1. I have gained valuable feedback on areas I can improve upon to ensure I meet my aim of giving 10 – 100 times the value people pay me.
2. I have had some very positive comments from satisfied clients which I can now use as great testimonials for my business.

I know that many businesses struggle with contacting their customers and asking for honest feedback about their products or service.  For example:

• You may be afraid of negative comments even though in your heart you know you are doing a good job.
• You may not have time to telephone each customer and ask them for feedback.
• You may be getting lots of positive comments from satisfied customers and be confident you are doing a good job (so you feel you don’t need a structured process for it).
• You may not care what your customers think about you and your business.  Yes – there are businesses out there that don’t care – and if they do, they certainly don’t show it.  Be honest, haven’t you contacted a company only to be left feeling “do they really want my business?”  You wonder why they are in business at all.
• Perhaps you do have a customer feedback form with questions and tick-boxes which you post to customers and maybe get a small percentage back.

Whatever you feel about getting feedback from your customers I recommend you include it as an essential part of your sales process.  Why?  Several reasons:

1. You will find out whether or not you have some unhappy customers.  Most customers – especially in the UK – rarely complain.  We’re a shy bunch – we don’t want to make a fuss.  We will simply walk away – and never buy from you again (unless we really have to).  By asking them for feedback you find out what it is they are unhappy about – so you can make improvements to your business.
2. You get an opportunity to put things right.  For example I once used a local garage to fit a new exhaust to my car.  It was never quite right – and I kept meaning to take it back but never got round to it.  Had they called me to check everything was ok – after all I was a new customer to them – I’d have told them and they could have fixed it. As it is – I have never been back – despite the fact they offer extra services such as a courtesy car and they are local.
3. It shows you care – you will stand out from the crowd.  Your customers will feel good about you and your business – and will be more likely to refer you to their friends.  After all they know you will not let them down if anything does go wrong.
4. It is an opportunity to get in touch with them again – without being pushy.
5. If they have positive comments you can use them as testimonials on your marketing materials.
6. You may pick up some great ideas which you’d never thought about offering in your business.

Happy customers, increased sales, great market research, fantastic testimonials – is that worth a couple of hours each week?  I’d say so.  Make it an essential part of the sales process.  Ensure you include open questions so you really get a sense of their experience – and listen out for negative feedback as well as the positive.

One of my clients actually told me that getting feedback was the most valuable thing he got from working with me – and he’s got a page of great testimonials on his website.

Happy Marketing!

Consider this. My local yellow pages directory has over 13 pages of adverts for plumbers – companies who pay up to £5000 a year for their advert.

Many of the advertisers claim to be “local”; most offer 24 hour emergency call outs; others claim to be “specialists”; some are Corgi and Oftec registered.    Almost all of the adverts list the services they offer.

However, not one gives me a compelling reason why I should call them instead of their competitors. This leaves me no option but to phone round until I find the one who will either give me the best price – or one I like the sound of.  Sound familiar?

Surprisingly, very few plumbers really make more than a token attempt to distinguish themselves from their competitors. The usual strategy is to foolishly proclaim to all householders “Here we are, give us your business for no justifiable, rational reason.”

However this is great news for you.  It means that you can cash in on what your competitors are doing wrong.  If you can develop a compelling reason why people should choose you – you will stand head and shoulders above your competition.  This compelling reason is your Unique Selling Point or USP.

To demonstrate how important your USP is I am going to give you an example of an air conditioning repair company I read about in Las Vegas in the US.

This air conditioning company got 90% of their business from the yellow pages and like every other company their advert had the company name plastered across the top in huge letters. Bullet points let everyone know that they provided 24-hour service, that they serviced most major brands, and that they had 22 years of experience, etc.

Since their ad was relatively large, they were able to build a respectable business in spite of their me-too approach. Each year they were able to generate enough revenue to pay for the ad, keep the repairmen busy and add a new truck or two to their fleet.

What more could small-business owners ask for?

A lot more! The first step in developing their USP was to determine what customers wanted most from an air conditioning repair company. In the 8-month long Las Vegas summer, even a couple of hours without an air conditioner was sheer misery. Clearly, fast service was to be the premise for their USP.

But everyone else already claimed to have fast service. Some companies even put FAST SERVICE in big headlines at the top of their ads. It wasn’t as if nobody else had ever figured out that being fast was important. The funny thing was that nobody else had ever figured out a way to say it in a way that would allow them to stand head and shoulders above the competition.

The next year they ran a half page ad as usual (no additional expense), but changed the wording to say, “Because we have 58 repairmen on call 24 hours a day to man our 27 service trucks, we can guarantee that your home or business will be cool within 2 hours of your call – or there’s no charge for the repair.” And that was just the headline!

The rest of the ad went on to explain that if the technicians were too busy to fix the unit right then, or if the repair would take longer than 2 hours, portable units would be brought in to cool the house at no extra charge until the repair was completed. Bottom line, the customer would be cool in a hurry.

The number of calls the ad generated quadrupled in less than one month after the new book came out. More importantly, they were able to convert 50% of the calls into jobs – up from 38% before. Gross revenues soared, and new trucks were bought to keep up with demand. The end of the year profit for the owners was higher than they thought they would ever see.

The new wording of their USP – “fast service” – was the key element in the company’s turnaround. Obviously, other factors contributed as well, like the company’s underlying dedication to fulfilling the “big promise” of fast service.

What is your USP – how are you presenting this to your customers?  If you do nothing else – get this right and you will get more sales – I guarantee it.

Let me know how you get on.

Consider this…

You can put your money in the bank, in shares or buy some real estate.  You’ll get a return of investment of 10%, 20% perhaps up to 40%.

On the other hand, money invested in Marketing of your business will without doubt give you – your biggest single return on investment – greater than any other form of financial investment.

How come??  Well, simply because a single advertisement, properly targeted, with the right headline and offer, costing say £300, can bring returns of perhaps 1000% or more within days.

Calculate that increase over a year.  Can you see why Marketing is the easiest way to make money in your business?

Let us say you are already running an advertisement and getting 5 calls a week from it. You change a headline and now you get 8 calls a week.  What if you raise your number of sales from two out of the five people, who call, by just one more sale?  That is 52 more sales in one year.  Plus the extra sales from the other three calls and now you have 104 more sales over a year.  How much profit did you just make with the same cash outlay?

That’s leverage and you can do it in your business…

All you have to do is experiment, test different offers, headlines and target the right groups of people.

A restaurant on the Gold Coast in Australia sent their customers a letter with the offer of a free dessert.  Only three people out of one hundred came in on that offer.

The next month they sent another letter offering new customers $10 credit for the next month only. The response…18.8% at an average sale of $52.20.  That’s $9991 for every 100 letters sent.

Better than leaving your money in the bank isn’t it?

Peter Sun – Australia’s highest paid marketing consultant once placed an advert with the headline “Spa Bath under the For Sale column in the classifieds.  The result was 2 calls and no sale.  The next week he tried the headline “Sex is Free” and described the fun of having a spa with the ending … “and what you do in it is your business”.  The result – 11 calls the same day and it sold at 8am the morning it ran.  That’s a 550% increase in response.

I am not suggesting you use sex is free in your advertising; it’s just an example of what a difference in results you can get with one approach over another.

Another advertiser running an advert for a home perm headlined “New Home Perm – Conditions as It Curls” received 100 replies.  The second headline was titled “Girls…Want a Fast Perm?”  This one received nearly 300 replies.  That’s almost 200% more.  This advertisement ran every month for years.  By changing the headline the business received 2400 more replies in a year.

And that was just in one magazine!

Can you use leverage in your business?   Of course you can.  It works for every kind of product or service.  All you have to do is keep testing, experimenting, leveraging …

…And, banking more money every day.

Does it work?

Well, did you know that a single advert, properly targeted, with the right headline and offer, costing say £200, can bring returns of perhaps 1000% or more within days?

Advertising can be one of the most cost effective ways to generate new enquiries…Or it can be a complete waste of money.

So what makes a successful advert?

Quite simply…one that gets results.

I advocate that EACH advert has to be accountable – i.e. if you place an advert it must do one of two things:

1. Make a sale
2. Get someone to contact you to find out more

And, if your advert doesn’t do either of those you are wasting money.

Take a look at most adverts. They are all very similar.  They have a big headline (usually the company name), a great logo, they list the products or services on offer, there might be a photo or two, maybe a strap line – something like “you can always be assured of a great service”, “a superb range”, “free quote”, etc.

Have a look at your local newspaper now – am I right?

I know that most of these adverts do not work.  I know that, because when my clients start to monitor where their enquiries come from, they realise that most of their new enquiries are through referrals or from the sign writing on their vans.  The sales they do get from the newspaper or magazine advertising do not even cover the cost of the adverts – let alone make a profit.

Now, I’m not advocating that you go out and cancel all your adverts.  However there are some simple steps you can take to make your advert more effective:

#1 Before placing your advert - decide what you want your prospect to do.  Do you want them to: buy something from you, call for more information or visit your website?  An advert which is trying to sell something will be very different to one simply asking a prospect to call for more information.

#2 Your entire advert should be devoted to getting your prospect to take the next step.  You need to give them all the information they need to do so.  If you want the prospect to buy something you need to highlight all the benefits of your product or service, and overcome all the likely objections so that they can make an informed decision.  Won’t it be too wordy? Well, would you tell a sales person to go and visit a prospect and say you’ve got 20 seconds to persuade this person to buy your product?  No, of course not, you wouldn’t put him or her under that much pressure.  So why put yourself under that pressure in trying to sell something in a tiny advert.

#3 People do not buy newspapers or magazines to read the adverts – they buy them for the news and articles.  The more your advert looks like an editorial feature – the more it will be read. So disguise your advert – make it look like a news article.

#4  Try a 2 step approach.  Advertising can be very expensive – so don’t even attempt to sell in a tiny advert – offer your prospect some free information in exchange for contact details – e.g.:

“How to Attract New Customers in 7 Easy Steps”. For your free bulletin Call 0800 583 0207.

Homeowners Decorating Guide.  For your FREE guide to choosing colour combinations of paint, tiles and wall paper Visit www…

How to sell your house faster and for more money?  Call 0800 … for your free report and audio CD.

Then, when you send your free information – include your sales literature detailing all the benefits of your product or service.  You now have a qualified lead and have plenty of time and opportunity to follow up and make a sale.

#5  Have a compelling headline – your company name is not a headline – people don’t care what you are called or how long you have been in business – they just want to know what you can do for them.  Your headline should be the biggest benefit you offer prospective customers.

#6  Test & Monitor each and every advert you run.  Most businesses don’t monitor their adverts or sales promotions – they continue to run the same advert over and over – regardless of whether it pulls for them.  Did you know that a change in headline has been tested to increase the response of an ad by up to nineteen times?

#7 Once you’ve found an advert which works continue to run it until it stops generating a profit.  Don’t stop it just because you’re bored with it and want to change it.  Remember that you may see your advert every day – but your prospects are seeing it for the first time.

There you have it – 7 steps to successful advertising.  Good luck.  Let me know how you get on.

As it turned out, the car boot sale I went to had very few people visit and those people who did come were simply not interested in baby things, (or wanted to pay virtually nothing for them).

So instead of making lots of money – I made practically nothing and honestly, it was not worth the effort.

Now, I could have gone away thinking car boot sales were a waste of time – in a similar way that many business owners will state “advertising doesn’t work”.

However I know many people make good money at car boot sales – so that wasn’t it.

Maybe the product was wrong – I did have lots of summer clothes – a cold wet autumn day is not the best time to sell summer dresses I admit.  However I had plenty of winter clothes too – and they didn’t sell either.

Maybe there were simply not enough people?  Well, that certainly contributed – if more people had been there, I would have sold more.

However when I really thought about it – why did I go to a car boot sale to sell baby things when car boot sales attract a wide range of different people – most of whom are looking for a bargain and to buy things for virtually nothing?  It was simply the wrong target market.

How does this relate to business?  Well, it reminded me of the teachings of the late Gary Halbert:

When Gary gave lessons on copywriting he liked to challenge his students to a competition – who could sell the most hamburgers? He let his students choose whatever advantage they wanted to sell their hamburgers. The answers varied –some wanted superior meat, others sesame seed buns, others a good location, some the lowest price.  He would let them have anything they wanted – he wanted just one thing in return.

Do you know what it was?

“A starving crowd”

He said:

“Think about it.  When it comes to direct marketing, the most profitable habit you can cultivate is the habit of constantly being on the lookout for groups of people (markets) who have demonstrated that they are starving (or, at least hungry) for some particular product or service.” (The Gary Halbert Letter 2003)

So, in hindsight, I would have been better off advertising in the maternity unit of my local hospital, at local playgroups, even on eBay.  Not only would things sell better – but they would fetch a much higher price, because there was more demand.

And I realised that many business owners do exactly the same thing – advertise in places where only a small proportion of prospective customers “hang out”.  And this happened to me when I first started my business:

One particular direct mail letter I sent consistently generated a 40% response.  It was great, but unfortunately I had a limited number of people to send it to as I was targeting businesses who advertised in my local paper or who I knew personally and thought would be a good fit for me.

So I soon exhausted these leads but still needed more business.  So I decided to purchase a mailing list.  I posted my letters, made my follow-up calls and confidently expected to generate a similar result – after all it was the same letter and the same process.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.  The campaign bombed – I got zero response – not a single enquiry.  I was gutted – what could have gone so wrong?

When I analysed it, I realised that just because someone is in business, it doesn’t mean they are actively looking to attract new customers.  I had assumed that anyone in business would want to make more money and get more new customers.  Isn’t that the whole purpose of business?  However many businesses are quite happy with the way things are going and do not want any help – even if that help is free and would show them how to increase their profits by up to 33%.

So for me, not all businesses are my “hungry crowd” – only those who are actively looking to grow– and who are willing to take the steps to do so.

The same is true for any business owner – regardless of what you are selling.  And it is vital that you devote time and energy developing your “hungry crowd” so when you want to generate more sales or you have a new product or service – you have eager customers who can’t wait to buy it from you.

I’ll get to the point. Have you ever heard of the radio station WIIFM?

It Stands for ‘WHAT’s IN IT FOR ME? “. It’s what your customers always think of first when listening to you talking about how wonderful your product, widget or service is.

It doesn’t matter what you are selling…you have to cater to the customer’s self-interest.

Put yourself in their shoes. Don’t you do the same? When some boring Website/ Sales person/ Leaflet goes on about how wonderful the company is or how long it’s been in business I just switch right off.

Who cares?

I want to know how this is going to do one of the following:

• make me more money
• save me time
• make me more beautiful
• feel fitter
• more attractive to the opposite sex
• make me live longer
• etc…

Are you starting to get the idea? People do not care about you or your company – unless you can appeal to their self-interest. We are at heart quite a selfish bunch.

Appeal to people’s emotions and desires rather than using cold hard logic. When you talk about your product or service always let people know what THEY can get from it.

Remember we buy what we WANT NOT WHAT WE NEED. Otherwise there would be no Porsche cars, designer labels, caviar or large fancy houses.

Have you done or experienced this before?

A couple of years ago I wanted an iPhone.  My mentors had one, my friends were getting them, I was seeing them everywhere.  But I had a perfectly good phone – I didn’t “need” an iPhone.

However every time I met someone who had one I would ask them what it was like, and what was good about it.  In truth I was gathering data to justify it.  This lasted a few months.

At the same time my business was growing and I needed support in managing my diary.  And I had to relinquish my much loved paper based diary, which I lived by – and move to Google Calendar.  (This was a big deal at the time).

But of course I couldn’t be getting my laptop out to book a Sales Conversation with someone I met at a networking meeting, could I?

So as soon as my wonderful VA told me to get an iPhone – that was it – I had the justification I needed to get one.  I then did a bit more justifying – that it wouldn’t cost much more than I was currently paying, it would allow me to check emails on the move, etc, etc.  So I got one!

I wanted it – then justified it as a need.

And that is what we all do – whether you are conscious of it (as I was) or not.

The truth is we buy what we want and then justify it as a need.

Knowing this one piece of information will get you a lot more sales.

Not knowing it will cost you dearly.

Take a look at most business websites. They are just plain boring. They contain things like press releases, pictures of the company directors, buildings.  They tell you how long they have been in business, how many combined years of experience they have, details of their products, etc, etc

But how many of them tell you what they will do for YOU?  Very few!

Please, please do not do this with your website. Appeal to your visitor’s self-interest. Tell them what’s in it for them.

In a nutshell, whenever you discuss your product/service let your prospect…

• Know what’s in it for them. Nobody cares about your qualifications and how pretty your building/office is.
• That you fully understand their problems and that you can solve them. Give them testimonials.
• Know that you have done things for other people just like them. Be specific and give examples. That way any suspicions that they have will be laid to rest.

There you have it. Always remember to tune into WIIFM. Best of luck.

To do this I need to explain what’s known as the “Lifetime Value” of a customer to you.   No matter how large or small your business, no matter what product or service you sell, you must first calculate the Lifetime Value of your customer. Once you know it, you can decide exactly what you can afford to spend to bring in a new customer – and the best way to go about it.

In a nutshell the Lifetime Value of a customer is…

The average purchase value, multiplied by the number of times they buy from you in a year, multiplied by the number of years they remain your customer.

For example: You own a restaurant and your regular customer spends £25 each time they visit you, of which £15 is profit. Let’s say they come to eat 12 times per year and stay with you for 2 years on average.

This makes your regular customer worth £15 x 12 x 2 = £360 in profit to your business.

And once you know this…

…you’ll know what you can afford to spend in order to get new customers.

Most marketing promotions consist of ads in the newspapers and magazines, beautiful brochures and outdoor signs. They do mail shots telling the world about their wonderful products, service and themselves. And they usually offer a ‘special’ discount. Something weak, like 10% or 15% off or £10 discount every time you spend £100. Let’s face it – how excited do you get when you see these promotions?

Well, let me tell you about Warren, an Australian entrepreneur built a business starting from zero using this approach. He spent $1 million building 3 tennis courts, swimming pools, game room and barbecue facilities in the middle of Sydney. The place was magnificent. There was one problem:

He had no customers.

So this is what he did. For one month he advertised in the local newspapers: Free Tennis Lessons, Free Court Hire, Free Barbecues and Swimming Pool Parties. And guess what happened? That’s right!! The place was packed out from 7 a.m. till 10 p.m. every day that month.

He gave away lots of tennis lessons, sausages and court hire. It cost him a few thousand dollars. The interesting part is that at the end of the month, he had a going business. The courts were booked solid, and have been ever since.

Warren understood what a new customer was worth to him. He knew that once people got used to playing at his courts instead of someone else’s they’d be back. He charged more per hour for court hire and coaching than the other tennis court complexes. But the customers got extra value with the swimming pool and barbecue facilities and friendlier service.

Because Warren knew what the Lifetime Value of his customer was, he gave something away and ended up making a fortune.

But what if you don’t have a tennis complex? How can you apply this to your business? Here are some examples:

• Accountants, lawyers and specialist consultants can give away a free consultation worth £150.

• Florists – a free bouquet.

• Grocery Shops – coupons for free food items.

• Car Service Centres – Free first service or free brake checks.

• Landscapers and Nurseries – Free lawn reports

• Retail businesses – No strings attached Free gift vouchers

Anyone can use this technique. I am always offering potential customers FREE Information. And some of those people end up spending thousands of pounds with me.

What I am really doing is “buying” new customers.

“Buying” new customers with an irresistible offer really works, and it works amazingly well almost every time. However please be warned it won’t work if:

1. your offer is weak
2. you target the wrong people
3. your product or service is lousy
4. you don’t follow up your customers

Human beings are creatures of habit. We keep doing the same old comfortable things we’ve always done. To get a potential customer to break their habit of going to another business, you must give them a very strong reason to try you. That’s why a FREE offer is so effective.

It’s a risk free way for them to get to sample your product or service.

A word of caution.

Before you rush out and start making free offers to the world, work out the Lifetime Value of your customer and test all your offers and ideas on a small scale.

Analyze the results, adjust your approach if needed, and only then go all out. If you test everything you do on a small scale first, you’ll never get burned.

But you will knock the socks of your competitors every single time, because they’ll still be offering 10% off.

Let’s also imagine that your peaceful existence has been disturbed. You’ve just found out that your land has been invaded by barbarians. Knowing full well that talks are going to be pointless there is only one choice…you have to go to war.

So you summon your two most trusted generals and ask their advice. The first general tells you “You have to amass as many troops as possible. Give them the best weapons and go and fight the enemy directly. There’s no other way apart from a full on attack”.

You turn to the second general and ask him for his view…this is what he says.

“You need a plan. You need to work out a way to position your troops so that you can destroy the enemy effectively. Furthermore this plan must be such that the land is never vulnerable to attack an again”.

Which general’s advice would you choose?

In fact…Do you know the fundamental difference between the two generals?

General A is a TACTICIAN. General B is a STRATEGIST.

So what does this have to do with your business?

Everything!

In business terms a tactician is the person who believes that you need to work harder, hire more staff, make more phone calls, write more letters and advertise more. In a nutshell they believe that working harder at what you are already doing is going to be the keys to your success. They subscribe to the more is better philosophy.

A strategist is someone who believes that you need to work smarter. You need to plan how you are going to make sales and set goals. They also believe in hard work. But there has to be some greater purpose. They believe that you need to have an overall vision for where your company should be in 1,3,5,7,10 years from now.

If not, then why are you working so hard? Go back to being an employee and save yourself the hassles and heartaches that most small business owners have to deal with.

Every business needs both. A strategist is the planner but without a tactician to implement the plans the strategy (even if it’s brilliant) will go nowhere. On the other hand if you have a tactician who just believes in working harder with no plan or strategy. We’ll that’s no way to go either.

Which one are you?

Most people are either a strategist or a tactician. In large corporations that’s the difference between the executive (strategist) and the sales manager (tactician). It’s the difference between working on your business and in your business.

For most small business owners you’ll have to become both.

Ok enough theory. Let’s put this into practise.

A Service based industry

A strategist will ask “How Can we position/re-invent ourselves in the Market so that the customer think we are the only ones for the job?”

They may provide useful information to the customer. For example if you are a recruitment consultant you could write a report showing companies what qualities to look for in staff. Or they could hold a FREE mini workshop. On the flip side you could offer candidates FREE report giving them “10 Tips to Make Your CV Stand out from the Crowd”.

The tactician will be the one informing people of the service that you offer, make the phone calls offer the report. What you will do is set yourself up as the recognised authority in your potential clients mind.

Remember that you are helping the customer first. In their mind you have established yourself as an expert. Who do you think they will come to when it’s time to hire someone?

A product based industry

For example, if you are a furniture store. The strategist may decide that you want to give people the best buying experience that they’ve ever had. That way anytime they need furniture they will come to you FIRST.

You can achieve this by offering a report on how to buy the right Sofa, Table etc. for your home. It will explain the different types of wood, material used. How to clean and caring for the furniture? What shades go with what colour so you don’t have to spend a fortune re-decorating your home.

The tactician will implement these. They will be kind courteous to the customer. Not pressure them. Give them space. They will listen; I mean really listen to the customer.

Are you starting to get the picture?

Even if you don’t sell what they are looking for they will still come. You’ll have to literally push them away.

Do you know how I know this? It’s because I always go back to the same furniture shop FIRST when I want to buy furniture. Guess what? They are about 20% more expensive than most. It’s insane. But it works. And that’s what counts.

Distinguish Yourself From Your Competitors.

It just takes a little thought up-front to set you apart from your competitors. Reason being is that most small business owners don’t really take the time to do this stuff.

And that’s your opportunity!

There are two ways in which you can set up a joint venture. One way is to link up with other businesses that regularly refer business to you. The second way is to use gifts and free offers from joint venture partners as a way of building relationships with your customers.

Creating an Irresistible Offer

If I were to come to your business and offer you a way to build customer loyalty without any cost to your business, would you take it? Of course you would. Most business owners would jump at such an opportunity. If it is something that you know your customers will love, that they will see as great value, the gesture of giving them a free gift can help you build better relationships with them.

For the business offering the gifts to their clients it’s a way of adding value to what they are already purchasing. For the business that has supplied the gifts, it gives them exposure to qualified customers that might otherwise not know about your business. The customers are happy because they are getting something for free and they feel important. Both businesses win because they are building relationships with clients and building their client lists.

For service based businesses this type of joint venture can work really well. For example if you have a consultancy, you can offer an obligation free session. Or you can offer a free training session. While it may take up some of your time, it is not really costing you anything materially. Remember that the objective is not to sell during these sessions. Instead it’s to offer customers something of real value.  Regardless of whether they buy from you or not they must walk away feeling that the experience was really worthwhile.

Rewarding Referrals from Joint Venture Partners

One way in which I get new customers is to offer a free marketing audit and I use joint ventures to help me promote this. For example I have a publication that I work with called Grapevine. They send out letters to their customers telling them about my free marketing audit. For any of their customers that take up the offer and become clients of mine, I pay them a referral commission. It’s a win-win for everyone. If the client chooses not to sign up they still got valuable information which they can use.  My joint venture partner has still added value to their client which helps improve their client relationships so they also win. If the client signs up they get a commission which has cost them very little to earn. I’ve gained a new client, and yes I’ve paid to acquire the client, but it’s a far better return on investment to pay a referral commission after you’ve got the client than to pay for advertising with an unknown return.

Joint ventures use business synergy to boost business growth. There are many ways in which you can apply this strategy to your business. The above are just two examples. Be on the lookout for joint venture opportunities, it’s a proven way to grow your business.

The type of thank you gestures you can offer to your clients may differ from business to business. Get creative and think outside the box. You want it to be something that your customers will appreciate so much that they will tell all their friends about it. Here are five great customer thank you ideas to get you started:

1)    Hire a Sports Car for a Day

One technique that I’ve been found to be very effective is to spoil my VIP clients and arrange the hire of a luxury sports car for a day as a reward. It works so well because it’s a real treat for the person driving the car, plus they tend to tell all their friends about it. It gets the word out about your business and offers an incentive to prospective new clients to sign up. After all who wouldn’t want to be able to drive around in a luxury sports car for a day?

2)    Give a Discount Voucher

For retail stores a good idea is to reward customers with discount vouchers. For example a clothing boutique could offer a bring-a-friend discount voucher. Reward existing customers when they bring a friend shopping with them. You can give both of them a discount voucher. This one is sure to go down well with the ladies as typically ladies love shopping together and they love getting a discount. You get more customers coming into your store and then friends about you when they leave with their new purchases.

3)    Give a Free Product or Service

If you have a service business you may be able to reward your customers without much outlay to your business. For example: A beauty salon could offer clients a free manicure or 30 minute back and neck massage if they refer 5 or 10 new clients. The chances are if they are regular clients they would recommend you in any event. But by rewarding your clients you take the relationship to a whole new level.

4)    Give away a Complimentary Voucher

There may be other businesses in the area that you can set up a joint venture with. A neighbourhood hair salon could offer a complimentary voucher for the nearby beauty salon for example. Or as a printer you could send your business clients a thank you note with a complimentary dinner voucher attached.

5)    Surprise your Clients with Treats

If you would like to reward your customers in a more informal way you could simply stop by with a delicious chocolate cake or pizzas for lunch. Often these spontaneous thank you gestures can be as effective as more formal reward programmes.

Remember that reward programmes help you to build your business, by building relationships with your customers. Money spent on rewards should not just be seen as an expense, it’s an investment in the future growth of your business.