Bagel Bash

"One customer, well taken care of, could be more valuable than $10,000 worth of advertising." - Jim Rohn

Ask anyone and most will say that 'the best form of advertising is word-of-mouth'. A friend telling a friend carries more weight than a Super Bowl ad.

If your customers tell their friends, family and colleagues they should buy from you it will help you spend less on advertising while producing better results.

Today's idea is a fun and productive way of incentivizing people to recommend you.

Bagel Bash

FOOD is a sensual and tangible thing. Food = Survival. Therefore, if you provide food you are, in a way, helping those you are feeding to survive.

With that in mind, your company should run a food-based recognition program for customers who refer other customers.

Once a month, two customers (or more if you like) win, by random drawing, a Bagel Bash. This breakfast, bought and served by your company, includes bagels and muffins for everyone in the office as well as coffee and juice.

Avoid any temptation to 'cheap out'. Make sure you only purchase high quality as it is a reflection of the sort of quality you deliver as a company.

Customers qualify for an entry with each piece of closed business from a customer they referred. Depending on the nature of your business, you might even make entries based on the dollar volume. That way, bigger purchases from their referrals means more entries for them.

Every time an existing customer sends a referral to you, thank them publicly by tagging them in a comment or post on your social media platforms. Be sure to include in those posts or comments a bagel emoji for every referral they have sent during the month. This simple and public recognition will instigate competition among your customers (even the brand new ones) to get similar recognition.

In his phenomenal book, Contagious: Why Things Catch On, Wharton Professor Jonah Berger defines reasons that things get talked about and shared. He made these into an acronym; STEPPS. The 'T' in his STEPPS acronym stands for Trigger.

Running the Bagel Bash as an ongoing promotion creates a Trigger. What that means is, every time someone sees a bagel, you/your company jump immediately to the top of their mind. And, when you do, they begin to think, 'Who else can I refer?'

Make a big deal out of the winners! Shoot video and take lots of pictures of those in attendance at the Bagel Bash. Make these about them, not you.

Feature these pictures and video on all of your company's online platforms. These will make those who won feel important all over again. They will also make other customers want that recognition. So, they will redouble their efforts to send referrals.

Could the Bagel Bash help you win more customer referrals?

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Expert Tip

This week's Expert Tip is from?Adam Rosensweig, Certified Emotional Intelligence Specialist

Emotional Intelligence is the emotional skill set that enables us to aim our talents and skills in the most effective way toward personal and professional success.?Foundational to emotional intelligence is having a balanced level of self awareness which, in part, is the ability to recognize WHAT we are feeling, WHY we are feeling it, and HOW this impacts our behavior and those around us.?Our EI skills are built around this.

Our feelings are preceded by our thoughts.?Sometimes it is hard to recognize that because our mind moves so fast we feel feelings without understanding the thinking behind them.?Awareness of thought = solid emotional self awareness skills.

One tip is to pay attention to our speech and how we verbally speak about ourselves.?What we say is a product of our thinking.?Notice whether it is positive or negative speech.?Be VERY careful with sentences that begin with “I am…”.?The subconscious can be influenced and is always listening.

A no charge mini-workshop on how to develop this skill can be found here.??

Puzzle and Trivia

To add some fun to our reader's lives, the?Freaking Brilliant Ideas Newsletter?each week features a fun Puzzle and Trivia sheet.

To view or download a pdf version of this week's Puzzle and Trivia sheet, click on the image or go?here.

Can't solve the puzzle? Find the solution and the trivia question answer?here.

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See you next week?

About Bob Sager

The founder of SpearPoint Solutions, Bob’s professional background includes over three decades of experience in sales, leadership and training. Combined with creative thinking, he uses that experience to develop business strategies that help organizations increase sales and margins. Additionally, Bob facilitates training on methods of thinking more creatively that organizations can practically apply to all aspects of their business so they can thrive in the modern?economy.?

Among other accomplishments, Bob is the?inventor?of the creative thinking game,?What's the BIG Idea?? and?author of the books,?Discovering Your Greatness?and?101 Freaking Brilliant Business Ideas.?He is also the creator of a budget friendly way to access his ideas, the?Freaking Brilliant Ideas Bank.?