|
12 Free Tools For Starting a Home Business With No Money
Want to start your own home business but short on cash? These proven and expert 12 free tools can help you make the move from corporate life to calling the shots.
By Bruce Scher
Home business ownership is the best way to start any...
Have You Sold Your Internal Customers?
You can make the sale. You know your core message. You know your target market inside out, right?
But if you have even one employee than you've got another sales job to do. Everyone in your organization must also be sold on the dream you...
How To Have An Effortless Life
Isn't that an appealing title? How to Have an Effortless Life! Well guess what? The only time your life will be effortless is when you're buried six feet under.
It takes effort to get results, and not just any effort, it takes smart effort....
Small Business Tax Issues For Self-Employed Individuals
The United States is a nation of entrepreneurs. There are literally tens of millions of self-employed individuals that enjoy pursuing their dream business. Of course, few of you enjoy the paperwork and confusing tax issues that arise from owning...
Why Small Businesses Fail (or Fail to Thrive)
Tammy, a skilled and gifted horticulturist, called me to discuss what she needed to know to start her own florist and landscaping business. She had been in the horticulture industry for 10 years and was incredibly skilled at working with flowers...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
A $40 Million Dollar Little Known Referral Strategy
Copyright 2005 David Frey
Would you like to know how a car wash chain with only 12 locations has cleaned over 33,373,975 cars and has an annual revenue of over $40 Million (that is not a misprint) using little to no paid advertising?
Well, sit forward because I'm about to tell you. The company name is "Car Spa" and here's how I discovered their brutally effective referral strategy. I often go to Taco Bell to have lunch and read a book. I noticed a little flyer next to their cash register.
A few days later I stopped in with my family to get a frozen yogurt and right next to the cash register was the same flyer.
The next day, I took my family to our favorite buffet restaurant and low and behold, there was a stack of Car Spa flyers.
I then started asking the people at these locations what the deal was with the Car Spa flyer that they had next to their cash register and they all said that some old guy comes around every week and replinishes their stack.
I asked them, "Do you have some type of reciprocal arrangement with Car Spa?" They all said, "No...they asked if they could put their flyers there as a gift to our guests and we said sure."
Here's a copy of the referral flyer that Car Spa uses to drive traffic. http://www.marketingbestpractices.com/temp/car_spa.pdf
Pretty simple. Notice the 48 hour guarantee.
______________________________
They're All Over the Place! ______________________________
Before you knew it, I started noticing their little discount flyers ALL OVER THE PLACE.
The copy center I use had a stack of Car Spa flyers.
The barber I use had a stack of Car Spa flyers.
The oil and lube place I
use had a stack of Car Spa flyers.
The local handicraft shop my wife goes to had a stack of Car Spa flyers.
My son's dentist had a stack of Car Spa flyers in his office.
My local chiropractor friend had a stack of Car Spa flyers in his office.
An apartment complex office I visited had a stack of Car Spa flyers.
Everywhere I went, I saw a stack of Car Spa flyers. It was amazing. The have these little "referral lead generation magnets" all over the place.
______________________________
So I Finally Visited Car Spa ______________________________
And it wasn't any surprise that they were so busy that it took about 15 minutes of waiting just to get my car into their car wash.
I then went inside their office to wait for my car and noticed that they did NOT have one flyer from another business inside their office.
They were able to get all those other businesses in the area to send them referrals without having to do one reciprocal referral arrangement. And they did it simply by asking the business owners. That's all.
Car Spa probably gets 100 times the amount of referrals of any other business in the area as a direct result of this simple referral tactic.
If you have a brick and mortar business, what's stopping you from doing the same thing? All it takes is a couple of hours a day and a handful or referral flyers to pass out.
About the Author
David Frey is the author of the best-selling manual, "The Small Business Marketing Bible" and Senior Editor of the highly-acclaimed, "Small Business Marketing Best Practices Newsletter." To get your free lifetime subscription simply visit http://MarketingBestPractices.com.
|
|
|
|
|
| United States Small Business Administration |
| An electronic gateway of procurement information for and about small businesses. Search engine for contracting officers, marketing tool for small firms, ... |
| www.sba.gov |
  |
| SBA |
| The Small Business Planner includes information and resources that will help you at any stage of the business lifecycle. ... |
| www.sba.gov |
  |
| Main Page - SmallBusiness.com - Small Business Resources |
| Find Small Business plans, advice, tutorials about organization, corporations, entrepreneurship, and smallbusiness. |
| www.smallbusiness.com |
  |
| Yahoo! Small Business: Domain Names, Web Hosting, E-commerce ... |
| Yahoo! Small Business provides products and services that enable you to establish and grow your business on the Internet. Services include domain name ... |
| smallbusiness.yahoo.com |
  |
| Small business advice business start up small business finance ... |
| business start up small business finance start up advice. |
| www.smallbusiness.co.uk |
  |
| Smallbusiness.gov.au redirect to business.gov.au |
| Business Entry Point - Helping small business in big ways. An Australian Government initiative. The content from this website has now been consolidated into ... |
| www.smallbusiness.gov.au |
  |
| Business & Small Business |
| Online and print small business publication. Information to help start, grow or manage a small business. |
| www.entrepreneur.com |
  |
| Microsoft Small Business Center |
| Your home for information about Microsoft's small-business products and services, tailored business advice, technology tools, and more. |
| www.microsoft.com |
  |
| The Small Business Advisor - advice for starting and operating a ... |
| Advice and assistance for starting and operating a small or home based business. |
| www.isquare.com |
  |
| SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business" |
| A nonprofit association dedicated to encouraging the formation, growth, and success of small business nationwide through counseling and mentor programs. |
| www.score.org |
  |
| Small Business and Self-Employed One-Stop Resource |
| IR-2006-2, January 3, 2006 - Temporary and proposed regulations will significantly reduce tax filing burden for nearly 950000 small business owners. ... |
| www.irs.gov |
  |
| Welcome to Small Business BC your business resource in British ... |
| BC Business Services offers assistance and resources for those running or starting a business in British Columbia and Vancouver. |
| www.smallbusinessbc.ca |
  |
| Small Business Service | Home |
| Provides information and advice to help small businesses realise their potential. |
| www.sbs.gov.uk |
  |
| NSW Small Business |
| A site developed by the NSW Department of State and Regional Development for small businesses. Topics include management, resources, current issues and ... |
| www.smallbiz.nsw.gov.au |
  |
| Business Management & Advice: Small Business Resources & Information |
| Looking for business management and advice? Our website includes small business resources and information that can help you. Visit the small business ... |
| www.businessweek.com |
  |
| Small Business Lawyer, Attorney, Law, Legal Help - FindLaw for ... |
| Information and legal sites relevant to small business. |
| smallbusiness.findlaw.com |
  |
| Small Business Funding Opportunities (SBIR and STTR) |
| Links to Small Business Funding Opportunities and SBIR / STTR Applications. |
| grants.nih.gov |
  |
| Microsoft bCentral Small Business Directory |
| Directory categorized by industry with company business card feature. |
| sbd.bcentral.com |
  |
| Our site has moved! Please update your bookmarks! |
| Facilitates the sharing and exchange of information among small business development centers, the small business administration and other business-oriented ... |
| sbdcnet.utsa.edu |
  |
| Small Business Development Corporation |
| Our business information services provides guidance to improve business skills and knowledge on advice on starting, buying, selling and expanding a small ... |
| www.sbdc.com.au |
  |