Word of Mouth vs Referral Marketing
The Mission of BNI is to help members increase their business through a structured, positive and professional Referral marketing program that enables them to develop long-term, meaningful relationships with quality business professionals.
I was very upset when I first received notification from BNI that we have changed our mission statement. I was instructed to change all the verbiage that read “word of mouth marketing†and change it to referral marketing.
I learned an interesting thing about my emotions to the change. I have always prided myself on accepting change. I realized I only like change when it is my idea or when I buy into the idea.
I was upset at first with the removing of the phrase “word of mouth marketing†mainly because for the last eight years I had built my company and brand on the phrase “word of mouth marketing.†I even wanted to start a BNI chapter called BNI “WOMâ€.
As I kept reading on the “why†we were changing the phrase, I started to get excited about the change. I opted into this new idea. I know that BNI has a review committee of BNI members to create our policies and make changes as needed.
I learned that the committee felt that the phrase “word of mouth People Marching with Bullhornsmarketing†is more of a passive approach to referrals and referral marketing is more proactive and deliberate approach. The committee felt that with the newer surge of social marketing that the phrase “word of mouth marketing†had a definite passivity to it. One day I shared this new idea with my fellow BNI director consultant, Brand Kopp. As I was sharing with him I used his shoes as an example of passive ‘word of mouth marketing.â€
I role played and said “Brand I really like your shoes, where did you get them?†I thought he would respond with the name of the store he purchased them. What really happened excited me even more about the change in terms. After I asked him this fictitious question “where did you get those shoesâ€, he got all excited and told me all about his shoes. He had said to me that he could not find them anywhere, but if he could he would buy two pairs.
He was so excited about his shoes I thought he had really gotten into the role playing I was doing. But in actuality he had forgotten about my topic and got side tracked on his shoes. He really did love them.
Then it hit me, I have known him for eight years and before this he had never mentioned these priceless shoes that he could not live without. We both realized at that moment how passive “word of mouth marketing†really is. Unless someone asks you about a product or service, they will not tell you about it.
That is not the type of referrals we want to expect. If you are selling shoes, you do not want to wait eight years before someone will tell their friend about them. You want your referral partners to bring up your business on purpose and deliberately. There are so many ways we can give referrals to our customers and contacts.
We can give them referrals deliberately and proactively. In our one to ones and Power Team meetings we can be trained on what to look and listen for. We can create referrals. Someone says ‘empty nester†we think of downsizing; selling one house and buying a smaller one. We think of our real estate power team. We are surrounded by referrals! And as the book “The Money On The Table†says “we need to have our reticular activating system on, our “RAS.â€People Marching with Bullhorns
Your reticular activating system is like a filter between your conscious mind and your subconscious mind. It takes instructions from your conscious mind and passes them on to your subconscious. For example, the instruction might be, “listen out for these types of key situationsâ€.
We can train our brains to look and listen to the referrals our members are looking for. In every key situation we see a stream of referrals. Whether someone is relocating, growing a business, has real estate needs, wants to get healthy or is sick, is about to get married or divorced, having a new baby or has lost a loved one we see a stream of referrals
Anytime we see someone going through a change we see referrals. I don’t give my customers referrals to my referral partners because I love my referral partners, all though I do love my referral partners. I don’t give a friend or a contact a referral because I want to help my chapter member’s business, although I do want to help their business. I give referrals because I love my customers, my friends and my contacts. I want to help them and meet their needs.
After I turned fifty I had a “procedure†done that fifty year old men are supposed to do. My trusted lovely wife, Keira, was at my bedside. She was so proud of me for having the procedure done; she wanted to take a picture of me in my hospital gown, post it on Facebook to inspire other men to have it done. In my sedated state I said she could. Fortunately she took it from the front, those gowns!
When talking with the doctors they kept on telling me that I was the one that received a referral. I always thought that the business was the one that “received “the referral. So I looked up the word referral. It means to introduce someone to an expert in their field. So our contact or our customer receives a referral from us, as we introduce them to an expert.
BNI members are the best at what they do. They are experts in their field. I give my customer a referral and introduce them to my referral partner, an expert in their field. This is “Givers Gain†to me. I love my customers so much; I introduce them to an expert that can help them. I create a three way win situation.
My customer or contact wins, because they have their needs met in a way that I personally could not solve, so I gave them a referral. My referral partner wins because they have a new customer, and that is why they are in business. And I win because I have two people that absolutely love me and want to send me referrals.
“Word of mouth marketing†is passive. Referral marketing is a structured, positive and professional marketing program that enables us to develop long-term, meaningful relationships with quality business professionals and it helps our members increase their business and that, is the Mission of BNI!
The Mission of BNI is to help members increase their business through a structured, positive and professional Referral marketing program that enables them to develop long-term, meaningful relationships with quality business professionals.