Viral Word Of Mouth Marketing Part 3: An Army of Unpaid Salesmen

Back when I was in college, I had an old Honda Prelude. It was really fun to drive, and it was the most reliable car I’ve ever had. Unfortunately, one day a thick black smoke started pouring out of the back end. With my limited mechanical knowledge, I quickly determined that I didn’t have the means to fix the heavy leak two gaskets behind the oil filter, so I started looking for a mechanic.

I happened to find AA Automotive in Junction City, Oregon. They took my Prelude, gave me an accurate estimate, gave me a fair price, and fixed it within 24 hours. Needless to say, whenever I recommend a mechanic in that area, I recommend AA Automotive.

When you’re working with the public, your top priority should be to ensure your customers have a good experience. When customers are happy, they tell their friends and you get more customers. When they’re not happy, they tell their friends, and you start getting a bad reputation. Remember, negative news travels much faster than positive news.

So what does it take to build trust and gain word of mouth? Great customer service, a great product, and giving your customers a solid understanding of the benefits.

If you can perfect these three areas, you can ensure that your customers will have a good experience, and will recommend you to their friends.

1. Great Customer Service

Listen

Everyone wants to be listened to. Imagine you’re on a date, and you’re talking about something really personal. You look at your date and realize they have been on a phone call with someone else. Not a great feeling, right? Every customer is coming to you with a problem, and you can offer a solution. Listen to what they’re telling you, and solve their problem, that builds trust.

Work Quickly

Have you ever been placed on hold for 20 minutes or more? Instantly, it puts you in a bad mood. If you deal with people’s problems quickly, they’ll appreciate you for it.

Solve Their Problem

Do whatever is in your power to help them with their problem. Consider the marketing value of a happy customer when determining how to best help them. If it’s a 20 cent part for their lawn mower, why not just give it to them for free? Next time they need a more expensive part, they’ll think of you first.

2. Great Product

I love my Galaxy Note 3, it’s a great phone. It’s huge, it’s fast, it takes great pictures, I can write naturally with the stylus, and it can even act as a remote control for the TV. Whenever people are talking about getting a new phone, I always tell them about mine and how much I love it. Samsung has my trust, and they’ve also got a free salesmen.

It doesn’t matter if you have the best customer service in the world if you have a terrible product.

Here’s the simple truth, if your customers love your product, they love you.

You need to ensure the customer is happy with their purchase, and knows exactly what they are getting. Make sure your salesmen are not promising benefits that aren’t there, and invest in good quality control. If your product solves people’s problems, they will talk about it.

3. Explain The Benefits

People like knowing they’ve made a good decision. Make sure when you sell your product you give them the complete list of features and benefits. Not only will this increase their trust in you, it will give them a list of benefits they will tell their friends about.

Well, that wraps it up for this series on viral word of mouth marketing. Apply the principles you’ve learned here and watch the customers start pouring in. Click here for part one and two.

Have you guys seen any other valuable tactics for word of mouth marketing? If you have, leave it in the comments below.