I’m talking to an owner who’s pretty darn proud of the fact he doesn’t do any marketing or have any sales effort because it’s all “word of mouth.” He tells me this knowing I know his friend (with the same type of business) in a noticeably smaller market that has two to three times the revenue he has.
My first thought was, maybe if you did some marketing, you’d be making more money, and more importantly, have a more valuable business. By his own admission, this owner spends a good amount of time working “In” the business. He’s working well under his pay grade when he does this and probably works more hours than he would if he grew the business.
Word of mouth is great, especially for businesses like mine where referrals are the platinum standard. But those referrals only come as the result of marketing. But for a more traditional B2B or B2C firm (like this one that sells to businesses, government, and consumers) there needs to be marketing plus some sales effort.
A salesperson should be calling on the businesses and government buyers letting them know about new offerings, building the relationship, etc. As consumers, what’s the first thing we do when we need a new product or service? Right, we Google it. Some SEO or AdWords is sure worth a try.
Marketing is what creates customers, which creates buzz, which leads to the word of mouth phenomenon, and even more customers.
“I don’t always follow my own advice.” Edith Wharton
