Word of Mouth is King Claims Paragon Acquisitions

Following new research revealing 85% of small businesses get customers through word of mouth, Paragon Acquisitions Ltd encourage more businesses to move away from their computer screens, and market their products where the customers are.

Verizon, in conjunctions with Small Business Trends, conducted a survey of Philadelphia-based small business owners in May of 2014. The main question was ‘How do your customers find out about your business?’  By far the most common way customers learn about a business is from word of mouth, according to the small businesses that were surveyed. 85% of the small businesses questioned said that customers learn about them through word of mouth. Trailing behind in the survey was search engines, with only 59%. Back in 2005, the same survey revealed 83% of small businesses get customers through word of mouth, highlighting the consistency of the result.

It is predictable that word of mouth is the dominant method of attracting new customers. Small businesses focus on a personalised approach; casting not a wide net, but rather about connecting with a select number of customers, building trust and loyalty with that positive impression spilling over among friends and family.

Paragon Acquisitions are efficient in all areas of direct, face to face marketing, with a focus on events and promotions. The firm work on event and in store marketing campaigns within the Hampshire region, bringing deep, functional expertise with a tradition of a fun approach to work. Paragon Acquisitions go the extra mile when providing customers with a personal buying experience; this is by using a direct approach to reaching customers without the use of traditional methods such as TV, radio or the Internet.

Paragon Acquisitions Ltd offers advice on how small businesses can personalise their marketing and become more in touch with their customers’ needs. Paragon Acquisitions develop marketing approaches that get happy customers talking, making it easy for them to spread positive comments. It also makes it simple for existing customers to refer friends and family.

Paragon Acquisitions outline 4 easy steps that a business can use to ensure a positive word of mouth is spread.

1.Specifically ask for referrals. Many customers are willing to give referrals — but they are busy. Businesses have to nudge them, without irritating them. Paragon Acquisitions suggest doing this at the point of sale by saying “Glad you’re happy. Feel free to refer any colleagues to us – we’ll take good care of them”

2.Suggest easy ways to leave testimonials. The firm highlight that a business should be prepared to suggest quick and relatively painless ways to give testimonials. For example, B2B service providers would ask customers to recommend them via LinkedIn as the process is pretty quick and easy there.

3.Provide referral cards. Have a pre-printed card that a customer can leave with a friend. It helps even to leave behind several business cards that they can hand out.

4.Offer “refer a friend” links on newsletters. If the business delivers a beautiful email newsletter, make it easy for people to share it and at the same time increasing the possibility of gaining new subscribers, who eventually may become a customer.

Paragon Acquisitions highlight that whilst word of mouth is something that customers share, it’s not out of the control of the business. What a business does and doesn’t do, has a huge impact on word of mouth.