BlogTalk Radio: Number One Reason Why Word-of-Mouth is Central

I just finished my weekly BlogTalk Radio show.

Since it's Wednesday's, I talked about WOM, word-of-mouth, in particular why it should be central to your business success.

There are lots of reasons. ( I may turn my weekly talk show into a Countdown-like show. Instead I'll label it CountUP show, counting the reasons why WOM, word-of-mouth is central to the success of a business, especially if the business wishes to remain sustainable, self-sufficient, in control of its own destiny: debt-free, free of shareholders' needs.)

The number one reason why WOM should be central to your business is...cash-flow. Or more importantly, I should say positive cash-flows.

Cash-flows are the life of every business. Positive cash-flows sustain it, grow it. Otherwise, the business grinds to a halt.

And a company that's generating huge amounts of word-of-mouth from its customers singing its praises is at an advantage for generating positive cash-flows compared to its competitors. Here's 3 reasons:

* Higher Sales Conversation Ratio. Your sales force will convert a greater number of prospects into customers, and do it faster. Why? Because these prospects have already been qualified, evangelized if you will, by hearing the stories of your customers experience with you..from the mouths of their friends and colleagues. And that means more revenue, faster.

It also means an inspired, motivated sales and support staff, too. Nothing adds positive buzz and enthusiasm in a company than a high sales conversion ratio.

* Reduced Advertising Expenses. If your customers volunteer to champion your product to their friends and neighbors, you'll need to advertise less. Referrals, Word-of-mouth, from trusted sources (friends and neighbors) is the best form of advertising. Its ROI far exceeds that of any advertising campaign. With enough WOM, you won't need to advertise. That means you can stop investing, or donating, your cash to an agency or Google. Instead you can invest in your cash balances or your customers and employees to start another round of WOM.

* Product Differentiation. Nothing forces you to lower your price than the lack of product differentiation. Nothing protects you from doing that like...product differentiation. Make your product different. Add value. Added value bolsters your unique selling proposition. A bolstered Unique Selling Proposition bolsters your price. Bolstered prices mean bolstered cash-flows.

There you have it. If you want to run a business in a cash-flow positive way, if you want to control your destiny as a business owner, if you want to run a business you can be proud of, build a brand everyone's proud of, then:

1). Stop advertising

2) Invest that in differentiating your product with added-value and incentives connecting your employees' goals with your company's goals.

3)  Your customers will volunteer to do the rest.

4) Stir and repeat.

I'm slowly publicizing this project with BlogTalk Radio as I get more familiar with the tool and what's required.

My BlogTalk Radio show is every Wednesday at 9:30 AM Central. Here's the URL to listen in streaming mode: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/zane-safrit. And here's the call-in number 646-915-9212, code: 19978#.

I hope to see you. Bring your examples of great WOM, word-of-mouth, to toot your horn and to help others. And be sure to join SWOM, The Society for Word-of-Mouth.