Ep. 43 Referral, Reviews and Mistaken Identities

Referral, Reviews and Mistaken Identities

More referrals and reviews can make your business boom, but you have to get them…so how do you do that? Torie Mathis and her cohost Sean talk about strategies to get more referrals, more reviews, and create your own marketing street team – for free.

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION –

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SAF 43

[00:00:00] Torie: I mean, that is almost like a referral. That’s a review and a referral saying, you know, I really liked it here and you should go to,

Hey, Hey, welcome to Smart AF on your host Torie Mathis. We have got a great show for you today, so let’s get started. So the craziest, we had a client of ours that got a message that said that a customer was referred to them. They went and Googled the business. They accidentally went to the wrong business with the same name and went and bought from them.

And they’re like, we just wanted to let you know. Fricking crazy. Plus they spent, they told the customer like Victor, these kind of jerky, like they said how much they spent, but there’s like a few things going on here. So this is a newer business too. And I wasn’t involved in like the very, very beginning of the business.

And I had no idea that there was a business so close to them with almost the same name. You guys, if you’re starting a business, you got to do some research. Don’t name your business, the same thing as somebody that lives on like that’s on the same street. Like that might not be a good idea. And I don’t know now it’s like super close, like on the map it’s oh yeah.

Like it’s very close. And for some businesses, like there’s like Acme or, you know what I mean? Like there are these. Cliche-ish kind of names that anywhere you go, like printing companies, you’re always going to have like advantage printing or, you know what I mean? Like there’s always going to be like all of these different things.

So it’s really important that you figure out how to distinguish your business from somebody and in referrals like that is super important. Yeah, that’s, it’s just so crazy. So when you’re trying to get referrals for your business, again, it’s like how we always talk about reviews. Referrals are something that man, you’ve got to ask people for them and people will be happy to review, but how do you know that if you refer somebody, the people are going to remember what the name is like I can say, Hey, I used this painter. They were blah, blah, blah, painter. And then when, you know, you actually need a painting job, you’re like, mm, I think it was, and you go Google it. And it’s really easy that you might get the wrong. And like, if you are a referrable business, like you do not want this to happen to you.

[00:02:39] Sean: Yeah, like the HVAC, like they could leave stickers. I give somebody and just, just utilize their service. And the technician left the service sticker. Oh, It would work, you know, obviously if there was any service needs that they would be able to do and contact the same company, but then when it comes to that referral, they’re like, oh, who was it? I’ll just go look at the sticker and give them that kind of stuff. If they were on their email, that’s all they have to do is refer back to their email. And hopefully one of those automated emails is like a referral, a specific email that they forward that over to whoever they want to let know about the business. 

[00:03:16] Torie: Whatever your business is, too. Like, I would totally go Google your business and make sure something doesn’t come up, that somebody could be mistaken. Just like people that have common names, like if your name is Tom Jones or, you know, whatever, like you need to figure out how you can distinguish yourself so that you don’t end up getting mixed up with Tom Jones. That’s not cool. Right. 

[00:03:39] Sean: And I mean, even if you are the, the top dog of your, your business and your business name, there’s nothing that says that there isn’t somebody else out there trying to ride your coattails as well. 

[00:03:49] Torie: And that definitely could be, I don’t know which business came first. I did go and Google it and I did come I did see the other company with the very, very similar name. And Google-based searches are based on where you’re at. Look it’s location-based. So if that person that was Googling, it happened to be closer to the other company they would come up first, it would be a super easy mistake. And so knowing that, like I talked to them, like maybe leave some type of referrals, like let’s make something, design something so that they can leave it with people and say, Hey, refer us. And then that way they’re giving them the correct information. That’d be like the place I used to go get my hair done if I said, oh yeah, I really liked that you know, my hair girl go to the Aveda salon in Alpharetta. How many of Aveda salons are in Alpharetta? Like, you’d have no idea. Like I know where it’s at.

I can tell you, but you know, if somebody was just like, oh, you know, Torie really likes them. I went and Googled that it’s really easy that they would go to the wrong. Especially if you live in a place where it’s very dense, densely populated, and there’s a lot of businesses like that could totally happen to anybody’s business.

[00:04:58] Sean: And make it easy to be found and remembered and shared. I even the tree cutting service we have and well, we took a walk in the neighborhood. One house is definitely getting their trees cut. Cause they have it, there was a sign in the front yard and the next thing you know, the neighbor on each side of that house had it the same sign and then another one down the street.

And it’s like, now all of a sudden this tree cutting service, like did half the street didn’t magically happen. 

[00:05:31] Torie: On purpose they had a plan, but say a little bit of planning and a little bit of intention. Like in that could be so many different businesses. Remember when we lived somewhere that in the neighborhood, a household. And so they went and left stuff on the mailboxes of every single house, like in the surrounding area, you know, so maybe the homeowner didn’t refer them, but they were trying to go and get that referral. And it was more than just like sending a postcard. So-and-so’s house sold, you know, in your neighborhood.

Whichever I like every realtor does that, but these people did something different. And in, in just asking for the referral, they live like a whole little bag of stuff on everybody’s mail. And so you went out there, it was very memorable. You knew who they were, it was something different. It was unique.

So it was more than just like a postcard that said, you know, you know, 5, 4, 3 brick streets sold and blog. We made a bunch of money. Nobody does that. So it was cool that they did something totally different. 

[00:06:33] Sean: That’s where like promo type stuff too, a lot of businesses, they want to order magnets. Pins and buttons and all kinds of just random crap with their, their logo on it, or know, hopefully a little bit more business information, some contact information, but sometimes it’s just a logo which really doesn’t do them any good. But so many times these businesses, they order that stuff and there’s no intention behind it. It’s straight up a waste of money. ’cause it like nobody’s going to want that kind of stuff. So no matter how you hand it out, it’s not being utilized at all. And there there’s so many different things you can do.

So even if you wanted to go down that route and buy something like that, that you can give out to people that has your logo or business contact information on. Think of something that people would actually want, you know, not something like, oh, thanks for this crap. And toss it away. Even pins like pins, people use the pins are easily misplaced and put in drawers and taken by somebody else’s borrowing it and all that, which, you know, in essence might be good.

But you know, by the time anybody notices it, the ink is rubbed off of it. Anyways, they can’t even tell versus something. I had a, an insurance company, I was at a show and they gave me a little tin and it was full minutes. Like these tiny little mints, like just breath, mint. Yeah. Like Altoids the damn thing still sitting in my car. I just sitting on, like now I personally won’t actually need them for anything, but if I was in the market and the guy I was with, he got one as well. He like totally all for it because he is or was in the market for it. But you eat like that even if I didn’t want.

I’ve totally, totally using them, but then the insurance, we have USAA and there’s no reason to, to change and go do anything else. But then in like something like that, like even if I personally didn’t want to use the birth mints like it’s, they’re wrapped in super nicest site, give to somebody else and they could use. You never know what comes out of that, but it’s, it’s something that has a little bit more intention behind it versus throwing money away on stuff. 

[00:09:02] Torie: When I worked for the real estate publishing company, we used to design, I think this is actually some side work I used to do. We would design things for realtors, for them to hand out that were different than just regular, you know, pens and Chachi type items. And one of the things I thought always was cool was that they would design whatever the local sports team was. If they were in like a big area where they. Popular the ball team or whatnot, NFL team, you know, some areas just don’t have them. They would put the schedule on there for the whole entire season, because then people would have.

You know, some of them did magnets and some of them just did postcards, but it was something that somebody would actually hold onto for the whole season, because it was something really easy that they would be able to access. So I think something like that, like again, a little bit of intention and planning, like what in your area would they want something like that? So that it would be something that people would hold on to that way. When you want to refer somebody. You could have something like that to make sure that, you know, they got the name right. That you stay top of mind. Because again, I talk about the damn dog groomer that I don’t know their name and they gave me nothing. They could have gave me something, something simple that would have allowed me to A return B refer them. Like they got me in so quick. Did such a good job that if somebody down the street said, Hey, do you, is anybody know of a dog groomer? Right? Couldn’t refer you because I didn’t get anything from you in order to allow me to be referred, but lots of companies can be referred just like people will leave reviews if you ask, if you ask, they will review, they will refer you as well. I want to refer a great company. 

That’s it like for Miles Through Time Automotive Museum I have, we’ve had events now I can, I can sell. T-shirts in the gift shop and they’re branded. And if anybody wears them, they’re going to see Miles Through Time, which I do. But in, in the events, like say I, we could do a big car show and hand out trophies or plaques or something like that, which if they do anything with it, it’s going to sit on their shelf. Right. Or we can invest that same amount of money give them t-shirts. Which is what we’ve been doing. And we order a bunch of T shirts which we then can have outsourced with sponsors on the back of it.

So we don’t even pay for it and then we give those away to everybody that comes. So not only are they wanting that, but now they’re going to wear it. And when they wear it and they go out there and now they’re. They’re promoting the museum for us. 

And it’s people wearing them for years. Like we see didn’t you just see somebody on Facebook, they did a video or something and you’re like, Hey, they have a Miles Through Time shirt from a couple of years ago like, that’s cool. 

[00:11:53] Sean: I mean, it’s something that they would actually want to utilize. I mean, or, I mean, I could, I could give them stickers in line. Well, what good is that going to do? Like having something that they could actually use and want and then have other people be able to see, because again, that’s the whole point of everything is that you transitioned from one customer to another, or we get that same customer to, to buy again and keep it going. So that’s, that’s how we do it there. 

[00:12:23] Torie: And that’s a great strategy. Obviously not every single company would bite. But at the same time, maybe they would because you see some off the wall kind of brands that buy t-shirts and everybody wants them. Everybody buys them. What’s that place in there’s one in Hilton head. And it’s just a little restaurant that everybody wears their t-shirts. I see them all over salty dog. 

[00:12:47] Sean: Like it has a ton of restaurants and stuff that I go and do that. And then people see the shirts and they’re like, oh, we should go there. And that’s like there. 

[00:12:55] Torie: I mean, you see people wearing those shirts all over the place and really a shirt.

I mean, that is almost like a referral. That’s a review and a referral saying. I really liked it here. And you should go to. 

[00:13:06] Sean: The Harley Davidson shirts. All our different locations are, you know, they have their special shirts that you can only get at that location. And somebody sees it. Oh, I didn’t know. They had one in Nantucket and then they go and go to Nantucket’s Harley and get one there. They have one in new Tokyo, but if that’s how it works, 

[00:13:26] Torie: Well Starbucks, I mean, Starbucks sells coffee and then they started selling these coffee cups that had the different city names on it. And it’s just another thing that puts them out there that people want to get. I think that’s a cool way to grow your brand and, and do things that are a little bit different than just buying chotchkies stuff.

So how does a company not get confused with another company with similar name, with similar similar business style? How do they do that? 

[00:14:04] Sean: I got to set themselves apart. 

[00:14:07] Torie: And I think he had to do some research on like what you name your company too, just to be careful. Cause it’s so, I mean, that was starting to get taken. I can’t really take that back. 

[00:14:18] Sean: They could go, you could change it, but that’s not going to be a cheap change or, or easy. 

[00:14:25] Torie: You know, and maybe then, then it’s time for like some type of rebranding so that you have like something so unique that they say that it’s the blah-blah-blah company. You know what I mean?

Trying to think of an example of somebody that like some type of, I don’t, I don’t like characatures for businesses, but that might be a time when you’re like, you know, it’s the one with the whatever character, you know what I mean? Something that just makes it unique because man, some names are just, so. You have to have service vehicles or something like that.

[00:14:58] Sean: They’re the ones that are always. I think Jeeps or, you know, something, something that, you know, the pink Panther insulation, like you, you, you know that brand because of that pink Panther, nobody should know what brand of house installation, nobody cares, but it’s memorable. 

[00:15:18] Torie: Yeah. Making your business memorable in some way. Definitely.

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