Resources For The Community

Marketing Tips, Book Reviews and Other Information to Help You Build your Practice

Create More Word of Mouth Business

By Jennifer Lewy, Marketing Writer and Coach

How do most clients find you? If you’re like many small businesses providing professional services, it’s by word of mouth. When clients get a referral to your practice, they’re ready to work with you because you’re someone they “know.” And you have more success working with them, because they have a pretty good idea about what they’re looking for.

With strong word-of-mouth business, you’ll reduce the amount of energy and money you spend on advertising, networking, and other “direct outreach” strategies (but never give these up entirely).

But don’t assume that referrals to your practice simply happen…you could be missing the boat on a major opportunity. Consider these easy tips for actively building word of mouth business.

1. Provide excellent service. This is the bottom line: provide excellent service, and clients will be more inclined to send referrals your way. Do you regularly respond to inquiries within 24 hours? Do you have a pleasant, professional place to see clients? Are you comfortable presenting your services and fees? If you don’t offer prompt, professional service that delights your clients, focus on this area first.

2. Sum up your services in a few words. Don’t let clients and colleagues guess about how to describe your services. This increases the chances that you’ll be misrepresented in front of others.  So come up with a few words to describe exactly what you do. What clients do you work with and how do you address their problems? Don’t worry about catchy tag lines here. Just make sure you have a short description that stresses the solutions you provide to others.

3. Give referrals. When you refer clients to other professionals, it’s very likely that they’ll refer clients to you. So generously provide referrals to other professionals who also provide excellent service. Don’t forget to follow up to make sure they know you’ve referred a client.

Build a wide contact network so you can easily and often make referrals to others. Keep a detailed list or database of your professional contacts. This could include other local businesses, colleagues, competitors, organizations and professional groups.

4. Ask for referrals. Happy clients will sing about your services. But don’t assume this will happen – give clients regular reminders to spread the word. Keep a stack of business cards in your treatment rooms and front office area, and hand a few to clients at the end of each session. Ask them if they could give your cards to friends who might benefit from your services. Or print up a pile of referral discount coupons to have on hand (more on this below). If you have a website or eZine, make it easy for visitors to forward information about your services to others.

5. Reward and acknowledge referrals. Give a “thank you discount” to clients who send more business your way. Make sure clients know about this discount by printing it on your appointment cards, brochure, website and other marketing materials.

6. Reach out to new referring partners. Check out your phone book, networking group or local trade organizations for professionals that might be good referral partners. Contact them with an invitation (“We may be able to help each other get more clients…”). Find out as much as possible about their business. Ask what type of clients they are looking for, and explain what type of clients you are looking for. You might even exchange marketing literature that is easy to display or make available to clients (i.e., tear-off cards, brochures, fact sheets). Thank your new referral partners for every referral.

Need help getting a handle on your referral strategy? Contact Jennifer Lewy at 617.922.0098 or jen@zenmarketing.net  for a free consultation to discuss your marketing situation. For more free tips on attracting new clients, streamlining your workload and building a business you love, visit www.ZenMarketing.net. 

Book Review

Respectfully reviewed by Harvey Zarren, M.D., F.A.C.C.

The China Study

Authors: T. Colin Campbell, PhD  With Thomas M. Campbell II

BENBELLA BOOKS, Dallas, Texas ISBN 1-932100-38-5   January 2005.

In his book, The China Study, T. Colin Campbell, PhD clearly demonstrates the links between nutrition and the common diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, multiple sclerosis, diabetes mellitus, Alzheimer's disease, cataracts and macular degeneration. Whether you are a health professional or a layperson, I recommend that if you read only one book on nutrition and health, be sure it’s this one!

Dr. Campbell is Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University and has received more than seventy grant-years of peer-reviewed research funding and has authored more than 300 research papers. He wrote The China Study because he believes that what people eat largely determines their health and because he seeks to put order to  the enormous amount of nutritional misinformation existing today.

Unlike other nutrition books created to sell a particular nutrition program or a menu of food items or supplements, I found The China Study , fairly reported, using Dr. Campbell’s own and others' research. The author uses his experience in the field of nutrition to explain the workings of government, commercial interest, academic organizations and individuals who have both contributed to and created the confusion around nutritional knowledge and the vitamin and supplement industries.

Finally, Dr, Campbell explains why a plant-based diet of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and variety makes eminent sense for health, longevity and an improved healthcare burden on our society.  He couples knowledge with his inherent faith in the wisdom of individuals to make good choices if presented with clearly stated facts.

I recommend that you read this book! It clarifies the confusion that pits industry, government and healthcare prejudice against common sense and the experience of medical professionals like me who have watched simple, healthy plant-based nutrition create miraculous change in very ill individuals.

If you read nothing else during 2005, read The China Study by T. Colin Campbell; available in hardcover from BENBELLA BOOKS, through www.amazon.com  and other retailers.  It is a book of hope.  Believe that you can make a very real difference in your quality of life and health through nutrition. It might save your life!