Comments

I'm a big fan of Dave Balter and BzzAgent. It's a Brilliant idea, well executed.

In fact Dave is our podcast guest this month on Personal Brilliance - Up Close and Practical. A new episode each week this month. Listen to Dave describe the process.

Posted by Jim Canterucci at June 16, 2008 8:40 AM

I am an ad agency owner and teacher at some business schools. I always tell students to call their clients without a specific purpose. 'Do it often and when you really need to sell them something they will be glad to listen to you and to hear your proposal'. One of them, a travel agent, did and then called me back.

'It´s like a miracle, they are saying I´m the nicest guy in town' he said.

Sometimes, people need to speak to friends, not always to sellers.

Posted by Gonzalo at June 16, 2008 9:32 AM

WOW! = WOM

WOW! work generates word of mouth that in turn generates the opportunity to do more WOW! work that then generates more word of mouth that generates... I think we've just discovered perpetual motion.

Posted by Mark JF at June 16, 2008 10:50 AM

Forget meticulously planned marketing campaigns & detailed sales plans. EVERY client I have won in the last eight years has been by WOM. A referral via a former co-worker. An introduction from my wife’s old boss. A woman whose father was the boss of an old school friend. WOM is one of those phenomena that just happens. You can’t always contrive it, there is no guaranteed formula. But whether you run a consultancy, are a talented designer, or run a stunning deli, just make sure you are bloody good at what you do. And wait for the word to spread.

Posted by Ian Sanders at June 16, 2008 12:19 PM

During the 13 years I did web development I had two single-transaction clients; the rest were ongoing relationships. Of those, all were from word of mouth.

Every single one.

During that same period, we've been able to refer business back to virtually every web client and those who referred them to us.

Yet another perpetual motion, eh?

Posted by Joel D Canfield at June 16, 2008 12:29 PM

WOM - I'd go with the subversive VW adds!

Posted by Patrick at June 16, 2008 3:35 PM

The WOM Haiku:

Credibility,
When a trusted source says so,
we believe, and know.

Posted by Rick Kiley - www.gThankYou.com at June 16, 2008 8:35 PM

Story Title....."If you are professional painter and want to start a word of mouth revolution.... vacuum carpets" When I had a painting business any time that I painted a room inside, I would vacuum the room after I was finished whether it needed it or not. This always started a word of mouth revolution among the ladies in the town that I worked in and kept me in work for months to come.

JB

Posted by John Ballenger at June 16, 2008 10:24 PM

WOM may be an unusual way to build business in the recruitment sector, which has a reputation for being more of a target-driven, cold-call sales kind of business, but for the firm I work for it certainly works.

Apart from giving an excellent service (interviewing all candidates we register face to face, for example), the way we encourage WOM is - give information away for free.

We advise candidates registering with us on their CVs, we get candidates with good skills on paper but who fail at client interviews back into the office for 1-1 interview advise sessions, we carry out salary surveys and benchmarking exercises for clients - all free of charge.

End result - Line managers tell each other about us, HR managers moving firm come back to us, candidates refer their friends to us.

Posted by Nicola Franklin at June 17, 2008 5:16 AM

But this isn't true WOM. This was contrived. So Seth Godin, TP, John Moore, and some others were convinced to run the same story in their weblogs on the same day. Big Deal. That used to be known as a "press release." So the author is running a promo giving away his book for free--without the special artwork. That's nothing new either. Promotional campaigns of that order have been around forever. You all act as if you just invented sliced bread when all you have done is participate in one more cynical old-fashioned marketing campaign. Yawn.

Posted by Mike at June 17, 2008 6:19 AM

WOM is our best lead provider for our small remodeling company. We completed one kitchen in a high rise, the realtor that is trying to sell the unit has 2 of her clients hire us to help move their condo, the property manager has us speak to the apartment leasing manager to update two of their units...5 jobs in one building! We need help getting better at WOM, getting our entire staff of 5 involved.

Posted by Virginia at June 17, 2008 11:43 AM

Word of Mouth - enhanced by the internet.

For many years I worked designing communities online for educators - precisely so that the web could enhance the WOM experience. You see, around 10 years ago everyone was going gangbusters for putting computers in classrooms, but no one was helping the teachers use them effectively. How the teachers would help each other was by WOM - at conferences and other gatherings of like-minded teachers, they would relate with vigor and enthusiasm how they found a way to use the hunk of junk that Sun or IBM or Apple or whomever had given them. But this is as far as it went. They might hear wonderful ideas from fellow educators once or twice a year.

But the web gives us the capability for having that sort of sharing - the authentic, enthusiastic accounts of how stuff worked for them - available all the time. And that is exactly what we did. First at Apple with K-12 educators and the "Educational Object Economy" (give us a break, it was over 10 years ago now) and then later with Higher Education with a consortium of university around the United States.

And it works, folks - but it works by having someone you trust (either by prior relationship or common interests) telling you that they had success doing such and so and you could too.

Posted by Martin Koning-Bastiaan at June 17, 2008 2:50 PM

As Headmaster of a small, private, moderately priced, K-12 school, this year we've abandoned traditional advertising methods for WOM. In our region, schools in our association are struggling to stay even or more likely are dropping in enrollment. We continue to climb in enrollment, though not an overwhelming success story (yet), WOM will, I believe not only help us stay even but will cause us to increase by close to 10% without spending the $$ on the expensive and useless newspaper ads.

Of course, we're shifting to being more web-savvy as well to enhance WOM, but nothing replaces creating a referral culture at your school, then SPIN selling when the referred walks through the door.

A solid 95% of our prospects come through WOM, the rest through the website

Posted by Daniel Tubbs at June 17, 2008 8:57 PM

I couldn't make this up. WOM has launched my wife into an Avon bobanza selling sensation.
Let me explain:
My wife, having nothing to do , decided to sell Avon. After getting the usual tools fetched, she began telling family and friends about her quest.Sure, the initial orders were small but effective enough to excite my wife that she achieved- she went on a rant, leaving catalogs at business, talking to strangers and so on and on. Now, after only two months fresh, she is doing a fair amount of business a month. When she gets a phone call for orders or someone oreders off her web site, she finds that her customers find her via WOM.

Posted by robert a meacham at June 17, 2008 9:41 PM

This may be "true" word of mouth, it may be something else, but it is a grand experiment! Did you read the HBS Press post? Among other things, Dave is trying to point out a new tactic to the publishing industry. Traditionally, an author has appeared at bookstores across the country in the wake of the publication of his book, and the people who see him and maybe buy the book are to spread word-of-mouth. Dave chose to appear on 20 websites instead. More fuel conscious, less tiring, and, we should hope, just as effective.

Posted by cathy mosca at June 18, 2008 9:37 AM

I would like to nominate the opening of Bandon Dunes golf resort. Josh Lesnik did almost no advertising and instead simply invited what Seth Godin calls sneezers to come play. Pure marketing by hype.

Posted by Ken Gregg at June 18, 2008 10:01 AM

Tide to Go: I spill . . . I whip TTG out of purse . . . my friends mock . . . voilà stain gone . . . they are converts. WOM: Word of Mess!

Posted by Joy Meredith at June 18, 2008 2:43 PM

I am a Bzzagent volunteer, my story is bad word of mouth. I had ordered some wood to be cut for shelves. I had chosen to go to the local supplier, they said they would deliver, but after several days of toing and froing waiting for it to be delivered and they failed to show, I returned to the shop. I just wanted my money back as foolishly I had paid up front, even more foolishly I had not had a receipt from them and the manager turned round to me and said "what shelves what money." Of course everyone I saw over the next month heard about their treatment of me and their business was affected by my bad word of mouth, I have never been in there again.

Posted by Kerensa at June 19, 2008 6:49 AM

Here are the specific blog posts about the WOM Manual:

http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1087-the-word-of-mouth-manual-volume-ii

http://800ceoread.com/cgi-bin/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=8247

http://brandautopsy.typepad.com/brandautopsy/2008/06/dave-balter-on.html

http://www.chrisbrogan.com/whats-your-take-on-word-of-mouth

http://www.churchofthecustomer.com/blog/2008/06/how-the-book-pu.html

http://www.culture-buzz.com/blog/Download-or-win-the-latest-book-by-Bzzagent-s-CEO-for-free-1680.html

http://johnbell.typepad.com/weblog/2008/06/a-unique-way-to.html

http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/06/16/how-to-demonstrate-word-of-mouth/

http://bostonvcblog.typepad.com/vc/2008/06/balter-delivers-bzz.html

http://gregverdino.typepad.com/greg_verdinos_blog/2008/06/free-download-b.html

http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/taylor/2008/06/a_publishing_strategy_worth_ta.html

http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2008/06/the-inside-word.html

http://rohitbhargava.typepad.com/weblog/2008/06/an-exclusive-do.html

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/06/what-dave-just.html

http://www.pr-squared.com/2008/06/is_bzzagents_dave_balter_a_gen.html

http://www.socialcustomer.com/2008/06/get-the-word-of.html

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/free-buzz-word-of-mouth-manual

http://www.twistimage.com/blog/archives/the-word-of-mouth-manual-volume-ii-is-here-and-its-free-but-just-for-you/

http://whatsnext.typepad.com/whats_next_in_marketing/2008/06/whats-next-in-word-of-mouth-wom-a-great-book-and-an-experiment-in-wom.html

Posted by cathy mosca at June 24, 2008 8:29 AM

I am a bit late to this post, but I have a silly question (or maybe not that silly).

Why ask participants in a contest for a WOM book to tell their best WOM story, since by doing this they show they already understand the value of WOM and are using it. They do not need this book.

Maybe the contest should have been for reasons on why not to focus on WOM. These are the ones who need to read the book.

Posted by manu at June 26, 2008 8:12 AM

As a volunteer BzzAgent, I appreciate your perspective and look forward to reading the book (just downloaded via your link).

Blather From Brooklyn

Posted by annulla at June 26, 2008 11:29 AM

I'm a volunteer BzzAgent, and do it because I love being involved in trying out new products and services and being able to share the experience with people. I'm also intrigued by how consumers (me being one of them!) are engaged, confused, swayed by marketing etc. To me the benefits of WoM are a lot common sense and human nature, so its how best to harness that power without taking it over totally and making it a 'business transaction' instead. Anyway, I really like the book too, it took me a couple of hours to read, really easy to read and examples I can identify with - although it is all-American, I'm not sure my UK and European colleagues will identify as readily, but I'm gonna share it with them anyway!

Posted by BzzAgent Kay at July 2, 2008 4:20 AM

The contest is over. Thanks to everybody for some good WOM stories and opinions. We're sending WOM vol II to the winners, and one of Tom's Essential Series to the runners up. I'll send emails to get postal addresses, and you'll know if you were a winner by which book you receive. Thanks!

Posted by cathy mosca at July 2, 2008 11:28 AM

Has anybody considered re-distributing their hardcopy of the book via one of the free/swap methods? For example, leaving it at a BookCrossing drop point? That certainly seems like a way to spread the WOM!

Posted by BzzAgent 100indecisions at July 18, 2008 11:44 AM

I am a volunteer BzzAgent. Most BzzAgent's are completely transparent and we are proud of it! I loved the manual. I wouldn't have purchased it but I loved every word. Anything that people talk about is considered word of mouth, whether it's good, bad, or indifferent. The world would be a totally different place without Word of Mouth.

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Posted by Karen H. (cjsmom) at July 18, 2008 6:32 PM