Marketing: It’s All About The Network (part 2)

It’s all about the network — my marketing network — your marketing network. An ever growing network of very satisfied clients who are happy to tell others about me.  Not because they’ve been asked to promote me — but because they want to do a good thing for someone else.  An ever growing network of people who know that I can be trusted to do the right thing — even though they may have never used my services.  They want to help their friends and they feel compelled to spread the word on my behalf.  Because they know that I will help their friends.

How do you build such a network?  How have I built my network? There’s no better way to build a relationship of trust, no faster way than to do it in person.  Yes you can do that online with the social network sites–but it takes much longer, and it’s not nearly as powerful or effective.  Here are a few tips to help build your marketing network:

• Approach everyone with an attitude of service.  Regardless of the situation, whether it’s a client, a prospect or someone you’ve met in a networking situation:  Always let them know directly that you first want to help them in some way.  Listen to them,  Really listen!!  If nothing else, they’ll come away thinking you are a marvelous person because you listened to their needs before you tried to sell them or tell them about yourself.
• When you are in your business environment always let them know that your first objective is to help solve their problem.  Even if it means less business for you.
• Always deliver more than you promise and more than they expect.  There’s no better way to get more business than to increase sales to your existing clients.  If they always get more than they expected–they’ll come back for more.
• Customers who are so satisfied with your work want to tell their friends.  Not because they want to help you, but because they want to help their friends.  Good people have a desire to help others.  Very satisfied customers are your best marketing tool.  And instead of costing you money for marketing — they pay you for your services and send you more business.
• Once you’ve made contact with someone in person and started to develop the relationship, then use technology to keep in touch with them.  But don’t forget it’s all about communication.  It’s all about being of service to them first–offering value to them in every contact you make.  Based upon your time and business situation, you should keep in touch with them using the following methods: 1) Meeting in person, 2) By telephone, 3) A personal note or card, 4) Email–personally, 5) Bulk email or newsletter, 6) Social networking.  A good contact database is very important and I’ll discuss that in another article.

Your best Marketing Effort will be to build a network of people who know you, people who like you and people who trust you!! Building that trust is all about your relationship with them.  It’s all about being of service to them first.  Then they will want to be of service to their friends and to you.  Start today and never stop building your network.  Build your circle of influence–like ripples from a drop of water in a pond.  Marketing is all about the network!  It’s all about your network.

Have a Great Day,

Rusty Lee