_{A word-of-mouth business is defined by salespeople who are passive and wait for referrals to come their way.... You are playing a waiting game versus having a plan of action.... In a working-by-referral business, you have a confident expectation that your actions will produce incoming business. You know who your advocates are, and you have a structure in place that allows them to help you build the quality of your business by asking them to introduce you to the type of client you want to work with. In the long run, you work harder in a word-of-mouth business, not smarter. Word of mouth depends on chance. You will eventually learn your beloved friends and clients are not concerned about sustaining your business. You are the one who must step up and make the effort.}

You, of course, are hyper-aware of the need to build your business—and it's only natural to project our own concerns into other people's heads. But your clients have their own problems. In their eyes, you're not a  businessperson worried about making this month's asset goal or mortgage payment. As far as they're concerned, you're the financial expert who helps them manage their money so they can meet their asset goals or make their mortgage payment on that third house they just bought.  And that's pretty much all most of them care about. They're not even thinking much about their friends or extended family, much less you and your business.

Now, none of this is to say that you can't encourage clients to spread the word about you also. God_bless you and may the friendships last!!

Dear Thomas:

You have created what should be an interesting not to mention lively discussion here.

Word of mouth advertising has been part of marketing for many many years and is in fact used today very successfully.

Word of mouth advertising sometimes and more frequently being called relationship marketing is on the upswing with the advent of the Web 2.0 platforms on the net, including I might add Adland, Lazzeo, Digg etc.

When we make "friends" with like minded people, build a relationship with these people and over time, become an authority on what we are talking about, then when we do suggest a product or serice, I would akin it to..." hey I saw a great movie last night"...People will say..something like " ya...what was it about?" when we have these interactions with others and they go to that movie because of your recommendation as an example, we have done "word of mouth" advertising. It is very viral, but like anything it does require time.

Another aspect to "word of mouth marketing" is testimonials.

It is a proven fact, that when you put this form of " word of mouth advertising" on a site, people are more inclined to believe that a product or service is credible and in fact will buy from that site.

Take a look at one of the products you Thomas are telling people about in your signature:
http://all-teamed-up.com/?tmobil8

These testimonials or "word of mouth advertising", has been done by real people sharing something of value to them about this product.

I would indeed question if this is a "work harder" mentality as this article suggests.

I firmly believe that all forms of advertising, from submitters, TE's, Safelists, Utilizing the Web 2.0 platforms takes time, organization, knowing and understanding all the different aspects to marketing and having a plan of action that will indeed create a success for each and every person.



I would love to hear other people talk about this as well as more of your view points Thomas.

As always I will say-----


To Your Success,

Diane

Actions in doing then in speaking Diane LOL. The basic building block first is friendships, trusting comes from that and then Integrity, a man (or woman) of your word. Thanks for the comments! :)

Ahh Ha ha ha Love the cat Nick Syms :)