After a few email exchanges to determine how she was approaching clients, I was a bit stunned to learn the way Donna was going about it. In a nutshell, she would send her clients thank you notes and include about a dozen of her business cards, asking them to hand them out to others who might need her services.

Yikes!

Now, let me first say that the thank you note is a great idea. But the sincerity of appreciation is kind of kicked to the curb by asking the client for something in return. At the very minimum, when asking for referrals keep the same client-benefit perspective in mind that you had when you first attracted the client to you.

Donna is a seamstress, so here are just three things she might do differently:

1.  Use “give to get” enticements.

Instead of enclosing business cards, Donna could enclose a few small postcards that offer a 20% discount on services – for BOTH the referrer (your client) and the referral (your potential client).

The message she would be sending would say, “thank you” in a beneficial way by giving something to get something: the offer benefits your client, and it allows that client to pass on a benefit to someone else.

2. Partner with a complementary business.

Donna’s business would share clientele with (without being a direct competitor of) a nearby dry cleaning service. The two businesses could simply agree to place business cards at each others’ place of business. Better yet, they could each print up discount coupons for customers to take.

3. Propose a direct mail joint venture with a complementary business.

Donna could seek out one or more complementary businesses (like the dry cleaner) to propose sharing the costs of a promotional mailing. Each business contributes an equal number of contact addresses and they share the printing and mailing costs.

Asking for referrals doesn’t have to be elaborate and it doesn’t have to be difficult but it does have to be well thought out. Think through the process and place yourself in the other person’s chair. What would entice YOU to pass along a referral? Then act and react so that it becomes effortless and profitable.

We give it out to (almost) anyone who asks for it.

We conduct research and gather valuable information with it.

We rely on it for communication with associates, friends and family.

“It” is e-mail. And there’s no denying that e-mail is as common of a communication tool as telephones — maybe even moreso. Regardless of whether or not you have a Web site, if you are NOT using e-mail marketing for your products and services, you are ignoring a very low cost (and often no cost!) marketing tactic with high-return (and profit) potential. Why not squeeze every ounce of communicative powers e-mail has when dealing with clients and customers?

How? By using this easy four-step process:

Step 1. Develop a list of Frequently Asked Questions

Every business receives telephone calls from customers/clients or potential customers/clients asking for the same information over and over again. Retailers get questions like “Where is the business located?”; “What are your store hours?”; “Do you sell such-n-such brand name?”; “What is your return policy”, etc. Service businesses field calls asking for a description of services, pricing, and credentials or references.

Make a list of the calls your business gets most often and use this list to document these frequently asked questions – along with the answers.

Step 2.  Add an opening and closing paragraph to each document.

For each response:

1. Add an opening paragraph that specifically thanks the customer/client for requesting the information,
2. Provide the information, and
3. Add a closing paragraph that, again, thanks them for requesting the information.

Sign off with a specific contact name and phone number with an invitation to contact you directly for further assistance, to place an order, set up a meeting, or whatever else might be a “next step” to continue the communication. If you have a Web site, be sure to list it here and invite readers to visit it to find out more about the company, products, services, you, etc.

Step 3.  Develop a follow-up e-mail.

Just as you would initiate a follow-up phone call with a prospect, so should you prepare a follow up e-mail. Prepare a message to be sent a day or two (or longer depending on the information requested) after the first one. This e-mail should ask recipients if they received the requested information and if there are further questions you can answer. This would also be an appropriate time to announce a current special or sale, offer a limited-time-only discount, or introduce a referral program.

Step 4. Create a computer file containing the questions and answers.

Set up a folder on your computer that contains as many Q & A documents and follow up e-mails that make sense for your business. Some of the information may be best combined into one document, like store location and business hours. Other documents will require separate files.

The objective is to be able to easily access these response files so you can quickly send them to people asking for the information.

Once you have these documents ready for use, USE THEM! The next time you get a phone call asking for information you have created in your Q&A file, you can say, “I’d be delighted to give you that information. Do you have e-mail? I can send it to you right away!”

As your list of email addresses grows, so does the opportunity to reach a targeted group of current and potential customers with updates, promotions, or special offers. This kind of list is a small business marketer’s goldmine. Start building your list today!

Note: The above article is an excerpt from a more in-depth how-to for using this marketing tactic. The remainder of the article can be found in “29 Ways to Increase Profits and Productivity” – the FREE eBook available by entering your name and email address in the above right-hand box.

The best advisory boards are made up of business owners and professionals who will ALL benefit from its formation. Here’s how to put one together:

Itemize the “give and take.”

Make two lists: one of the skills and expertise that you have to offer others, and another of the skills and expertise that you need (from others) to better operate your own business.

For instance, are you a whiz at dreaming up great promotions but a bust at understanding the tax laws that affect your business? Can you cold call with the best of them, but unsure of how to put together an impressive client presentation?

Knowing what your strengths are and where your weaknesses fall will help to determine whom to approach about forming your mutually beneficial advisory board.

Seek out potential board members.

Finding your board members may be easier than you think.

Do you belong to an association or the local chamber of commerce? Don’t just attend the meetings – network to find good board member candidates and to spread the word about what you’re trying to accomplish. Ask contacts for other names of entrepreneurs, chief executive officers of small, privately held companies or consultants to small businesses. Talk to your banker, vendors or accountant and ask them for leads. Review the business section of your local newspaper or specific business listings from the yellow pages of a telephone directory.

Contact each prospective member individually.

Once you’ve chosen candidates, call each one to introduce yourself, discuss your objectives and determine mutual benefits of forming the board. If you do not personally know the individual, invite him/her to lunch to get acquainted. Tell prospective board members about your business, market and specific challenges. Invite them to tour your offices and meet your employees. Give them your company brochure and relevant industry information.

Know what you want to accomplish.

How often you meet will be determined by what you want to accomplish. There may be times when one-on-one meetings will be more productive, but schedule full board meetings no less than quarterly to solicit input and feedback about your specific business objectives, progress and accomplishments. Remember that members are there to ADVISE you, not to do the work FOR you. While you may eventually decide to barter for services with other members, that is a separate action from the intent and purpose of an advisory board, and should be negotiated outside of the board meetings.

Be prepared to get what you ask for.

Understand that when you ask for advice, honest feedback and others’ opinions, criticism will often creep into the mix. Suppress your natural reflex to defend your actions, listen to your peers and use the information constructively.

Final thoughts . . .

If an advisory board sounds too formal for your fledgling business, but you still need access to one-on-one expert advice, contact the nearest chapter of SCORE. This organization of retired executives can prove to be an excellent resource to help answer your questions and connect you with free or low-cost resources.

Most of us find ourselves in the typical entrepreneurial Catch-22. If business is on the upswing, you’re working long hours to meet deadlines and keep customers happy. If business is shaky, you spend as many or more hours just trying to find new solutions to bring business up. Yet, whether you are struggling to revive a sluggish bottom line or trying to keep up with an unplanned surge of customer demands, you need to take a step back, reassess your challenges and make room for the solutions to come to you instead of you trying to find them.

What the heck does THAT mean?

It means that your mind, your business day and your life have become so crammed with day-to-day, hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute worries about NOT finding the “glue” to hold things together that there’s no room to allow your creative, natural instinct for resolve to get through.

You’ve buried your can-do attitude under a pile of can’t-do excuses.

Let me ask you this …

Have you ever wrestled with trying to remember the name of a person or a place and the harder you think about it, you just can’t come up with the name? You get all around it … you can name that person’s spouse and kids, recall how you first met, where you were at the time and, perhaps, be able to give a perfect recitation of your first conversation. But you can’t remember that person’s name!

Then, suddenly later that day as you’re watching the news or reading a book, or in the middle of the night … voila! The name comes to you out of nowhere.

Now think about how this same of concept of distraction applies in your own business …. You solve your clients’ problems every day, yet, your own seem to be building a barrier between you and your next step forward. That’s because you are detached from your client’s biggest problems but you are engulfed by your own. You bring new perspective to your clients’ problems; you bring only your own emotional perspective to your own.

It’s time to create a PURPOSEFUL distraction (a.k.a. take a vacation) to challenge your business perspective. I like to call this “positive vacationing” because a vacation from business-as-usual usually results in new and positive revelations on how to conquer the challenges that previously seemed monumental.

Here’s an example of how the power of positive vacationing has worked for me.

The last vacation my husband and I took was to the coast of Maine. I came back with two new book ideas and a marketing strategy for one of my clients that brought in phenomenal business for her grand opening.

The book ideas were sparked by a casual conversation I had with the owner of a small restaurant we visited for a late afternoon lunch. The marketing strategy was the result of putting a new twist on a tactic I noticed being used in a newspaper ad by a small coastal retail shop.

My husband came home with a new idea on how to expand his business. Yup, you guessed it — another inspiration from “purposeful distraction”. While taking a foot tour of a quaint coastal town, he noticed the signage on one of the Main Street storefronts and an add-on service idea for his own business just popped into his head.

Just as importantly, we both came back with gorgeous photographs taken while driving from Bar Harbor to Kennibunkport and the taste of fresh Maine lobster still in our mouths. Other benefits?

• We spent valuable time together away from home and business.
• We’re more interesting to our friends and family because we have more than just business to talk about when we get together.
• We’re more energized and interested in our clients and our businesses.
• We both found solutions to some challenging aspects of our individual businesses without even looking for them.

Set the stage to reenergize your business using purposeful distraction — take a vacation. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, expensive or even very far away. And it can even be a working vacation if you set some ground rules.

Your reenergized spirit will show in the way you feel about yourself, relate to your family, and treat your clients, employees, associates and vendors.

I love that stuff. It’s amazing. It’s magic.

But it wasn’t until I tried to learn a few simple magic tricks myself that I discovered the key to such effortless success. It didn’t come from the words being uttered, or the brand of top hat being used, or the type of cape being flung … those are just the props and tools of the trade. The success of the magic comes from  something we don’t see on stage … the endless hours of repetitive practice. Even simple slight of hand isn’t really simple … it is practiced and perfected before it is ever performed. The resulting trick performed to an audience must become seemingly effortless and automatic. It can be re-choreographed. It can be reinvented. Yet, the success is in being able to do it over and over again; not in being able to do it once every third or fourth try.

Can you guess where I’m going with this in how it relates to your business?

You are the magician of your business, and your customers are your audience.

Your customers are the ones who pay to receive whatever you promise to deliver. Whether it is a magic show, a product, or a service, you owe your audience (customers) an experience they’ll want to have over and over again.

The goal of simplicity begins with focused, rehearsed, and perfected behind-the-scenes work to achieve consistency.

Give your customers consistency, and you’ll solidify loyalty.

If you embellish with a few magic words and a prop or two, that’s great – but if you aren’t consistent, your audience (customers) won’t be loyal enough to keep paying the entry fee to see your show, or buy your products and services.

My long time followers of my former ezine and this blog know that consistency is my droning mantra of just about everything I write or try to advise on. And I’ll continue to drone on and on about it because it holds tremendous value to the ongoing success of your business.

Many of us focus on the props – promotions, signage, advertising – yes, these things are extremely important to attract people to your services and products. But if you are not delivering consistency to your customers and clients who are attracted to your props, they will not come back for more. Roughly 80% of your sales will come from 20% of your customers. That’s right, long-term success is in repeat business, not in pulling in new customers with gags and gimmicks only to have them leave after the first show.

Build consistency into your business by remembering the magician.

An audience may be dazzled by the words, hats, and capes, but if the tiger doesn’t disappear every single time, that audience won’t likely come back to see a second show.

Specific marketing techniques are not exclusive to either offline or online businesses … and that’s the GOOD news for those of us who have previously relied on expensive direct mail and advertising campaigns that quickly suck the life out of a marketing budget!

Here are just five profit-building reasons to use online tactics as one of your targeted marketing methods:

1.  Cheap, Cheap, Cheap!

When it comes to costs, online marketing can’t be beat. You can test a promotion, get results, and then tweak and test again – all in a matter of days – and for a fraction of the cost of a direct mail campaign. Once tested, your final campaign is launched and, again, within a matter of days, you’ll have results.

What typical direct mail campaign can offer that?

2.  Hands-off Personalized Attention

I suppose you could argue that it’s contradictory to say you can be ‘hands off’ while still giving personalized attention, yet it bears some truth. Ever wish you could make personal calls to all of your customers or clients whenever you had something new or fabulous to tell them? Email lets you do that. A personal letter from you with timely information, valuable offers, and helpful tips is convenient for you to write and send, and convenient for your customers and clients to receive. Personalize each email with the customer’s name, and you have a simple, hands-off, time-saving contact with each and every one of your customers.

3.  A Virtual Upselling Machine

How would you like a salesperson that flawlessly performs upsells and back end products/service sales without demanding the lion’s share of commission? Online marketing is your answer. It can become a highly successful back-end product (or service) promoter that piles repeat sales at your doorstep. With a little upfront planning, you can create a virtual “sales force” that does all the follow up and promotion for you. Your customers open and read your offers or visit your website when it is convenient for them – a time that they’ll be most receptive to your message.

4.  No-Brainer, Instant Referrals

Have you ever tried to initiate a referral program with your customers? In the print-and-paper world, it’s expensive, and it requires your customers to take action – the kind of action that needs a conscious effort, like handing someone a promotional offer or “chatting you up” around the office water cooler. Even your biggest fans will unlikely carry through on their good intentions. It’s just not their priority for the day. With email, a referral is often as easy as the click of a “forward” button to their personal email list. All you have to do is provide them with a product or service they’d gladly recommend, and ask them to do it. No cost. No hassle. No brainer.

5. “Set It and Forget It” Automated Marketing

If you’re like me, you don’t have time to continuously oversee every intricate step of a timely, well-executed marketing campaign. And most of you already know I’m a huge fan of using business systems to free up time and keep overhead costs low. I want to “set it and forget it” – and that’s exactly what you can do with your email campaigns and online marketing efforts. Systematic implementation lets you do all the planning upfront, set it in place, and let ‘er rip!

How much easier can marketing get?