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Close.Up.Dave Inner circle Behind you! 2956 Posts |
Obviously having a good act encourages word of mouth. Aside from this, I'd like to discuss how can one strategically gain word of mouth from clients.
I always get video testimonials from clients. They always tend to come out great. They are simple to watch and I don't over-do them on my site. However, this doesn't necessarily provide word of mouth. It adds credibility, but doesn't cause someone to go out of their way to tell their friends. Its more for my promo material use rather than for spreading the word. So I'm starting to collect actual letters of reference on company letterheads (when applicable). This is for my own marketing materials. But I'm considering simply suggesting that the client can mail a copy to colleagues in their industry/family/friends. Has anyone tried this before? There are also other things like social media, but it seems like social media works better for gaining awareness of public shows. There are referral fees, but I've never tried this. I'd love to hear people's thoughts on strategic ways to gain word of mouth. |
Carducci Special user Denver 543 Posts |
Although some people swear by it, I normally don't ask clients to mail letters of endorsement. It might just be me, but I've always felt like that was a great imposition.
That being said, my past clients are my greatest allies and there is nothing more powerful than a personal recommendation. This is what I do: After every show I send out a thank-you. Typically it's an email along these lines Quote:
Dear ..., I find this approach is extremely effective.
The link in my thank-you takes clients to a page in my web site that hosts a simple form where they can enter one or more email addresses and a space for a personal message. The form has a message already typed to make it easy for clients who are in a hurry. I find about 1/2 of the time people just use the existing message. I have different "suggested" messages for different clients. For kids/family/private parties this is the default wording: Quote:
Hi! There are various scripts and services that facilitate this kind of word-of-mouth referral but I use tell a friend king It's $77/yr and it's been worth it to me. I'm not an affiliate for tell a friend king and have no relationship with them other than being a customer. I found it easy to set-up/integrate into my website. I also like that you can configure it to bcc you on the referral emails. The one thing I don't do is link to the tell-a-friend form on my website, I just have the form embedded on a private page. Maybe I'm missing out a few leads, but I like to be laid back about referrals. Whenever one of these referrals results in a booking, I always send a gift of some sort. I try to personalize the gifts if I can, but I find it's hard to go wrong with a gift card and a thank you card. |
magicmaninsd Regular user San Diego, CA 199 Posts |
I find that my best referral strategy is my show. I know it's kind of a catch 22, but when I do my show I know I always get 1-3 interested people.
Here's the trick, I have printed a stack of 1/2 sheets of paper that ask for the interested party's name, email, phone, address, type of show they're interested in (bday, corporate, school, etc.). Then, this is THE most important part, when they're filling it out I ask when their kid's birthday is. hatever they say I make a mental note and when they walk away I write the month of the kid's bday on the lead form. When I get home I send out my thank you emails to the the clients and send emails to the leads at each show via my CRM (I use Zoho). While entering their info in my CRM I create a task to send an email to the lead 1 month before their kid's bday. Something I want to get better at is name recognition during my show and I also want to get some banners made for my shows. However, being in San Diego I often work outside and I might be switching to using a footlocker on a keyboard stand as a case. So might need to re-think signage. This is a topic I too and very interested in exploring. Josh |
Blair Marshall Inner circle Montreal, Canada 3660 Posts |
Hi Josh,
Can you give a little more detail on the process you are using ie. what kind of event you are able to do this at? B
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magicmaninsd Regular user San Diego, CA 199 Posts |
I apologize Blair, I follow this process at virtually every event I do and someone approaches me. I have the printed forms I spoke of for my kid shows though. However, if at a corporate show someone asks for a card I chat with them and see if they have a specific event in mind.
I find my approach above works extremely well at kid shows and private family events. Josh |
Blair Marshall Inner circle Montreal, Canada 3660 Posts |
Maybe it's just me, but at the end of a birthday party show, I could not see me chatting to a guest and handing them a form to fill out while the party goes on around us. (Same goes for many of my other events.)
I do like the idea though, and have used similar forms when I am exhibiting at a party planning show and other similar events. A thought for you might be to have business size (perhaps just a little bigger) cards with enough space for their name, e-mail/phone, and 3-4 boxes for a check mark. This could be less conspicuous as to size, I am sure you must also carry pens/pencils for your potential customer to use so why not the small promotional magic wand pens with your website on it, or something similar (depending on your style/image you wish to convey) that they get to keep after filling yout the card. For a corporate card you could have Close-up Magic/Strolling Cabaret Show Gala Show While the potential client may be only interested in a small show, by listing the other items you expand the possibilities for him, and potential for you. Blair
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magicmaninsd Regular user San Diego, CA 199 Posts |
Blair, at the end of my kid's birthday party shows when I am packing up I inevitably get 2-4 parents who come up and ask for a card. When they do I hand them the form. Sometimes (I'd say 1 in 10) say "I'll just have the card." The form is about the size of a 3 x 5 inch card (my fault for suggesting I give a long form lol) and it is on a little clipboard with a pen. There is a spot for their name, phone, address, email and a checkmark next to corporate, kid shows, private party options. So it is essentially whet you said (or thought) it is.
It does work very well for me and after I send the email thanking them for seeing my show they will usually shoot an email back saying how much they enjoyed it and I've used that as a testimonial. I would suggest thinking about adding something like this to your shows if you feel it helpful. We are all told "get their name and email" over everything else and this is just my way of doing it. They did just see me perform, why not get them in my sales funnel at the same time? |
Futureal Inner circle 1695 Posts |
That email asking for a testimonial really does look like a form letter. Shorten it, make it less formal.
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