Graham McGregor: How can you create raving fans for your business?

Think about a product or service that you love using and often recommend to people you know. Photo / Getty Images

I have an App for my iPhone that I can't live without it. (And because this App is so useful I find myself recommending it to between 3 and 5 people every single week.)

The App is called Tape-A-Call and it allows me to easily record both sides of any call I make on my iPhone. (There is also an Android version of this app as well if you have a mobile that is not an iPhone.)

Each call that I choose to record using the Tape-A- Call App is saved as an MP3 file that I can label and easily email or text to anyone I want.

I use the Tape-A-Call App two main ways in my marketing business.

1: First of all when I mentor and coach clients on how to get better marketing results in their business I record the calls and give my clients a copy of the call.

This is very useful for my clients as they can listen again at any time to the marketing recommendations and suggestions that I gave them.

2: Secondly I use the Tape-A-Call App to collect amazing testimonials each week for a number of my business clients.

I speak with some of their customers and ask them questions about the benefits they have enjoyed by using this business.

I record each call using the Tape-A -Call App. I then replay the call and write up the key points that each person covered in our interview.

I email this feedback to each customer and invite them to approve or modify what I have written. 90 per cent are happy to approve what I have written as is and 10% make a few minor changes.

The Tape-A-Call App is incredibly easy to use.

And it also has amazing back up service if you have any questions or technical issues. I've called on this technical back up three times and two times I've had a live chat with a helpful service person who instantly fixed my issue.

And the third time I had a minor technical issue that needed sorting so I left a short email message and it was fixed a few hours later.

Now in case you are wondering, I'm not getting paid or compensated to talk about the Tape A Call App.

I'm telling you about it for two reasons.

1: It is an App that is valuable to me in my business and is super easy to use.
2: It is also a good example of a business that is very easy to recommend.

And because it is so useful and easy to use I recommend it every week to a number of people I speak with. (Including readers of my Herald Column this week.)
In other words I am a "Raving Fan" for this App and the business which created it.

Here's my key marketing question to you today:

What is your plan to create 'raving fans' for your business so you have people every single week who happily recommend your products and services to other people who they know?

Based on my experience with the Tape A Call App here are two suggestions.

1: Make your business easy to use.

I remember a shoe repair firm I heard about many years ago.

They would come to your home or work place and collect any shoes that needed repairing and keys that needed duplicating.

They would then deliver these shoes and keys back to your home or office at a time to suit you.

They made it super easy to do business with them and as a result they were very popular and easy to recommend.

2: Do something that clients don't expect.

I recall Derek Sivers talking about an online business he used to own called CD Baby. (They sold Music CD's online.) His rule with his team was that every customer phone call had to be answered by a real person in two rings or less.

Customers were delighted to be able to always ring and get a real live person to talk to in two rings or less and his business was incredibly successful.

Doing things that create raving fans for your business is a way to increase sales.

"The single most important thing is to make people happy. If you are making people happy, as a side effect, they will be happy to open up their wallets and pay you." - Derek Sivers, Founder CD Baby

Action Exercise

Think about a particular product or service that you love using and often recommend to people you know. What can you borrow from this product or service to make your business one that clients want to eagerly recommend?

Graham McGregor is a Marketing Strategist and helps business coaches attract perfect coaching clients from around the world. You can download his marketing guide ‘You Deserve Perfect Coaching Clients’ at www.perfectcoachingclients.com.