The Referral Engine

Teaching Your Business to Market Itself

By: John Jantsch

Narrated by: John Jantsch

Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

The small business guru behind Duct Tape Marketing shares his most valuable lesson: how to get your customers to do your best marketing for you.

The power of glitzy advertising and elaborate marketing campaigns is on the wane; word- of-mouth referrals are what drive business today. People trust the recommendation of a friend, family member, colleague, or even stranger with similar tastes over anything thrust at them by a faceless company.

Most business owners believe that whether customers refer them is entirely out of their hands. But science shows that people can't help recommending products and services to their friends - it's an instinct wired deep in the brain. And smart businesses can tap into that hardwired desire.

Marketing expert John Jantsch offers practical techniques for harnessing the power of referrals to ensure a steady flow of new customers. Some of Jantsch's strategies include:

• Talk with your customers, not at them. Thanks to social networking sites, companies of any size have the opportunity to engage with their customers on their home turf as never before-but the key is listening.
• The sales team is the most important part of your marketing team. Salespeople are the company's main link to customers, who are the main source of referrals. Getting them on board with your referral strategy is critical.
• Educate your customers. Referrals are only helpful if they're given to the right people. Educate your customers about whom they should be talking to.

The secret to generating referrals lies in understanding the "Customer Referral Cycle". Businesses can ensure a healthy referral cycle by moving customers and prospects along the path of Know, Like, Trust, Try, Buy, Repeat, and Refer. If everyone in an organization keeps this sequence in mind, Jantsch argues, your business will generate referrals like a well-oiled machine.

©2010 John Jantsch (P)2010 Gildan

Good information...

helpful read for networking and building a solid referral system. Recommend this for people new to referral marketing

Practical & Inspirational Ideas

This book is a great way to "warm-up" or get in the "mood" for a Brainstorming session. The examples are solid and practical in most business segments (Retail, Service, Professional, etc). The reading was also very good.

A bit long but full of valuable information

this is a great book about all aspects of networking and social media marketing. It had a good effect of putting things in their proper places for me. I intend to download the book and take notes from it so as to utilize some of the tools. A job well done!

Content rich

Very well written-read...significant amount of material.
Needing a guide to go along with these great ideas-suggestions. Will definitely be listening to the book several more times!

Remarkable

Great detail describing what it takes to be remarkable and how this positioning makes being referred easy and natural.

if you need to learn how to set up referrals.

this is the book for you! He certainly goes in-depth on how to build a referral engine! he leaves very little or no stone unturned!

Great Listening, Great Information

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommed this audiobook to anyone in a small business that is time poor. The marketing tips are excellent and easy to implement. You can easily go back over the infomation time and again.
I travel a lot, so I usually listen in the car. I can usually listen to a the whole book in one trip... I have since purchased the book as well so i have reference guide :)

What about John Jantsch’s performance did you like?

John is clear and concise in his presentation. Very easy to listen too.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I particularly liked the snack sized suggestions in chapter 12.

Any additional comments?

If John does another book/audiobook, I will be the first to purchase :)

At times I thought I was in an infomercial

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

It was very generalised and repetitive from chapter to chapter for me. I started other books just to have a break. I wouldn't sit through that again in a hurry. I think the print version may be easier to skim through.

What could John Jantsch have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Stop repeating things across chapters.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Reader was OK.

Who do you think would benefit most from listening to The Referral Engine?

No greatly.

Any additional comments?

Don't expect anything more than you could read for free on marketing blogs. It's OK but I didn't think it was anything brilliant. Depends what you need to achieve - it can motivate those who need a reason to try new things.

A lot of gold nuggets, just gotta wait for them.

A great listen. Plenty of actionable advice in this one. The book is a little long, and it can feel like there is a lot of "fluff" between actionable items. This book is well worth the listen if you have time. Some great ideas on how to leverage existing customers to exponentially get more customers.

This guy is a fool. Don't waste your money.

What disappointed you about The Referral Engine?

He has no idea. He proudly relays the time of when he went into a company and told all their sales people not to attempt to make a sale for 6 months. He says he was fired immediately. Businesses can't afford to not make sales for 6 months - that would kill pretty much any business. I would have fired him too. He goes on to say how the business was totally wrong and they should have listened to him. What an idiot!

He goes on and on about this technology, this website, one's that we've all heard about, and he tells you as though it's the greatest thing on earth. I was so bored with him regurgitating obvious information about the world that I gave up. Go and write something original mate.

What could John Jantsch have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Get over himself

Would you listen to another book narrated by John Jantsch?

Not a chance.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment and boredom.

Any additional comments?

I don't normally write reviews but this guy was such an idiot, I had to warn others.