GoodBuzz Blog

Play Marketing – Advertising that Respects People

Jun
21

By

20 Ways to Express Gratitude and Attract Love.

Category: Conversation, leadership, Winner Choice Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a Comment

Wikiepdia defines gratitude as “a positive emotion or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive.”

The Best way to express Gratitude is to Give Thanks, Send Thank-you notes, or Say “Thank you”  abundantly.

  1. Thank your wife after she cooked a nice meal.
  2. Thank your friend for lending you that Stargate DVD.
  3. Thank you college for the tuition. Send a thank you note.
  4. Thank You friend for spending time with you.
  5. Thank your friends for calling you.
  6. Thank your friends for visiting you.
  7. Thank your boss for praising you. Let him know how you feel when he gives you praises.
  8. Thank people who encourage you. Let them know how you feel when they encourage you.
  9. Thank God for  everything you can’t directly attribute to a person or an institution. Thank God for Good health. Thank God for Peace in your country. Thank God for All the good things happening in your Life.
  10. Send, annually, Thank you note to your Boss for the opportunity offered to you to contribute and serve.
  11. Thank your Neighbors to be so kind neighbors and how you appreciate to a neighbor to them.
  12. Send Thank you note to you local politicians for what they are doing for the community.
  13. Send, annually, Thank you note to the local Fire Fighters and Police departments for their dedication to keep the community a safe and secure place to live.
  14. Thank your Kids for bringing so much joy in your life and let them know how their arrival in your life brought so marvelous things to you.
  15. Thank your husband or your wife for caring and providing help and taking care of you. Let him or her know how special he or she is. Give Thanks abundantly here. It’s a privilege to have a good partner for life.
  16. Send Thank you note to your doctor for his dedication to your health and for his support to you family.
  17. Send Thank you note to your suppliers to let them know how you appreciate their support for your business.
  18. Send Thank note to your Local public transportation office to praise them for heir dedication to the community.
  19. Send annual thank you note to your customers for doing business with you.
  20. Send thank you note to the teachers of your kids.

Give Thanks Notes to heal the world, help friends, support your community. Thanks are intangible assets you can give again and again without being left broke.

“PEOPLE DON’T CARE HOW MUCH YOU KNOW… UNTIL THEY KNOW HOW MUCH YOU CARE.” John Maxwell

If you need inspiration to start, here is a GReat site with lot of Thank you notes samples : http://www.thank-you-note-samples.com/sample-thank-you-note-wording.html

Referral Thank You Note Samples
Sample business referral thank you notes.

Jun
19

By

Employees are not Assets, Resources, or Inventory, But Humans with Dreams.

Category: Business Strategy, Conversation, leadership, Winner Choice Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a Comment

Today, we heard employees referred to as “resources” or “assets” by corporate executives, business press and management thought leaders. Michael Eisner, ex Chairman and CEO of Disney, has been recorded as saying “our inventory goes home at night.”

Bullshit!

Employees are people. Employees are not assets, resources, or inventory, but Humans with dreams and aspirations.

Did you call your friends, your kids, your wife, your mother, your father, … your greatest assets, resources, or inventory?

There is a Chinese Proverb that teaches the beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.

This is not just an economic decision, it is a psychological and emotional decision; because how you relate to a person, an animal or an object depends a lot on how you name or label it.

People are not resources to be mined nor inventory to be turned over. Time is a resource. Office furniture is an asset. People are people.

In the past, we have seen how before putting into slavery, slaughtering, killing, depriving from freedom, invading, colonizing some populations or countries, their names have been altered; instead of calling them by their real name, they became barbarian, primitives, damned, uncivilized, human without soul, insects, etc.

Employees are not assets, resources, or inventory, but human beings with dreams, aspirations, and personal goals.

The new economy is in need of a new type of leadership—a service leadership. This is the kind of leadership that starts Not from wondering How someone could help you achieve your goals, but from a very basic, active generosity of asking how you can help your people achieve their goals, personal or professional.

From this standpoint, the role of any leader in the new economy is to get to know their people individually. All it takes is to start with some basic questions you ask yourself about your people:

  • Why are they here?
  • What do they want to achieve working for our organization (or buying our product)?
  • What are their goals in life, both personal and professional?
  • Where are they in their life’s journey?
  • What barriers are they facing now in life?
  • And lastly, how can I, as the people leader, genuinely help them get where they want to be, be what they want to be, and contribute what they want to contribute?

The new leadership role is active generosity, based on carefully and intentionally collected information about the people agenda, apart from their contextual status as customers or employees.

Start looking at people not from the perspective of how they can help you, but how you can help them. Master this single law and your success is assured.

No person can be a great leader unless he takes genuine joy in the successes of those under him.
W A Nance

Jun
8

By

We need You. We Want YOU to Lead US.

Category: Business Strategy, Conversation, customer relationship, leadership, Linkcrafter, Winner Choice Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a Comment

When we’ve started Linkcrafter we’ve asked ourselves  “Why 90% of the Internet traffic goes to ONLY 5% of websites”. We’ve discovered that:

  • 7 of the top 10 web properties are search engines
  • 22 of the top 50 web properties are search engines and web directories.

Browse and search have become the most time-consuming and frustrating activity for consumers.

People are looking for trustful and relevant information to reach the best services, companies and products that could satisfy their needs. 90% of the traffic goes to these websites because they are trying hard to help people solve this problem.

What will happen if you become a resources center or a knowledgeable friend for your customers?

You become a Traffic magnet.You are a knowledgeable professional. You Know a lot and Now  We need You. We Want YOU to Lead US.

According to a 2004 Forum Corporation study on cross selling, 88 percent of customers with spending power welcomed product and service suggestions that help them. The same is true in the B2B world—clients prize sales professionals who empathetically understand their business and make suggestions on how to improve it.

Linkcrafter helps companies and businesses to become solution providers for their customers through real-time interaction and involvement in their customer’s solution-hunting process.

Instead of giving Planners, calendars, T-shirts, Mugs, Foie Gras,  coupons, or other material or monetary gifts to customers as incentive to build relationship – most of these incentives fail to build loyalty - Linkcrafter solution helps you provide Information as a gift ™ to your customers.

What is information as a Gift ™?

“Information as a gift ™” means to pay attention to your customers’ and contacts needs and interests for products and services other than your own, and give them relevant and trustful information to help them reach good services providers.

Since one company alone can no longer autonomously create consumer experience, Linkcrafter members pay attention to their customers’ and contacts needs and interests for products and services other than their own, and send their customers to other business for Free as a powerful way to build loyalty and Growth.

You become known as a powerful resource for others—and when you have the reputation for being a strong resource, people start turning to you for suggestions, ideas, names of other people, connections, etc. This keeps you visible and your business top-of-mind when people need your products and services. This, in turn, will greatly increase the number of referrals your customers will send to your business.

You don’t need Money to start. Information, Recommendation are intangible things you can give again, again and again without being left broke.

“Information as a gift ™” has a tremendous power to induce positive emotional connections to customers and contacts. The positive emotional connections in turn has the power to turn customers and contacts into voluntary advocates for your organization, generating a consistent word-of-mouth referrals and a Nonstop Viral Buzz for your business.

How it works?

“Simply go to that address book and list out the 20 percent of your contacts who matter most. Do you know their interests? Their biggest dreams and goals (professional and personal)? If you don’t then that is a place to begin. Once you do, mark down next to each name what specific actions you can take that will help that person realize those goals. What connections can you make for them? What knowledge can you transfer to them? Call them up. No agenda. No ‘asking for the business.’ Just deliver value relevant to them and keep doing it.”

Howard Mann

Is Your Company Still in the Dark Ages?

Most companies aren’t prepared for this new approach to marketing. Companies who co-create customers experiences with other qualified companies will keep themselves far ahead of the competition.

How do you accomplish all of this? We’re not going to lie. It takes a change in mindset.

Business people become super-connectors, people who know a lot of people, and know their interests, skills, and needs of everyone in their social or business circle and connect them together.

Jun
5

By

Send Your Customers to Other Businesses for FREE to Build Loyalty.

Category: Business Strategy, Conversation, customer relationship, Linkcrafter, Winner Choice Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a Comment

“What you Say? Send My Customers to Other Businesses for Free as a way to Build Loyalty and grow my business!?”
It sounds like complete folly.
Why would I send my customers away?
It’s very unconventional, but terribly powerful.
And, It’s in this way that Linkcrafter is transforming the marketing landscape, changing the lives of small business owners, freeing millions of entrepreneurs from marketing stress and uncertainty.

Here we go, Instead of giving Planners, calendars, T-shirts, Mugs, coupons, or other material or monetary gifts to customers to build relationship, what in most cases fail to build loyalty, Linkcrafter helps you send your customers safely and securely to other businesses as a powerful way to build Loyalty and grow your business.

Yes, It’s about Sending your Customers to other businesses for FREE as a way to build Loyalty and Growth. And It works.

The old era of egocentric sales pitches never entertained the idea of sending customers to other companies, for any reason. They held on to their customers tooth and nail, even if they didn’t have anything the customer needed at the time.

Companies wanted customers to pay attention to their company, and no one else.

Apparently, no one ever mentioned to those companies that no business is an island.

Customers need more than one company to satisfy their everyday needs and desires. “No company owns enough resources – or can possibly own enough – to furnish unique experiences for every customer,” said C.K.Pralahad in The New Age of Innovation. “Companies must organize a constantly shifting global web of suppliers and partners to do the job.”

A customer experience includes satisfaction in all the customer’s needs for their everyday life. It isn’t enough to sell your customer the microwave oven that person needs. The customer also needs clothes, baby food, music, a good carpet cleaner, a certified massage therapist, and an antique hood ornament.

No company in the world could possibly give a customer every single thing he or she desires.

In short: it takes a village to create a customer experience.

You’ll be recommending companies to your customers that you personally have selected as the best for their needs. You won’t be giving them referrals to professional service and product providers simply because you’ve agreed to – you’ll be giving them the companies that you sincerely believe are the most qualified professionals to meet your customers’ needs.

And your customers will love you for it.

That reputation will buy you customer loyalty and enthusiasm that is impossible to get through any other means.

Linkcrafter marketing solution often sounds too idealistic to companies who have been in the era of the sales pitch too long. Many companies will be thinking, “Spending extra time and resources to help customers with their problems without any request for a sale, without any pitch at all? What’s in it for me?”

The more successful your company is at recommending other companies’ products and services that are relevant to its customer’s lifestyle and needs, the more likely it is that customers will extol the virtues of your company.

Your company gets a reputation for caring about people through this free exchange of information. When a person benefits from information you give them, they become an advocate for you. And the next time they hear someone looking for a service that your company provides, they’ll recommend you – in glowing phrases.

You can’t buy that kind of advertising.

Linkcrafter web based relationship management solution helps you to engage with other qualified companies to co-create customer experiences. You’ll work within a network of partners, all of whom can provide your customers with products and services that are outside of your area of expertise but that are essential to making sure the customer is completely satisfied.

Learn to Co-Create

Through Linkcrafter, you’ll be able to co-create complete experiences for your customers with other companies. You’ll collaborate with these companies to understand exactly what your customers need and how to get it to them.

Your customers will look to you as a resource, a guide, and a trusted ally.

Is Your Company Still in the Dark Ages?

Most companies aren’t prepared for this new approach to marketing. Companies who co-create customers experiences with other qualified companies will keep themselves far ahead of the competition.

How do you accomplish all of this? We’re not going to lie. It takes a change in mindset.

Business people become super-connectors, people who know a lot of people, and know their interests, skills, and needs of everyone in their social or business circle and connect them together.

May
31

By

What is the most valuable source of leads?

Category: Business Strategy, Conversation, customer relationship, Winner Choice Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Recently, the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council has conducted  a study with channel executives, distributors, resellers, and other channel representatives, asking the question: “What is the most valuable source of leads?”

Customers referrals came at the top: four times more powerful and valuable than E-Mail or Direct Marketing campaigns, and nearly seven times more likely to result in sales and new business than leads from the Internet.

Here is how the results look like:

  • 54% Customer Referrals
  • 14% E-Mail or Direct Marketing
  • 8% Internet
  • 7% Events
  • 7% Leads from Vendors
  • 3% Third Party Lead Generation Organizations
  • 8% Other

Why Customers referrals is so powerful and valuable?
Simply because they command instant credibility, and when customers talk about your business, they have personal stories to share, and could illustrate with real world examples how your solution worked and served them.

Customers are your Natural Advocates.

If your business is struggling to attract clients, it’s simple because you don’t have enough advocates.

Your advocates are customers, prospects and even strangers who like you and your business. They can’t help but singing your praises to the world.

Your business flourishes when more than 10% of your customers become advocates; You thrive when 30% turn advocates and you become irresistible when like Apple 78% of customers are your fans, and go beyond advocacy to create Ads for your brand with their own money and resources.

Frederick F. Reichheld and Thomas Teal found that an increase of 5% of your advocates will yield your profits 25 to 95%.

In average a person has 11 to 12 intimate contacts, 150 social contacts and from 500 to 1500 weak ties. Look what will happen to your business if you succeed in the next 12 months to turn 12 to 15  customers into your business advocates:

Number of Intimate Friends

Intimate friends of your Friends(x12)

Social contacts of your Friends (x150)

Weak ties of your Friends (x1500)

Potential reach through your Friends network

1

12

150

1 500

1 663

2

24

300

3 000

3 326

3

36

450

4 500

4 989

4

48

600

6 000

6 652

5

60

750

7 500

8 315

6

72

900

9 000

9 978

7

84

1 050

10 500

11 641

8

96

1 200

12 000

13 304

9

108

1 350

13 500

14 967

10

120

1 500

15 000

16 630

11

132

1 650

16 500

18 293

12

144

1 800

18 000

19 956

13

156

1 950

19 500

21 619

14

168

2 100

21 000

23 282

15

180

2 250

22 500

24 945

If you succeed to have 15 customers as advocates, you could reach up to 24 945 contacts, without measuring the cascading effect of their referrals. Your marketing will automatically go on autopilot: with the social medias, Blogs, E-mail, twitter, Facebook, Myspace, etc. customers today has an increased ability to share personal experience and sing your praises to the world.

May
29

By

How Graphic Designer James Dean Use "IRaaS" to Attract Clients.

Category: Business Strategy, Conversation, customer relationship, Linkcrafter, Winner Choice Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a Comment

IRaaS is helping Thousands of web-workers (designers, programmers, copywriters, publishers) and freelancers to build a continual referral stream around there business without spending a single Dollar in advertising or wasting precious time in networking websites and events.

James Dean is a graphic designer in Los Angeles. He loves his job and clients. He knows deep down that when a client comes to him for a graphic work it’s because he has a much bigger project. James knows well how difficult is it sometime to find good services providers. So, He is always trying to help, asking his clients about their needs for services other than what he could provide  directly to them. He asks about their business purposes and challenges. In this way, he collects precious information and send his customers to a network of trusted providers.

James send his customers who need website search engine optimization to SEO experts, his customers who need content edition to copywriters, etc.

    The system works the same way for the Seo experts who send his customers to copywriters, copywriters who send their clients to graphic designer and so on.

    When James doesn’t know a contact to refer directly to, he posts his customers needs to the community on Linkcrafter who send him proposals that he reviews and rates before sending them to his customers.

    James uses Linkcrafter as  an utility to build customers relationship, and create bonds that make his customers talk positively about him and his business.

    Besides, James gains reputation inside his business community. James sends his customers to other businesses for Free. He NEVER ASK anything back. The Power of Linkcrafter is in this very simple sentence:  James sends his customers to other businesses for Free, He NEVER ASK anything back.

    Each befriended  customer by “Information as a Gift” becomes James advocate, infecting the world with the narration of his positive experience.

    The more successful your company is at recommending other companies’ products and services that are relevant to your customer’s lifestyle and needs, the more likely it is that your customers will extol the virtues of your company.

    They’ll reward you for it, too.

    Your company gets a reputation for caring about people through this free exchange of information. When a person benefits from information you give them, they become an advocate for you. And the next time they hear someone looking for a service that your company provides, they’ll recommend you – in glowing phrases.

    “Information as a gift ™” has a tremendous power to induce positive emotional connections to customers and contacts. The positive emotional connections in turn has the power to turn customers and contacts into voluntary advocates for your organization, generating a consistent word-of-mouth referrals and a Nonstop Viral Buzz for your business.

    May
    25

    By

    How to Recruit Advocates for your Business?

    Category: Business Strategy, Conversation, customer relationship, leadership, Winner Choice Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

    The new economy is based on advocacy. A Mckinsey marketing study found that 2/3 of US economy is now based on advocacy: Friends telling friends what is Hot and what is Not. Only 14% of people trust advertising, 69% are interesting in advertising blocking technologies, and 78% of consumers trust one to one recommendation from friends.

    If your business is struggling to attract clients, it’s simple because you don’t have enough advocates.

    Your advocates are customers, prospects and even strangers who like you and your business. They can’t help but singing to the world nice songs about how great, how magnificent, how terrific you are.

    Your business flourishes when more than 10% of your customers become advocates; You thrive when 30% turn advocates and you become irresistible when like Apple 78% of customers are your fans, and go beyond advocacy to create Ads for your brand with their own money and resources.

    Frederick F. Reichheld and Thomas Teal found that an increase of 5% of your advocates will yield your profits 25 to 95%.

    The question now is how to recruit advocates?

    • To recruit customers as advocates, you should become advocate for your customers,
    • To recruit peers as advocates, you should become advocate for your peers,
    • To recruit friends as advocates, you should become advocate for your friends,
    • to recruit strangers as advocates, you should become advocate for strangers

    Trust in the law of reciprocity, and you’ll see that happens.

    The law of reciprocity states that we repay, in kind, what another person has provided us. It’s a common mantra in our culture – the Golden Rule is another example of the law of reciprocity.

    For companies the question to answer is how to become the advocate for customers, peers, friends, strangers.

    Adopt IRaaS (Information and Recommendation as a Service) marketing approach.

    IRaaS is a customers’ engagement utility that uses “Information as a gift ™ ” to induce positive emotional connections to customers and contacts. The positive emotional connections have the power to turn customers and contacts into voluntary advocates for your organization, generating a consistent word-of-mouth referrals and a Nonstop Viral Buzz for your business.

    How it works?

    “simply go to that address book and list out the 20 percent of your contacts who matter most. Do you know their interests? Their biggest dreams and goals (professional and personal)? If you don’t then that is a place to begin. Once you do, mark down next to each name what specific actions you can take that will help that person realize those goals. What connections can you make for them? What knowledge can you transfer to them? Call them up. No agenda. No ‘asking for the business.’ Just deliver value relevant to them and keep doing it.”

    Howard Mann

    May
    14

    By

    No Man is an Island: You Don't Have to Face Life Alone.

    Category: Business Strategy, Conversation, customer relationship, Linkcrafter, Winner Choice Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a Comment

    Are you feeling lonely?
    Do feel like you need a helping hand but just can’t ask for it?
    Do you feel like no one outside there could understand who you are and your inner value?

    You are not Alone. You just feel alone, because we are all connected to each other. There are thousands of people out there ready to listen to you, ready to support you, ready to care about you, ready to give you a chance.

    No Man is an Island: You Don’t Have to Face Life Alone.

    To succeed in business as in life you need to make Friends. Your success depends on the number of friends you made. For businesses owners it means you need to Turn more strangers, prospects and customers into Friends.

    What you need to succeed is Friends.

    • If you don’t have enough customers, it’s simply because you don’t have enough friends,
    • If your advertising is not delivering good results, it’s simply because you don’t have enough advocates to confirm your message to their friends. When a friend asked about your advertising, he is told: ” be careful, I don’t know these people and this is  advertising, the reality may be different. You know … Ads are Ads”,
    • If you customers don’t recommend their friends to you, it’s simply because they still think you are a risky business to recommend. They can personally take the risk to do business with you, but they are not ready to recommend you,
    • If your customers evaporate after the first transactions, it’s simply because  nothing make you memorable and you don’t remind yourself to them in a memorable way.
    • If people don’t listen to you, it’s simply because you don’t have a strong opinion about your business solution and express this opinion with enthusiasm and passion.
    • If  everyone forget about you, it’s simply because you forget about everyone.
    • If no one remind you, it’s because you don’t remind anybody.

    To make friends, start treating people like friends.

    Treat your customers the same way you’ll treat a friend. Lit you eyes when you see them, recall their name, remember what they said last time to you, ask about their news based on previous conversations, and share what is hot and what is not hot list, and ultimately  invite for a beer or any other entertainment.

    In average a person has 11 to 12 intimate contacts, 150 social contacts and from 500 to 1500 weak ties. Look what will happen to your business if you succeed in the next 12 months to have 12 to 15 intimate friends in the business category you are playing or in your ideal clients list :

    Number of Intimate Friends

    Intimate friends of your Friends(x12)

    Social contacts of your Friends (x150)

    Weak ties of your Friends (x1500)

    Potential reach through your Friends network

    1

    12

    150

    1 500

    1 663

    2

    24

    300

    3 000

    3 326

    3

    36

    450

    4 500

    4 989

    4

    48

    600

    6 000

    6 652

    5

    60

    750

    7 500

    8 315

    6

    72

    900

    9 000

    9 978

    7

    84

    1 050

    10 500

    11 641

    8

    96

    1 200

    12 000

    13 304

    9

    108

    1 350

    13 500

    14 967

    10

    120

    1 500

    15 000

    16 630

    11

    132

    1 650

    16 500

    18 293

    12

    144

    1 800

    18 000

    19 956

    13

    156

    1 950

    19 500

    21 619

    14

    168

    2 100

    21 000

    23 282

    15

    180

    2 250

    22 500

    24 945

    If you succeed to have 15 intimate Friends inside your business industry or from your ideal clients list, you could reach up to 24 945 contacts, without measuring the cascading effect. Your marketing will automatically go on autopilot:

    • You”ll be Wanted and Welcomed in Your Customers’ and Prospects’ Mind,
    • You’ll quit  From chasing customers to Customers coming to you,
    • You’ll Receive faster, more enthusiastic and more qualified responses to any promotion, Turning more prospects into good paying clients,
    • You’ll turn your customers and contacts into an army of free sales people and voluntary advocates for your organization, Generating a consistent word-of-mouth referrals & a Nonstop Viral Buzz for your business,
    • You’ll have all these astounding results without spending money in advertising or wasting time and resources in countless networking websites, clubs or events.

    Go ahead and make Friends and Succeed wildly. Good luck.

    May
    6

    By

    Stop Looking For New customers, Build Loyalty, and New Customers will come.

    Category: Business Strategy, Conversation, customer relationship, leadership, Linkcrafter, Winner Choice Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

    Most small business owners, freelancers, home based professionals will stop doing any kind of advertising if they could have 12 to 15 intimate friends in the business category they are playing or in their ideal clients list.

    You’ll say, wow, 12 to 15 friends, that’s not a lot. Yes, it’s not a lot, but 86% of small business owners do business mostly with anonymous customers (people they know nothing about), people with whom they have no emotional contact to or don’t keep in touch with.  They are struggling because they fail to make friends, and in business friends are everything.

    The Law of the few in marketing states that 90% of your present customers are brought to you by 10% of your contacts (customers, prospects, friends or strangers) who like you. These people are your  Natural advocates. They are your Friends

    The new economy is based on advocacy. For example, a Mckinsey marketing study found that 2/3 of US economy is now based on advocacy. Friends telling friends what is hot and what is not. Only 14% of people trust advertising, 69% are interesting in advertising blocking technologies, and 78% of consumers trust one to one recommendation from friends.

    What you need to succeed is Friends.

    • if you don’t have enough customers, it’s simply because you don’t have enough friends,
    • if your advertising is not delivering good results, it’s simply because you don’t have enough advocates to confirm your message to their friends. When a friend asked about your advertising, he is said: ” be careful, I don’t know these people and this is  advertising, the reality may be different. You know … Ads are Ads”,
    • if you customers don’t recommend their friends to you, it’s simply because they still think you are a risky business to recommend. They can personally take the risk to do business with you, but they are not ready to recommend you,
    • if your customers evaporate after the first transactions, it’s simply because  nothing make you memorable and you don’t remind yourself to them in a memorable way.
    • If people don’t listen to you, it’s simply because you don’t have a strong opinion about your business solution and express this opinion with enthusiasm and passion.
    • If  everyone forget about you, it’s simply because you forget about everyone.
    • If no one remind you, it’s because you don’t remind anybody.

    To make friends, start treating people like friends.
    Treat your customers the same way you’ll treat a friend. Lit you eyes when you see them, recall their name, remember what they said last time to you, ask about their news based on previous conversations, and share what is hot and what is not hot list, and ultimately  invite for a beer or any other entertainment.

    In average a person has 11 to 12 intimate contacts, 150 social contacts and from 500 to 1500 weak ties. Look what will happen to your business if you succeed in the next 12 months to have 12 to 15 intimate friends in the business category you are playing or in your ideal clients list :

    Number of Intimate Friends

    Intimate friends of your Friends(x12)

    Social contacts of your Friends (x150)

    Weak ties of your Friends (x1500)

    Potential reach through your Friends network

    1

    12

    150

    1 500

    1 663

    2

    24

    300

    3 000

    3 326

    3

    36

    450

    4 500

    4 989

    4

    48

    600

    6 000

    6 652

    5

    60

    750

    7 500

    8 315

    6

    72

    900

    9 000

    9 978

    7

    84

    1 050

    10 500

    11 641

    8

    96

    1 200

    12 000

    13 304

    9

    108

    1 350

    13 500

    14 967

    10

    120

    1 500

    15 000

    16 630

    11

    132

    1 650

    16 500

    18 293

    12

    144

    1 800

    18 000

    19 956

    13

    156

    1 950

    19 500

    21 619

    14

    168

    2 100

    21 000

    23 282

    15

    180

    2 250

    22 500

    24 945

    If you succeed to have 15 intimate Friends inside your business industry or from your ideal clients list, you could reach up to 24 945 contacts, without measuring the cascading effect.

    Go ahead and make Friends and Succeed wildly. Good luck.

    Apr
    19

    By

    The Power of Friendship in Business.

    Category: Business Strategy, Conversation, customer relationship, leadership, Linkcrafter, Winner Choice Tags: , , , , , , Leave a Comment

    “The highest form of public relations is human relations. People buy from friends, so it’s crucial to make the human bond before you can make a lasting business bond.  Always Develop The Human Bond Before The Business Bond”. Jay Conrad Levinson

    To succeed in business as in life you need to make Friends. Your success depends on the number of friends you made.

    For businesses owners it means you need to Turn more strangers, prospects and customers into Friends.

    In average a person has 11 to 12 intimate contacts, 150 social contacts and from 500 to 1500 weak ties. By using the Law of the few you could build your customers base very quickly and sustainably.

    The Law of the few in marketing states that 90% of your present customers are brought to you by 10% of your contacts (customers, prospects, friends or strangers) who like you. These people are your  Natural advocates.

    As Al Haberstroh from MontAd “Every business that has any reason for existing has “natural advocates”. These are the consumers for whom your business fills a real need in their lives. If you are good, you fill that need better then your competitors. These are also the customers who deliver your greatest profit.”

    What you need to do once you have  a clear idea of your natural advocates profile is to focus ALL Your marketing effort on reaching and befriending 100% of them. Maybe not 100%, but as much as you can.

    The power fo natural advocates, contrary to sponsored advocates, is their authenticity and their  belonging to social networks that are more close to your ideal customers profile. They are very infectious and the Buzz they start are 7 times likely to convert in sales, and in more loyal customers, than an advertising.

    How do you  identify  your natural advocates and befriend them?

    There is no single answer to this question, but we know from experience that “Great business relationships happen in between the transaction.” Tim Andren

    Befriending your contacts (strangers, prospects and customers) will depend HOW you keep in contact with them after THE first  transaction or interaction.

    Most businesses people don’t know how to keep in touch with their contacts after a transaction or a first interaction. The main question they ask is “what to tell them?” ( if they are scrupulous enough not to Spam them with advertising after a transaction or a first interaction).

    We have  built Linkcrafter to help businesses to solve this crucial marketing problem. Linkcrafter is based on the IRaaS concept. It works by helping organization to offer “Information as a Gift ™ ” to strangers, friends, customers and contacts.

    Wikipedia defines “a gift or a present as the transfer of something, without the need for compensation that is involved in trade. A gift is a voluntary act which does not require anything in return. Even though it involves possibly a social expectation of reciprocity, or a return in the form of prestige or power, a gift is meant to be free.”

    To be powerful a gift needs two more features that could be seen as completely the opposite of each other: being expected and a surprise at the same time.

    A good gift should be :

    • a voluntary act of transfer of something without the need for compensation
    • expected (it may fit a need that is unstated or known from a casual conversation
    • a surprise, being unsuspected from the giver at the moment of the gift was.

    Information as a Gift ™ has these three characteristics.