Michael D. Goodman

Author: Michael D. Goodman

Prepare for Lift Off!

Posted on October 26, 2022 by Michael D. Goodman

Last time I gave you a laundry list of tips and tricks you can use to make your word-of-mouth program work for you. Hopefully, you’ve taken a look and decided which ones are the best fit for your company, products, services, and target customers, so you can put them to work in your word-of-mouth campaign.

We are going to wrap up this series on word of mouth where we give you the specific steps to create a word-of-mouth campaign.

Now, let’s take a look at those steps:

Seed the market. Find some way to get the product into the hands of key influencers.
Provide a channel for the influencers to talk and get all fired up about your product.
Offers lots of testimonials and other resources.
Form an ongoing group that meets once a year in a resort and once a month by teleconference.
Create fun events to bring users together and invite non-users. Saturn, Harley-Davidson, and Lexus have all been successful with this approach.
Develop clips on your website featuring enthusiastic customers talking with other enthusiastic customers.
Hold seminars and workshops.
Create a club with membership benefits.
Pass out flyers.
Tell friends.
Offer special incentives and discounts for friends who tell their friends.
Put the Internet to work.
Do at least one outrageous thing to generate word of mouth.
Empower employees to go the extra mile.
Encourage networking and brainstorming ideas.
Run special sales.
Encourage referrals with the use of a strong referral program.
Use a script to tell people exactly what to say in their word-of-mouth communication.

These are all amazing ways you can get the word out about your products and services and start a word-of-mouth campaign that takes on a life of its own. Before you can release your word-of-mouth campaign out into the world, you need to go through the checklist to make sure you’ve covered all the essentials.

Here’s your word-of-mouth campaign checklist:

Are all of your communications sending the same simple message? If it can’t survive word of mouth, it’s not a compelling story.
Is your product positioned as part of a category? Ex.”A dandruff shampoo that doesn’t dry your hair.”
Are your examples outrageous enough to be shared?
Do you enhance your materials with success stories from real people?
Are you using experts effectively and in an objective manner?
Have you created mechanisms so people can follow up on the word of mouth they hear, as well as simple ways of inquiring or ordering?
Have you made the decision process easy for customers?
Have you created events and mechanisms so that once a year your prospects hear about your product, and it is easier to try or buy?

These are all essential elements to keep in mind when taking a second or even third check over your word-of-mouth campaigns. I hope you’ve found this series on word of mouth to be a great resource and are getting ready to put it into action for your own products and services.

Remember, if you need help with anything in this series, try our FREE test drive to gain access to the best resources, tools, and business coaches you can find.

Put it to Work!

Posted on October 24, 2022 by Michael D. Goodman

In the last post, we talked about how to conduct word-of-mouth research and then put that research to work. Today we’re going to give you some great tried and true ways to use word of mouth when building and executing your campaign.

We’ve done it in a list form, so you can go through and highlight the ones you want to put into action. These are offered by George Silverman which you can find in his amazing book The Secrets of Word of Mouth Marketing.

Here they are:

Give them something worth talking about
Cater to your initial customers shamelessly
Give them incentives to engage in word of mouth
Ask them to tell their friends
The customer is always right
Always tell the truth
Surprise the customers by giving them a little more than they expected
Give them a reason to buy, make them come back, and refuse service from anyone else other than you
Make eye contact, and smile, even through the telephone
Find ways to make doing business with you a little better: a warmer greeting, a cleaner floor, nicer lighting, a better shopping bag, extra matches, faster service, free delivery, lower prices, and more selection.
Never be annoyed when a customer asks you to change a large bill even if he doesn’t buy anything.
The customer is your reason for being. Never take her for granted. If you do, she will never come back and will go straight to your competition.
Always dust off items, but never let the customer see you doing it.
Never embarrass a customer, especially by making him feel ignorant.
Never answer a question coming from a desire to show how smart you are. Answer with a desire to help the customer make the best decision.
Never shout across the store, “How much are these condoms?” or anything about the personal items a customer is buying.
When you don’t know, say so. Do whatever you can to find out the answer.
Every customer is special. Try to remember their names.
Don’t allow known shoplifters into the store.
Don’t ever let two sales staff talk when a customer is waiting. The worst thing you can do is count your cash while a customer is waiting.
If you can suggest something better, they will be grateful. Always respect their choice.
Never pressure anyone into buying anything.
Never knowingly give bad advice. Just help people come to the right decision.
Personally visit the store of the competition or assign people to visit and report back to you.
Hire a shopping service to prepare periodic reports on how your people are treating your customers.
If you hear of a store where the management is insulting the customers, buy it, then put up the sign “Under New Management” outside. Then sell it later based on the increased sales.
One expert (in the drugstore’s case, a nurse or physician) who is convinced you are better brings hundreds of customers and their friends through word of mouth.
Always look for ways to make a stranger a customer.
People will walk several blocks to save a dollar, see a smile, or be treated right.
Always run a sale promotion or an offbeat event. Make them come back to see what you are cooking up next.
Use the best sign-maker you can find and pay him more than anybody else.
If someone is mad at you, they will tell everyone who will listen for as long as they are angry, maybe even longer. So correct any dissatisfaction, and ask customers to send their friends.
Treat your employees and salespeople who sell to you the same way you treat your customers.
Have a zero-error system. There may be terrible consequences for example if a mistake is made filling a prescription. Have people check each other’s work for safety.
Occasionally make intentional mistakes to see if people are checking.
Always measure your performance.
Always ask a customer to “come back soon”
If customers say they are moving away, offer to send them their favorite items by mail.
Tell jokes.

I know this is a lot of information to digest so we’re going to wrap up this lesson and leave you with the homework of going through and taking a look at the tips and tricks you like best. Also, look for tips that fit your company, products, services, and target customers for the most effectiveness.

If you need help with this process, try our FREE test drive and get all the help you need from our experienced business coaches.

Search & Implement

Posted on October 21, 2022 by Michael D. Goodman

People only remember the extraordinary, strange, wild, surprising, and unusual. You need to make sure your ideas and marketing reflect these reactions. This doesn’t mean you have to have a product or service that is completely out of the norm, in fact, this could easily drive customers away. You need to have a product or service that is high quality and easily marketable, then you need to market it as extraordinary and new.

As you research word of mouth, there are some questions you need to ask along the way:

What are the users willing to tell the non-users?

Exactly how do your customers describe your product?
What are the non-users willing to ask the users?
What are the things they need to know, but are unwilling to ask?
What happens when these issues are raised?
Exactly what do your prospects have to know in order to trigger purchases?
Exactly how do your customers answer the objections, concerns, and qualms of your prospects?
How do your customers persuade their friends to use your product?
How do your customers suggest they initially get to know or try your product?
What warnings, safeguards, tips, and suggestions do your customers suggest to your prospects?
Are your sales messages, positioning, and important facts about your product getting through and surviving word of mouth?
What messages do you need to inject into the marketplace in order to turn the tide in your favor and how will you deliver them?

There are two main reasons why word-of-mouth research is so important:

To get a real impression and feedback from customers
To define word of mouth itself and the concept it creates

There is a simple formula that can help you conduct your word-of-mouth research. It’s called the “2-2-2” model.

2-2-2- Model

What this breaks down to is:

2 groups of customers
2 focus groups of prospects
2 mixed groups (enthusiasts & skeptics)

In these groups you need to ask the following questions:

What would you tell a friend?
How would you persuade a skeptic?
What questions would you anticipate from a skeptic?
How would you answer their objections?

The best way to conduct these groups is by teleconference. This ensures you’ll get a good variety of demographics for your customers and potential customers. It also allows people to feel safe and more able to express their true feelings. These teleconferences should not be conducted by you, but by an independent party to avoid adding pressure to the situation.

We’re going to transition a bit and talk about how to construct a word-of-mouth campaign. First, we’ll talk a look at the essential ingredients you need to put together a campaign. These ingredients are:

A superior product
A way of reaching key influencers in your marketplace
A cadre of experts willing to bat for you
A large number of enthusiastic consumers
A way of reaching the right prospects
One or more compelling stories that people will want to tell to illustrate your product’s superiority
A way to substantiate, prove, or back up your claims and how the product will work in the real world
A way for people to have direct, low-risk experience, a demo, sample, or free trial
A way of reducing overall risk, an ironclad guarantee

Once you have those ingredients ready to use, you should consider the situations in which your company can benefit from a strong word-of-mouth program. Some of these situations are:

When there are credibility problems
When there are breakthroughs
When there are marginal improvements
Where the product has to be tried in large numbers or over time
Where there is a high risk of trying the product
With older or mature products that have a new story that people tend to ignore
With unfair competitive practices such as spreading rumors, or telling lies about your product
When there are governmental or other restrictions on what you may say or claim directly

While most of the word-of-mouth tactics are positive for your word-of-mouth program, there are a few products to avoid using in this program. They are:

Products where a seminar would not provide meaningful added value
Products that can’t be tried and where there is no consensus among experts
Products that are clearly inferior, without having a compensating superiority for similar products
Products that are so personal or emotional that rational discussion is irrelevant to the decision
For products where the decision value is so small (low price/low volume) the medium will not be cost-effective.

This wraps up this post on word-of-mouth research and how that research can be used when putting together your word-of-mouth campaign. If you need help with the research and a plan to use the results of that research, try our FREE test drive to get all the help you need with our top-notch resources and tools.

Science of the Memes

Posted on October 7, 2022 by Michael D. Goodman

Today I’d like to discuss the science of memes and how spreading ideas around and through society is ingrained in humans.

Memes

This refers to the types of ideas that spread the fastest through society, why they spread fast and how that affects consumerism. You can use this same information to create a lasting positive impression about your company, products, and services. People are more likely to try a new product or service when they feel protected and reassured by the masses.

It’s been determined that spreading ideas is essential to the survival of a society. There are 5 main situations where this occurs. They are:

Crisis
Mission
Problem
Danger
Opportunity

Think of evangelism. This is a prime example of people not only spreading the word but convincing people to jump on board and start to spread the word themselves. To do this effectively, you need to incorporate a few key things that always catch people’s eye:

News
Unique Results
The Unusual
Helping Others
Secrets

Next, we are going to switch gears a little and talk about viral marketing. While traditional marketing can be used to your advantage, the reality is viral and online marketing is the king of the castle. You can spread the word online like the plague if you know what to do. Here are some simple steps to do this:

Find an interesting idea
Make it easy for people to experience or trial
Spread the idea while people who are in close contact with others
Take advantage of existing communication methods
Develop the way of trying your product in such a way that it automatically draws more try-ers

Some great places to use viral marketing are:

Geocities
Amazon
Roger Wilco
YouTube
Facebook Messenger
Instagram Messenger
TikTok
Gmail
“Tell A Friend” Buttons
E-Greeting Cards

There are six things everyone should be doing to benefit from word of mouth on the Internet:

Put WOM components on your website.
Assign people to monitor your viral marketing.
Place testimonials in different places on your website to walk a customer through the purchasing cycle.
Set up an email marketing campaign.
Stay up to date on what products and services the experts in your industry are recommending.
Use your website to demonstrate the great ways people are using or finding success with your products and services.

This wraps up the lesson on traditional and viral marketing. If you need help putting together any of the plans or successes in this lesson, try our FREE test drive to get all the help you need to put these plans into action.

DECODING WOM MESSAGES

Posted on October 5, 2022 by Michael D. Goodman

Today’s lesson will talk about how word-of-mouth messages are delivered and how you can influence those messages.

There are essentially 3 methods of word of mouth:

Expert to Expert
Expert to Peer
Peer to Peer

When experts are talking about your products or service you will usually receive an amazing rush of sales and new customers, so obviously this is one of the best things that can happen. You can also help to facilitate this by offering free products to experts for them to review.

Expert opinion can also bring about new ideas that help to fuel new products, services, and operating systems within your company. If you take the time to change or develop the opinions of even a small group of experts, you will have the opportunity to help your market explode.

There is a standard word-of-mouth delivery system that, in most cases, takes a few years. But, you can speed this up in only a few weeks. The standard system is:

First impressions from an expert
Organized trial of your products or services
Pooling peer experiences

It’s important to know exactly who is advocating for your products and service. Take the time to find out who they are and reward them. While, you may already have a customer service system for filing complaints, do you have one for compiling praise? Most likely not. If you take the time to show these people appreciation, they will help take your products and services to the top.

Some of the ways you can show them appreciation are:

Invite them to a customer appreciation dinner
Offer to videotape their testimonials
Ask to interview them for feedback to improve with
Offer them a premier customer membership
Ask them to join a referral incentive program

There are lots of things you can offer your biggest fans to help spread the word about your products and services.

Conventional media has been around forever and while it can still be effective, it’s lost a little of its luster over the last few years. There are a few reasons for this:

Expensive and doesn’t necessarily return results
Boring, lacking something fresh and new
Too short of a time slot to offer enough information

While these are all true, there are ways you can make conventional media work for you. For the information to be effective, it needs to be presented in the right sequence, come from the right sources, be relevant to the target customer, be credible, and be delivered at the right time in the medium.

We’re going to switch gears a little and talk about the two phases of the product adoption cycle. Traditional media is great for taking you through the information stage where you can offer the information you need to your potential customers, but it’s not so great for measuring the results of those efforts.

Without these results, you can’t fine-tune your marketing and therefore can easily miss the boat and lose potential customers and waste a whole lot of money. Once a consumer has the information they need, they’ll go through a verification process as they analyze whether or not the purchase was a good one. They generally get their information through:

Direct experience with the product
Interaction with peers using the same product
Experts’ experience
Scientific journals and other resources
Independent reviews and opinions

You can accelerate this process by:

Providing your own demos and free trials
Offer them indirect experience through the experience of others
Offer a good, true story that can be passed around

Once you have the ability and can work through these concepts, you will be able to target your customers much better. If you need help with any of this along the way, try our FREE test drive to gain access to our experienced business coaches

WOM Meets Customers Head-On

Posted on September 23, 2022September 23, 2022 by Michael D. Goodman

Today we’ll cover the idea of shortening your customers’ decision-making process with positive word of mouth. There are essentially 5 stages in the decision-making process.

They are:

Give the product a chance and transition from a “no” to a “maybe”.
Check out the options and investigate the different products available.
Observe the product to check for potential benefits, features, and operations to see if there is a fit with their needs.
Become a customer and purchase their first item. They will discriminate with their first product as they form their opinion of you.
Purchase again and starts spreading positive word of mouth as an advocate of your products.

So, let’s take a closer look at each one of these.

From “No” to “Maybe”

This stage is really important because if your potential customers don’t even take a second look at your products and services, then you have no chance of sealing a deal. This is why you need to offer credible information and well-thought-out pricing, guarantees, and incentives.

Investigating Your Products

At this stage, they are taking a closer look at your product line to see if there is actually anything that could benefit their life. This is where you need to make sure your card information is right out there in front for the customers to see and compare.

Trial Period

Customers often feel more at ease and ready to purchase when there is some sort of a trial in place. They usually want to try vicariously through someone else, so they don’t feel any risk involved. A good way to offer this is through demo videos, product demonstrations, or a tour of your facilities. This stage may invoke a reaction of “I tried it and liked it. You should check it out.”

Make a Purchase

At this stage, they have taken the risk of purchasing one of your products or services and are now evaluating how easy, convenient, cost-effective and satisfying your product or service is. At this stage, a common reaction would be, “It was really easy to use and learn from. It’s really great, you should get it!”

Advocates for your Products

At this last stage of decision making the customer is immensely pleased with your product and often keeps using it and/or comes back for more products and services. They are likely telling everyone they know how much they like it, that they use it every day and have already (or will be) back to your establishment for more.

We talked a minute ago about the different types of purchasers. Now we are going to take a closer look at their characteristics, so you can figure out which tactics are best to use at the right stage of the decision-making process.

The Innovator

Wants to stand out from the crowd
Know what’s hot and trendy
Likes “strange” or “weird” new products
Wants to be the first to try and will talk about it animatedly

Early Adopter

Driven by excellence
More concerned with possibilities than realities
Always looking to be a leader
Always looking for a new vision

Middle Majority

Wants to be perceived as competent
Concerned about practicality and easy comparisons
Needs an easy way out if not satisfied
Wants products that meet the industry standard

Late Majority

Generally skeptical and wants to know the risks upfront
Needs to shop around for the best deal
Needs a support system
Wants what everyone else has

Laggard

Needs it to be completely safe and traditional
Needs reassurance that nothing will go wrong
Won’t try new things unless it’s the last resort
Will search for loopholes and problems
Wants to use it in the standard industry way

As you can see, each type of consumer wants something just a little different depending on their personality type. The key to successful word of mouth is to target and cater to each type of consumer. If you need help identifying the types of consumers you are currently helping and how to attract the types you are lacking, try our FREE test drive for the resources and tools you need to get the job done.

Next time we’ll talk about how word-of-mouth messages are delivered and what you can do to help facilitate that.

Harness the Power of WOM

Posted on September 16, 2022 by Michael D. Goodman

Today we’re going to talk about how to harness the power of word of mouth. Including the six-step process to success and the 30+ (that’s right, I said 30) ways to harness the power of WOM. So, let’s get started!

There are six steps to harnessing word of mouth:

Understand your customers’ values and priorities; this will help you understand why they would buy your products.
Understand the different adopter types: innovators, early adopters, middle majority, late adopters, and laggards.
Identify which decision stages are needed for your product to be adopted.
Use the information from steps 2 & 3 to figure out which wording and word-of-mouth tactics are going to work using the Decision Maker Matrix (we’ll talk about this in a minute).
Put together the resources for the highest word-of-mouth impact.
Create and implement your word-of-mouth campaign.

The Decision Maker Matrix is based on years of trial and error by George Silverman. It essentially charts different concerns you may come across when working with different adapters and puts together a decision process for each one.

We are now going to move on to the 30+ ways to harness the power of WOM:

Use Experts

Experts can come in many forms and all their opinions should be taken into consideration when putting together a WOM campaign. Some experts from whom you could gather information include:

Customers
Suppliers
Subject Matter Experts
Salespeople
Experts roundtables
Experts’ selling groups

Seminars, Workshops & Speeches

These venues are a perfect opportunity to gather information. People who attend these types of events are used to giving feedback, so you can use a survey or other methods to gather the information you can look over later. Some events to use are:

Speakers Program
Seminars
Webinars
Group selling
Dinner meetings
Peer selling groups
Video conference experts’ panels
Trade show events/opportunities

Referral Selling

As we’ve talked about before, a referral program can help with a variety of things in building your business. By using some of the following tactics and opportunities you can find out exactly what you need to do to generate positive word of mouth. These tactics and opportunities are:

Testimonials
Networking
Referral Selling Program

“New” Media

The concept of “new” media is the use of up-and-coming media sources and opportunities to get the word out about your products and services and listen for feedback about them. Most social media options could be considered “newer” media:

Facebook, Facebook Groups, Facebook Messenger, and Facebook Live
TikTok
Instagram
YouTube
WhatsApp
A host of others

Using Traditional Media for Word of Mouth

Using traditional media is a great way to get feedback. These are still considered mainstream ways of interacting with the public and consumers. Some traditional media outlets are:

Customer service
PR
Placements
Events
Promotions
Word of mouth in ads, sales brochures, or direct mail
Salesperson programs, sales stars, or peer training,
Word-of-mouth incentive programs (“Tell-a-friend” programs)
Customer gifts they can share with their friends (articles, how-to manuals)

Internal Word of Mouth

Encourage employee word of mouth and sharing feedback with family, friends, and others
Offer rewards or commission for word-of-mouth success

As you can see there are tons of ideas you can work with to increase your level of positive word-of-mouth marketing. If you need help with any of this, please try our FREE test drive to access our exclusive resources that can help you put this whole thing together.

Word of Mouth Tactics – Part 3

Posted on September 14, 2022 by Michael D. Goodman

Last time we talked about the second part of word-of-mouth tactics which help you put together a system to help shorten the purchasing decision time of your customers which can increase your profits immensely.

Today we’re going to talk about the nine levels of word of mouth which gives you a tool to measure the word of mouth circulating around your company, products, and services. You can then see where you are getting negative or weak word of mouth and find ways to correct it.

So, launching into the nine levels of word of mouth-it should seem relatively obvious that the negative levels are, well, negative and the positive levels are positive.

Minus 4

This is the worst of the worst and means your product is creating a scandal. Remember, when the popular over-the-counter pain relievers, like Tylenol, were deemed unsafe? Yea, you won’t want that kind of word of mouth.

Minus 3

Disgruntled customers are going out of their way to convince other consumers from purchasing your products and services. They are boycotting you.

Minus 2

While not outwardly boycotting, when customers are asked about you, they will give a negative response.

Minus 1

At this level, people are mildly dissatisfied and while not outwardly talking about it, they will have an opinion if asked. Now they may purchase from you despite their negative feelings, this can be a little confusing.

Level 0

This is sort of a neutral place to be. Customers are using your products, but don’t really talk about it. People rarely ask them about it, so they aren’t sharing their opinion with others. This can be a bit of a slippery slope because you don’t want to turn that neutral experience into a negative one. In fact, you should work to make it a positive one.

Plus 1

At this level, we are finally starting to work our way into positive word of mouth about your company, products, and services. Plus 1 signifies that people are generally pleased with your products, but unless asked, don’t really say anything about them.

Plus 2

When asked, your customers will talk about how much they love your products.

Plus 3

Customers will go out of their way to talk about your products, services, company, and shopping experience with you. This is most evident when you see how people recommend movies to their friends and family.

Plus 4

Your product is the toast of the town. There is an obvious buzz going around and your business is the place to be. People are not only talking about your great products and services, but they are talking about their shopping experience, your customer service, and how they perceive the company to help them in the future.

Some great examples of Plus 4 companies are:

Lexus
Harley Davidson
Lululemon
Tesla
Apple
Costco

We’re going to leave this lesson for you to mull over and take a look at what kind of word of mouth you are generating. If you need help with this process, try our FREE test drive to get help from our experienced business coaches.

Next time we’re going to talk about the 30 ways to harness the power of word of mouth.

Word of Mouth Tactics – Part 2

Posted on September 2, 2022 by Michael D. Goodman

In the last post, we started our series on word of mouth and talked about how to make your customers purchasing experience a short, easy one. We are going to continue with that theme a bit today. We’re going to talk about the power of word of mouth and how to mold it to your advantage.

The reality is everyone needs an advisor to guide them to make a decision. We rely on the expertise of others to make the right decisions as they are explained to us. When you take the time to understand exactly what and how word of mouth works, you’ll see all the great advantages it has to offer you. Remember this path when working to understand word of mouth:

Accelerate the decision-making process for increased profits.
You can accelerate product-making decisions by making the process easier.
Instead of lowball advertising and the used car salesman approach, try delivering on your word-of-mouth promises.

Traditional advertising draws about one response for every thousand ads and most of those are to ask for more information before the customer even considers purchasing. When you get information from a friend, you are more likely to take their word for it and act. On average customers purchase two out of every five recommendations their friends make. That’s a HUGE difference.

So, what exactly is word of mouth? Well, we know how powerful it can be, but to define it: Word of mouth is a communication that happens between a customer and a potential customer. There is usually a relationship of some kind between these two people with an established level of trust.

Now, compare this to advertising where you are providing a message to a potential customer where they have not established a relationship with you or level of trust. Who are they more likely to take advice from? The answer is clear!
We talked above about the benefits of word of mouth now let’s take a look at some reasons why it works. Some of these are:

The information is custom-tailored to the potential customer because of the friendly relationship of the referrer.
It’s more personal, relevant, and believable.
It’s customer driven.
It’s self-generating and can take on a life of its own, especially with the information age of the Internet.
It becomes part of the product’s description.
The source of word of mouth can be important and more effective when coming from an expert.
Word of mouth saves you time and money.

To fully utilize word of mouth you need to understand:

Where is your word of mouth coming from?
What products are being affected by word of mouth?
How is your word of mouth traveling?

Once you know these things you can work out a plan on how to trigger more word of mouth. This wraps up this lesson on word of mouth. If you need help understanding word of mouth and how it can impact your business, try our FREE test drive to access our wealth of resources and tools.

Next time we’re going to dive into the nine levels of word of mouth. These levels help you understand which word of mouth is positive and which is not.

Word of Mouth Tactics – Part 1

Posted on September 1, 2022 by Michael D. Goodman

Today we’ll start a new series talking all about Word of Mouth and how it can make or break your business in an extremely short amount of time. In this first lesson, we’ll get a feel for what exactly word of mouth is.

Word of Mouth is easily the most powerful form of marketing and is absolutely free. People talk about ads they see, experiences they have, and the products they purchase. If you treat people right and spread the word about your new products/services in a positive way, you’ll attract the right customers and clients who will sustain your business for a long time.

Now, as positive as word of mouth can be for your business, the other side of the coin is how negative it can be as well. Bad news seems invariably to travel faster than good news and if you have a less than high-quality product or a weak customer service system, then your customers will tell everyone they know to not buy your products and services.

The age of technology has proved to be an amazing benefit in the world of word of mouth. With blogs, podcasts, online marketing, forums, social networking, and all the other online mediums available, it is easier and easier for consumers to share their experiences. And remember this is all free advertising for you.

Let’s take a minute to talk about the importance of shortening the customer decision cycle to help customers/clients choose more quickly and easily. There are three great ways to increase sales by shortening the decision cycle. They are:

Increase the overall dollar amount customers spend on each purchase
Increase your number of customers
Increase frequency of purchases

Let’s take a deeper look at decision speed. Offer simplicity, ease, and a fun purchasing atmosphere and you’ll help your customers make their decisions quicker and more confidently. When this happens, your customers will buy more frequently, spend more money than usual, refer friends and make the decision to purchase more quickly. This can raise your market share by over 100 times.

The time it takes your customer to decide and purchase far outweighs any other component of marketing. When you focus on customer decision speed it forces you to take a hard look at your company and brand image, positioning, value, customer service, guarantees, and product quality.

The next area I want to talk about quickly is how to minimize the friction, or stress, involved with decision-making. No matter how easily people find decision-making there is a certain amount of anxiety we all experience when making a purchase, especially from a new source or for a large amount of money. When you help to minimize this emotional response, you will soothe your customers’ anxiety and they will make their decision quicker and more confidently.

There are a few secrets to accelerating the customer’s decision-making progress:

Your benefits, features, claims, and promises must be obvious, clear, and concise.
The information you offer must be complete, easy to understand, credible, and balanced.
Use comparisons that show a marked difference.
Your guarantees must be rock solid and more than the customer expects.
Make trial periods easy.
You must have simple evaluations of your products or services.
Testimonials need to be relevant and positive.
Your support, delivery, and other operational systems must be perfect.

Your website can be as good as you make it. You can offer more than information; you can offer an experience that guides your customers gently through the decision-making process to make it easy for them to buy. Take it a step beyond by offering toll-free support numbers, software downloads to help with the process, or other classy and informative ways to reassure your customers that you are there with them every step of the way and have nothing to hide.

This wraps up the first post in our series on word of mouth. If you need help identifying your target market and the issues they run into that lengthen their purchasing experience, try our FREE test drive and work with one of our coaches to come up with the best way to smooth out your purchasing experience.

Next time we’ll move forward with word of mouth and talk about the power of word of mouth and what exactly this powerful tool is and can be used for.