"Referral business is the only business you will ever need." At least, according to Scott Cundill.
Cundill recently represented South Africa at the highly acclaimed Marketing Sherpa.com e-mail marketing summit in the US. He is also the author of "The Majestic Way" - a free book on relationship and database marketing that can be ordered from www.majesticway.net. The Web site is a thriving hub of businesses networking together to generate referral business for each other.
Cundill has worked with several hundred small businesses and has developed a method of cross-database communication that leverages the power of referral marketing, but on a much larger scale. The concept of Majestic (which is one part technique, one part software) is that of relationship building first, then collecting data second, and then selling third.
"If a person is not willing to give you information, they are not going to buy from you. Therefore, if you build a relationship using value-add (ie, non-sales) content, you build trust. When a prospect trusts you, they will give you the information you ask of them and you then use this information to sell them something that they have already asked for!"
The concept of Majestic is not new. It's about building a relationship, listening to their problems and providing a solution. The difference with Majestic is that it uses hi-tech communication software to do it. Unlike CRM software which is built around data and data mining, Majestic is built around communication, lead generation and referral marketing.
"When are people going to realise that CRM is about RELATIONSHIPS and relationships are about COMMUNICATION? Companies spend a fortune on data mining and hardly ever send out any communication! Communication is the name of the game and once you have their trust, collecting data over the Web is easy."
Key to Majestic is the concept of a communication journey. A journey is a series of automated, but very personalised communication designed to generate a response. For example, a company could have a journey to invite people to an event, to generate information before a sales meeting, or you could create a journey to collect outstanding money owned. However, according to Cundill, the best responses are journeys of "education" whereby a business owner writes more personal content that has a value-added twist to it.
"If a business owner sits down and writes a series of episodes about themselves, where they started and how they add value to people's lives, the database becomes very responsive. If these responses are channelled into information (a bit like a survey), this information can be used to sell them something the prospect has essentially asked for! It is far more effective than spamming your database with a special offer or 'buy one, get one free'. It's about real people communicating with real people."
For more information, visit www.majesticway.net.
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