While reading an Andy Sernovitz post (Why do so many dry cleaners get bad reviews), it occurred to me that there are many industries in a similar situation. The only (or the overwhelming majority of) comments they get are negative. How often do you hear good things about lift mechanics, pest controllers, office cleaners or car mechanics? Is it a challenge to get Word of Mouth referrals in your industry?

Photo by Simon Law - Some Rights Reserved

As Andy suggests, sometimes the solution is as simple as asking for a review, but make sure you deserve a good one. Andy’s other suggestion is just as valid but more difficult to achieve - do something review-worthy.

Andy often writes on the theme of word of mouth referrals and is fact running a conference on that theme next month in the US (I won’t be attending). One of the presenters is Saul Colt. In one of the promotions for the conference Saul tells a story about he received “remarkable” service from one of the invisibles - a bellhop. I’ll do my best to retell the story ….

Saul pulled up in a taxi and the bellhop collected the bags. Presumably by checking the tags on the bags, he was able to refer to Saul by name. This wasn’t so unusual. The next day Saul encountered the bellhop. The bellhop was still able to refer to Saul by name without benefit of luggage tags. Saul was so impressed he wrote to the manager of the hotel to comment on the quality of the service he received from the bellhop.

So what’s my point? “Marketing” comes in all shapes and sizes and has lots of variations in cost structures. The option with the highest price tag is not always the most successful. It does take thought and effort.

These ideas only reinforce the concept that every employee has a marketing responsibility.

Related articles

• Simple but effective marketing is worth its weight (midboh.com.au)
• An example of perfect customer service (damniwish.com)
• Their Word-of-Mouth Needs Your Encouragement (zanesafrit.typepad.com)