Every once in a while, I find a good book that will help a small business owner and I’ll use my blog to share. I first read this book five years ago and it is still relevant today. I hope you find it useful. ≈ Leslie

In today’s economy, we are all looking for ways to increase business without increasing our expenses. Yet we all overlook the one free resource available to us: our clients. How would your business look if every client became a referral source? What would it take to turn every client into a referral source?

I highly recommend for your reading The New Art & Science of Referral Marketing. Scott Degraffenreid has a 100% success rate of increasing the referral business of his clients without incurring ongoing out-of-pocket expenses. In this book, Scott reveals why referrals work better than all of the traditional advertising media and then explains how to build your message to drive referrals.

So, what are those elements of a business that make it easy for someone to refer a product or service? It’s the N.U.D.E. model – Novelty, Utility, Dependability, Economy. While I won’t go into great detail about each one, suffice it to say that all four elements must be present and their perceptions managed to drive your business based on referrals. A N.U.D.E score of 315% can result in at least one referral from each of your customers. The good news is that if often doesn’t take much to reach 315%. At that level, the referrals alone can sustain a business. Who doesn’t want that?

Viral Referral Marketing in action: I have had the pleasure of listening to Scott teach and getting to know him over the years. I also know that most businesses struggle with marketing and generating referrals. So here we have an example of NUDE: Novelty…the NUDE method itself (even established businesses can develop a perception of novelty); Utility…knowing people who have a need; Dependability…Scott’s reputation as I perceive it. Economy…I fully expect a favorable return on my investment and effort. I probably know 100 new people that can benefit from Scott’s expertise within my Twitter following and elsewhere. Considering the people I know and they know, at the first two levels alone, 10,000 people will hear about Scott and his book in a very short period of time. That’s the power of Viral Referral Marketing and the N.U.D.E model.

Reader Comment: In The New Art & Science of Referral Marketing, Degraffenreid “quantifies the power of word of mouth and lays out the main characteristics of a word-of-mouth message needs in order to reach runaway levels. It shows how to change your product and message to something people will want to talk about. This is priceless. At $1000 it would be a bargain.” – George Silverman, author, “The Secrets of Word of Mouth Marketing”

To purchase a copy of The New Art & Science of Referral Marketing please visit http://bit.ly/JrWBq.

Best wishes for your success!

Leslie