Get More Referrals

If you are like most firms then the majority of your business will come from word of mouth referrals. Well not really. There’s a fundamental difference between word of mouth and referral. Word of mouth is not intentional, it’s almost accidental referral. Yes you want it as its usually good news about you and you’ll get it by doing a good job and have a great product or service. But lets’ focus on true referrals. It’s here that you need a formal and systematic approach to get those referrals. Here’s a few ideas.

1.   Referral Links
Get your web site listed on other sites – it’s called referral linking and Google loves them!  It makes your site more important in its eyes and that puts you further up its ratings. You can find out which sites link to yours by going to Google and putting the following in the search field:
Site: (your domain e.g. bizvision.co.uk)

2.   Referral price
In this tactic you have a standard price say £140 but you offer a referral price of £97 if your new customer will give you 3 warmed up leads. If you have the margins then this is  a good strategy.

3.   Get Linked In
Linked In is a vastly under used yet great networking tool. Don’t just sign up but join a few group and be active in commenting within those groups. You’ll soon get referrals. Link in with me at www.linkedin.com/in/spotlearn

4.   Give out referral cards
This one is an oldie but goody! Get some specially printed referral cards that your customer can give out. Always include an offer preferably for both the giver and the receiver.

More referral ideas in another issue

There's no doubt this new era of Austerity is starting to bite into many businesses - especially those of us who are in businbess to business. Here are my 3 A's to Manage Austerity.

They are Awareness, Agility and Ability. There's a lot in each A but here's a starter for you.

AWARENESS - What are you doing about knowing what is goiung on in the business world and especially in the sectors in which your clients operate. What are their challanges and where's your opportunity. Subscribe to online news feeds to keep up to date. And at the same time start a Comp Set of your top 5 competitos and monitor them!

AGILITY - You may have, like us, to change or tweak your business model or think differently. Carillion, the big construction company, realises that road building funding is halting so they are biudding to Maintain rather than Build roads. Where do you need to be more nimble?

ABILITY - Is it time to sharpen your skills to have the ability to win business. Perhaps improve upon your presentation or negotiation skills. And don't forget to look at how you are seen or perceived by your customers. Are you giving them confidence in you?

Does this help as a starter?

Here’s a question for your thinking! Rothbury in Northumberland is just over a dozen miles away from The Achiever and BizVision offices, and as you will have seen, has been the focus this last week of intense police and media activity over the alleged gunman Raoul Moat. We’ve watched the story unfold around us and watched as the world has also followed the story.

Rothbury is a pretty town set in pretty countryside and great for walking, Harvey, our dog.

I was in Rothbury, with Harvey, this last Sunday amidst all the TV satellite vans and crews and thinking about the economic impact this story may have on the town, after all tourism and hospitality is one of our core activities here at BizVision.  I chatted to a couple of the locals who had been giving interviews on Sky and BBC, watched as crews and photographers filmed the very spot where Raoul pulled the trigger and I noticed how quiet the town was, even for a Sunday morning.

It is peak tourism season in Rothbury and it needs to make it money in these short few months of summer. I guess all the police and media will have spent money but accommodation providers were telling tales of cancellations by holidaymakers for the coming weeks.

Now the marketing or business dilemma. Does Rothbury try and keep it all quiet, hope the story will go away or does it go to the other end and capitalize on its media  focus with almost a “tour of where it happened”. My feeling is that it will all NOT die down for  a long time and there will be enquiries, anniversaries and the like and that Rothbury has got to live with it. But should it take commercial advantage? What do you think?

Out of the 500 businesses that have been to my seminars over the last two weeks, I have seen very few that have been preparing themselves to thrive in this new age of austerity. True many want new business but it seems they are almost prepared to go on being what they are at the moment instead of adapting to manage the inevitable change. Some of that may be down to not knowing what to do, what action to take or what strategy to adopt. But now is the time to do something about it!

In the current and upcoming issues of The Achiever newsletter, I am including ideas and tips and great examples in the Achievers In Austerity section. There are plenty of opportunities around if businesses are prepared to explore new channels, new markets and think laterally. Pick up the tips and please send me yours to share with other readers.

Filming at educational furniture maker, Ambic Ltd the other day, I found that they are using the quality of their product to seek new markets such as via the Home Office to equip prison cells. That's good lateral thinking and seizing the opportunity of public procurement contracts.How can you use that approach?

Your customers will be wanting more from you in measurement of yourself and one good way to do it is via a balanced business scorecard. Ours is called biz-pulse and is designed for the small and medium sized supplier. Check it out just to see the type of management indicators you need or e-mail me if you would like a set of compliance kep performance and management indicators

Watch out for more Achievers In Austerity from us here at BizVision in the UK and our worldwide learning academies at SpotLearn.com

This week will likely see another round of rash cost slashing as people and businesses react to the Budget. But the question you need to ask, or consider, is one that hangs over every cost-cutting phase and that is are you cutting enough or even too much? You need to aim for the right level of expenses or overheads. Those expenses should be for only three purposes. If you question your expnses or map them against these 3 purposes then you should be on the "right overhead" track.

In our SpotLearn Business Performance Academy we've been looking carefully at how nthese three purposes can give you a gauge or guide in cost cutting

The three purposes are:
1. Expenses that you have to incur as a result of your companies activities. These include payroll, accounting and so on. Question if those expenses are inflated by comparing them     against your leanest competitor
2. Expenses that increase your effectiveness and efficiency. Draw the line where the improvement in effectiveness doesn't pay for itself
3. Expenses that lay the basis for profitable growth. Question the level of anticipated growth.

So don't just knee-jerk react to cost slashing. Use the "three purposes" as your gauge.

In this "new" age of austerity where all the news is about cut-backs, then it is inevitable that your customers will start to use the situation to demand lower prices from you. Your challenge is to ensure that you get the order at a price that is profitable for you. To do that your customer has got to see value in choosing you rather than your competitor. Yes, you will likely have to sharpen your pencil to get your price looking attractive but there are others things you can do apart from straight and dangerous discounting.

Here is a selection taken from my SpotLearn.com Sales and Marketing Academy.

1. Are you buying better from your own suppliers -savings which you may be able to use to lower your prices?

2. Price for value:  Take a lesson from street sellers who understand better than anyone the principle of value-based pricing. Umbrella prices go up the moment it starts raining. It has nothing to do with the cost of the goods, and everything to do with the value the customer places on the product.

3. Focus on profit, not margin: Many businesses equate “high margin” with pricing success.  Maybe so, but a high margin can also point to opportunities to serve more customers by using discount tactics as well. Profit is your goal, not margin.

There's more tips in The Achiever and price and profit learning videos in the SpotLearn Academies

Ever day we see more news stories about public sector cut-backs and the state of the UK economy. I feel that those that will struggle are the mediocre businesses, the ones that have not invested in finding new markets, new products or services. Actually you meet them most days as you do business with them and then think you won't go back!! The frightening thing is that they likely don't know your feelings.

So now, more than ever, take time to know your customers thoughts about you. If you are in B to B then go and see them as a "listening day" - don't try and sell them. Instead find out their challenges, where they are going to, how they are going to get there. Also ask them which suppliers they admire and why - that will give you a good benchmark for your service levels.

This should all be part of what I call the "2 Win Factor" . It's that extra resolve to win THEIR business instead of just winning any business.

Don't just Express Interest in their contract. Instead express Serious and Enthusiastic interest. What do you think? Do you know a business that has the "2 Win Factor" ???

Buyers are being advised to be on their guard as the economic climate is forcing many suppliers to promise much more than they can deliver. This means that buyers are  not only suspicious of suppliers but are focused on their risk. I have helped firms will £millions of public procurement and supply chain contarcts and have seen many times how suppliers promise quality but let themselves down with capacity and consistency.

So how will it all pan out?

Buyers will be asking for references and then checking them out. They will want to know if you are using any subcontarctors and how reliant you are on them? Are they stable? They will want to know that the people you have promised will be the ones delivering the contract.

Here's the good news idea.

Now that you know this, why not use it to your competitive advantage. Instead of them thinking how can they limit their liability, do it for them by showing how you have identieid and minimised risk. Develop a risk matrix to include in your bid.
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Major sporting events can bring BIG business for you and not just the London 2012 Olympics. Think Commonwealth Games Glasgow 2014, Sochi Winter Olympics 2014, FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014. All these big events bring  a need for a wide range of works, goods and services as well as Sport Tourism. On the 23rd March, I'm (Malcolm Gallagher) presenting a seminar at Newcastle United FC with UKTI on winning sporting contracts. This time my chat is about how to collaborate with experienced sports business suppliers in Australia. If you would like to see some Aussie companies and perhaps collaborate with them to win public procurement and other contracts, then visit the media room on our Bizvision.co.uk website and play the video.

It's all part of our SpotLearn Supply 2 Sport brand with new learning in the SpotLearn Suppliers Academy to improve your skills on the business of sport and how to win valuable contracts.

We are soon to film interviews with Professor Chadwick of Coventry University's Centre for International Business of Sport and that should hekp you see even more cleraly the business opportunity of sport. There's a great worldwide opportunity. For example the FIFA World Cup in Brazil in 2014 where no stadia are yet to FIFA standards so 9 will hav eto be refurbished and 3 total new builds - and the Brazilians regard the British as possibly the best in the world in sports stadiums and infrastructure. Opportunity or not??!

Have you won any sports related business? Are you interested in winning more around the world? Let me know and I'll keep you informed of opportunities.

To-day I'm presenting a short seminar at a UKTI conference on Working With The Australians. I'm calling it "Oz=Opportunity"! That's because, having worked with them ( and many are currently using our SpotLearn Academy modules) I have seen a terrific enthusiasm by them for working with UKL businesses. Have a look at the video I produced which is in the media section of the BizVision or SpotLearen site and you'll see what I mean.

My personal opinion is that I am a Commonwealther, not a European. We have, in our rush to cuddle up to Europeans, forgotten our friend sin the Commonwealth. They want to do business with us, have similar values and have possibly become a forgotten asset of the UK. What do you think? Like to do business withe Aussies? Then let me know and I'll freely introduce you to around 400 companies in Australia who are members of AISES.