A few months ago, I started following John Jantsch’s blog Duct Tape Marketing. I don’t remember where I first heard of him, but John has some excellent marketing advice for small business owners. His first book Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide is rated 5 stars on Amazon.com.
About 3 or 4 weeks ago, John offered a free copy of his new book The Referral Engine to a handful of bloggers in exchange for an honest review of the book. I sent John my information and was lucky enough to be picked – so here we are.
Disclaimer: I am not being paid for this review, and I do not have any affiliation with John Jantsch. However, I did receive a free copy of the book.
The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself
Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to any small business owner. At 230+ pages it’s a quick read and very easy to follow. I would say that 75% of the book is basically common sense – be honest and trustworthy, offer excellent service, communicate with your customers – but The Referral Engine also highlights the most effective strategies for getting referrals.
John starts the book by outlining the realities and qualities of referrals. Why do people make referrals? There’s a handful of obvious reasons, but many companies don’t capitalize on the fact that their customers want to refer business to them. John then explains the 4 C’s of Marketing (Content, Context, Connection, and Community) and explains the Customer Life Cycle.
At this point (and we’re only 55 pages in!), the reader ought to have a solid understanding of the referral process. But John doesn’t stop there – he goes on to give us a real marketing strategy for generating referrals.
What I Liked Most
If I had to pick a chapter I liked the most in The Referral Engine, I would probably choose Chapter 12: Snack-sized Suggestions. Throughout the book, John gives a variety of examples and anecdotes that illustrate how real-world businesses utilize their referral strategies. Chapter 12 contains 14 pages of industry-specific ideas for generating referrals and sales leads, and each would be simple to apply to any small business.
My favorite idea from The Referral Engine (which I’ve already started doing) is to promise your clients they’ll be so satisfied with your work that they will tell everyone they know about you. It’s a brilliant idea… assuming you actually deliver on that promise.
Conclusion
Now that I think about it, John’s approach to marketing The Referral Engine is to simply generate referrals. He asked me for an honest review – and I will happily recommend this book to anyone. It’s a fantastic book, a quick read and full of simple (but effective!) marketing ideas. Kudos!
About Arthur Kay 
Thanks Authur – it’s music to my ears (eyes I guess since I’m reading it) that you’ve already plucked something out and are doing it!
The thing I like about his book is the emphasis on stories. Like you say, Arthur, the book relies on anecdotes to communicate the salient points. Jantsch uses this as a narrative tool to elegantly support one of his main points – businesses/CEOs/leaders who tell a better story have their story retold by others more easily.
That’s a great foundation for more referrals!