Page 232 - Duct Tape Marketing

Ramp Up a Systematic Referral Machine

offer to conduct them for your partners’ customers. Develop a day
devoted to topics on which your partners can present useful informa-
tion, and have everyone promote the event.

With just a little bit of creativity, any organization can tap the
awesome power of a partner network as a substantial lead and cus-
tomer generator.

The Value-Added Referral Machine
Want a powerful way to add value to your product or service or

gain some new customers in a real hurry? Pump up the value. Go out
and find businesses that serve your very same target market, and get
them to agree to give you some sort of free product or service that
either complements what you sell or, at the very least, is of interest to
your target market. It can even be a trial version of a product.

Let’s say you are a graphic designer. Do you think you could
generate some new clients if you advertised five hundred free busi-
ness cards with each new logo design? Trust me; there are quality
print shops out there that would love to partner with you on this.
Five hundred business cards cost them about $15 to print. A savvy
print shop owner will understand that is a fair price to pay to acquire
a new client.

Gain New Clients
So put the shoe on the other foot. Go out and offer to provide

a service to businesses that serve your market, and prepare to be
introduced to some new business immediately. Let’s say you are a
marketing consultant. Go to some local, small accounting firms and
offer to complete a small-business marketing audit for each of their
new small-business clients for free. It’s a pretty compelling offer.

If you got really aggressive about this, imagine how much value
you could build around your products or services. This tactic alone
could make you the obvious choice when a prospect goes out shopping.

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