Word-of-Mouth Referrals are the golden ticket of sales and marketing, yet so few businesses know how to create more of them. The reality is that asking for referrals never really works because it puts the other person in an awkward and uncomfortable situation. It's one they just want out of. This book outlines the strategy necessary to cut through the noise of marketing and advertising and get more word-of-mouth referrals.

Award-winning speaker and business consultant Joey Coleman teaches audiences and companies all over the world how to turn a one-time purchaser into a lifelong customer. Coleman's theory of building customer loyalty isn't about focusing on marketing or closing the sale: It's about the First 100 Days® after the sale and the interactions the customer experiences. While new customers experience joy, euphoria, and excitement, these feelings quickly shift to fear, doubt, and uncertainty as buyer's remorse sets in. Across all industries, somewhere between 20%-70% of newly acquired customers will stop doing business with a company with the first 100 days of being a new customer because they feel neglected in the early stages of customer onboarding. In Never Lose a Customer Again, Coleman offers a philosophy and methodology for dramatically increasing customer retention and as a result, the bottom line. He identifies eight distinct emotional phases customers go through in the 100 days following a purchase. From an impulse buy at Starbucks to the thoughtful purchase of a first house, all customers have the potential to experience the eight phases of the customer journey. If you can understand and anticipate the customers' emotions, you can apply a myriad of tools and techniques -- in-person, email, phone, mail, video, and presents -- to cement a long and valuable relationship. Coleman's system is presented through research and case studies showing how best-in-class companies create remarkable customer experiences at each step in the customer lifecycle. In the "Acclimate" stage, customers need you to hold their hand and over-explain how to use your product or service. They're often too embarrassed to admit they're confused. Take a cue from Canadian software company PolicyMedical and their challenge of getting non-technical users to undergo a complex installation and implementation process. They turned a series of project spreadsheets and installation manuals into a beautiful puzzle customers could assemble after completing each milestone. In the "Adopt" stage, customers should be welcomed to the highest tier of tribal membership with both public and private recognitions. For instance, Sephora's VIB Rogue member welcome gift provides a metallic membership card (private recognition) and a members-only shade of lipstick (for public display). In the final stage, "Advocate," loyal customers and raving fans are primed to provide powerful referrals. That's how elite entrepreneurial event MastermindTalks continues to sell-out their conference year after year - with zero dollars spent on marketing. By surprising their loyal fans with amazing referral bonuses (an all-expenses paid safari?!) they guarantee their community will keep providing perfect referrals. Drawing on nearly two decades of consulting and keynoting, Coleman provides strategies and systems to increase customer loyalty. Applicable to companies in any industry and of any size (whether measured in employee count, revenue, or total number of customers), implementing his methods regularly leads to an increase in profits of 25-100%. Working with well-known clients like Hyatt Hotels, Zappos, and NASA, as well as mom-and-pop shops and solo entrepreneurs around the world, Coleman's customer retention system has produced incredible results in dozens of industries. His approach to creating remarkable customer experiences requires minimal financial investment and will be fun for owners, employees, and teams to implement. This book is required reading for business owners, CEOs, and managers - as well as sales and marketing teams, account managers, and customer service representatives looking for easy to implement action steps that result in lasting change, increased profits, and lifelong customer retention.

The premier book in the new Ken Blanchard Series Describes a simple approach and system for getting a steady flow of new business through referrals from existing customers-no more cold calls! Nobody likes cold calls. And nobody really needs to make them. The Referral of a Lifetime teaches a step-by-step system that will allow anyone to generate a steady stream of new business through consistent referrals from existing customers and friends and, at the same time, maximize business with existing customers. Your customers and clients already know every new contact you will ever need to succeed-by applying Tim Templeton's system they will naturally refer them to you. The Referral of a Lifetime uses an entertaining fictional story to emphasize the importance of "putting the relationship first"-building an ongoing relationship with customers based on genuine respect and caring, rather than just making the sale and moving on. More than just teaching a system for increasing business success, The Referral of a Lifetime crystallizes people's desire to practice "the golden rule" in business and to be accepted as a professional with integrity and character. This straightforward and powerful book will ultimately change the way you look at all the relationships in your life. The Referral of a Lifetime is the first book in the brand new Ken Blanchard Series. Each book in this series will be hand-picked and introduced by Ken, and will offer simple truths and profound wisdom in Ken's trademark storytelling style.

Stop satisfying your customers – and start impressing them – using the strategies of Apple, Costco, Disney, and other industry dominators. If you’re aspiring to satisfy your customers, then you’re aspiring to mediocrity. That’s the fascinating premise of From Impressed to Obsessed, a book that will fundamentally change how you think about creating a successful, beloved business. Renowned customer experience expert Jon Picoult takes you on a mesmerizing journey, showing how customer loyalty is as much about shaping people’s memories as it is about shaping their experiences. Through captivating stories and eye-opening studies, Picoult explains the 12 breakthrough, psychology-based strategies that successful companies use to impress customers – leading them to become obsessed with the business’s products and services, and to encourage others to do the same. Filled with actionable examples, you’ll see how you can immediately apply these principles to turn more sales prospects into customers, and more customers into raving fans. Picoult even demonstrates how business leaders can use the very same principles to strengthen employee engagement and loyalty. Turn your organization’s customer experience into its greatest competitive advantage, by applying the simple but profound lessons in From Obsessed to Impressed.

In The Referral of a Lifetime, author Tim Templeton frames a powerful plan for cultivating clients and customers in a fable about businesswoman Susie McCumber, who feels increasingly like a failure. A friend refers her to the mysterious Mr. Highground, who introduces her to four successful people. They show her how they transformed their businesses and their lives by determining how others view them and how they view themselves as both human beings and businesspeople. Each of the four represents a "type" in this schema -- from the "relational/business" type who puts the relationship first but thinks strategically when the talk turns to business, to the "business/business" type, who avoids relationships unless they work to a business advantage. Templeton shows how understanding one's type allows one to showcase strengths while improving weak areas in this simple, easy-to-use guide to success in business and in life.

Want second looks, return visits, and lifelong customers at your business? These highly sought-after speakers and consultants provide valuable insights and practical ideas on how to create a business driven by hospitality and an environment that keeps people coming back for more.

Shows listeners how to define a vision, learn what a customer really wants, institute effective systems, and turn customers into raving, and spending, fans.

The secret to any business success is this: word of mouth referrals. It is the most effective marketing method out there, yet the most difficult to achieve. This is because until now, there have been no easy to use tools available to harness it. In this book, renowned Small Business Mentor Patricia O'Sullivan lets you in on all the secrets involved in engineering positive word of mouth referrals - making your customers work for you. Patricia has identified 20 secrets to increasing - and improving - the number of word of mouth referrals that a local business can generate for itself. First, she gets back to basics and reminds us of the best, most simple way to get good word of mouth working for us. Then Patricia tells us all about Priming the Customer - getting them on the same page, getting us all to speak the same language! Then, she walks us through getting the actual referral, what sort of words to use, and shares lots of simple tips and tricks that she has developed in her many years working with entrepreneurs. Finally, the last couple of secrets are all about securing those successful referrals. Patricia is finally able to share with us her expertise on what can really make a big difference to your business's bottom line. 20 secrets, in one short book. More than that, she's funny, and so easy to read.

When every member of staff embraces why guests visit and considers the alternative options they had, you unlock a powerful mindset: The Hospitality Mentality. Guest experience expert Josh Liebman’s The Hospitality Mentality is a framework that leverages a company’s greatest asset—its people—and enables all staff members, especially those on the front line, with tools to enhance the guest experience in powerful ways, creating a strong desire to return and share their experience with others. Business leaders will gain inspiration to take their service standard to the next level, knowing that this is an area that cannot plateau. Readers will be motivated to go above and beyond guests’ expectations through creating hyper-personalized experiences, amplifying enthusiasm, anticipating needs, and crafting superior “wow” moments that solidify memories that take satisfaction to the next level. By maximizing the benefit of guest feedback and directly addressing complaints, service providers can strengthen their relationship with their guests, ultimately leading to business/brand loyalty. The impact of The Hospitality Mentality is more than a warm, fuzzy feeling—it will drive a business forward.