Research tells us that there is no more compelling way to drive sales than word-of-mouth marketing. This isn’t news. We’ve always valued what our neighbors, friends and family had to say. It reduces the risk of buying if someone you know has already had a good experience.

We’ve all bought a book, checked out a restaurant or seen a movie that we originally had no intention of trying simply because someone we trust endorsed it. On the business side, we’ve done the same thing.  

One of the bigger marketing mistakes I see many businesses make is that they assume that word of mouth just happens. If they satisfy a customer, then surely that customer will invest some time and credibility in telling his or her network all about it, right?  

Wrong.  

Experience and survey results tell us that a person is at least five times more likely to tell others about a negative experience than about a good one. We have to score at the “exceptional” level to get someone to even think about telling someone else about it.  

So how do you get your satisfied customers to talk about you? Try these ideas on for size.

Surprise them. When something happens that is unexpected or out of the ordinary, it triggers something in us that makes it much more likely that we will talk about it to others. I think it’s because we are all storytellers at heart. It’s not that interesting to say to someone, “We work with a banker who is very good at his job.”  

But it’s a whole different ballgame when you can say something like “you won’t believe this but our banker – yes, a banker – stopped by the office today with ice cream for everyone. He brought everything we needed to make sundaes. Even cherries!”

Make it easy. Want a review on Yelp? Put a link on your Facebook fan page, your website, etc. Have a bricks-and-mortar store? Print up some oversized postcards that have an incredible offer on them. When your customers are checking out, ask them to address the postcards to their friends, and you’ll mail them for free.  

You’ve got to make it so easy that they can’t say no. Don’t make them log into a specific website to take your survey. Instead, get their email addresses and email them the survey with the link included. Identify any and every barrier to them taking action and remove all that you can.

Capture testimonials. Every business should do this. There’s no excuse for not having some testimonials from your happy clients. In writing is fine, but video would be even better. It’s so easy to share and post on all your digital assets. These don’t need to be long, but they should be specific. No one wants to watch 10 people say the same thing.

Be careful that in your effort to make the testimonials matter you don’t stuff them so full of facts, figures and results that you take all the personality out of them.  

Word of mouth doesn’t just happen. You need to make generating word of mouth and referrals part of your marketing plan so that you don’t leave it to happenstance. When 90 percent of consumers say that word of mouth is the most reliable and trustworthy marketing, they are telling you something. They’re telling you that you shouldn’t ignore this.

Drew McLellan is Top Dog at McLellan Marketing Group and blogs at www.drewsmarketingminute.com. He can be reached by email at Drew@MclellanMarketing.com.  
© 2011 Drew McLellan