirs, you shouldn’t think, “Great! This is good for my company,” but rather, “Great! This is good for my customer’s friend.” And remember to look for positive moments when a specific customer is having a particularly good experience with you. That’s when people are most receptive to your offer to help their friends.

3. Commit

It’s a big deal for someone to refer a friend. They’re putting themselves on the line for you and spending some social capital. They don’t want to hear a quick, “thanks,” knowing that their friend is now a new entry in your CRM with salespeople ready to pounce. They need to know that you’ll genuinely explore whether your service is the right solution at the right time for their friend and that if they become a customer, you’ll bring your “A” game and make sure they have a great experience.

4. Give thanks.

This is the heart of it. Remember, a referral is not simply a sales lead. A referral is a huge vote of confidence from a customer and the ultimate validation that you are truly providing value to their business. When you get a referral, your whole company should pause and celebrate the accomplishment. At that moment, your customer is saying that what your company and your team provides is of great value to their business. Take the time to reach out to the customer, and have others on your team do so. Let them know that you appreciate their support and belief in you and that the whole company is appreciative of it as well.

To understand how this can work in practice, I once created a referral program called "Awesome Bombs." The program even had a mascot, “Boomer.” Every time a current customer gave us a referral, we showered them with gratitude for their awesomeness. We gave our staff “awesome dollars” (an in-house currency) to spend on our internal referral website where they could order things like a custom bottle of “awesome sauce,” custom fortune cookies with awesome messages and other fun items that we’d send or deliver in person. Our customers loved it and had never had any company show them that much appreciation.

In the end, this new way of thinking brings positivity to you, your team, your customers, and their friends. Transforming customer referrals from a sales and marketing opportunity to a customer appreciation and celebration opportunity will then create a virtuous cycle where referrals earn appreciation and appreciation win referrals -- virtuous cycle indeed.

Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/308870