Would you be the least bit surprised if I told you 98 percent of businesses depend almost entirely on word of mouth marketing?
What if I told you of those 98 percent, only three percent have a strategy for obtaining leads via word of mouth?
Here is my reaction to that: SCARY!
If your number one way of obtaining new business isn’t even something you have a strategy for, it’s time to rethink what you are doing.
The good news is networking has become easier to do than ever.
According to my LinkedIn profile where I have just over 1,900 first-degree connections, I am within two degrees of nearly 18,000,000 professionals. This means that between myself, my friends and their friends, I have access to a whole lot of people. This is really powerful.
Our Networks are Becoming Our Biggest Influencers
Think about the last time you were making a major purchase decision or hiring somebody. Where did you go to seek advice? You probably sought insight from the Internet.
New Rules of Customer Engagement, an e-book for sales professionals (and their bosses)
CI columnist Daniel L. Newman’s book is being showcased on Commercial Integrator. Check back weekly for excerpts:
1/10—Intro: Redefining the Sales Process
1/17—Trend 1: How Informed Consumers are Changing Everything
1/24—Trend 2: Why Your Response Time Must be Faster: The Impact of Immediacy on Customer Experience
1/31—Trend 3: Getting Creative: Your Business Value Lies In Your Creativity
2/7—Trend 4: The Role of The Human Network; Your Human Network
2/14—Trend 5: Don’t Sell Me. Show Me! Selling More by Driving Outcomes and Advocacy within Your Client Organizations
2/21—Trend 6: Customer Experience Trumps Everything Else You Do: Why Mediocre is the New Bad and Extraordinary Must be the Ordinary
Follow @Commintegrator and @DanielNewmanUV for updates on the release of “New Rules of Customer Engagement.”
For your purchase you may have begun by searching Google for trusted sources where you could research and become better versed in whatever it was you were buying, say a house, a car or a major appliance.
As for a hiring decision, did you reach out to your professional network? Perhaps post a note on your LinkedIn network or pick up the phone and call a few friends you thought may have some intimate knowledge of a few perfect candidates?
If this sounds at all like the way you consume, then you aren’t in the minority. Considering 92 percent of all companies use social media as a top vehicle for hiring, I would say you are in the majority.
Consumers 35 years and younger, a rapidly growing portion of management in the workforce, are 50 percent more likely to make a buying decision based on a recommendation they received through their social network.
Another emerging trend is blogs and social networks are quickly becoming the “de facto” source of inspiration for purchasing decisions. If you omit the impact of retail sites, which are primarily a vehicle for B2C, blogs and social media are the key influencers in purchase decisions are quickly surpassing brand sites.
