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Repeats, Referrals, References, and Leads
An Introduction to Spin-Off Business
In the broadest interpretation of “Spin-Off Business”,
which also happens to be the generally accepted interpretation and use of
the term, any job that results from your performance or appearance is considered
to be “Spin-Off Business”. However, to lump all such business generation
circumstances into one group, while convenient, is overly simplistic and
can result in the loss of one of the most powerful forms of marketing you
can use.
When you fully understand all the different ways that
your performance can stimulate additional paid performances you can begin
systematically creating opportunities to maximize the effectiveness of each
of the various modes each and every time you present. The results of such
a systematic approach are nothing less than revolutionary.
This is much more than hyperbole. If you were able to
generate one or two additional bookings from each show or program you performed,
it would not take long before you had more shows than you were capable of
doing. It is simply a mathematical fact that if each show leads to two others,
exponential growth is the result.
But that’s a good problem to have, so let’s lay the ground
work to understanding the different forms of “spin-off business”.
Repeat Business - is when you are hired
by the same person or organization to do the same event as you did previously.
When you do a child’s 6th birthday party and then are hired again for his
7th or 8th birthday party you are doing repeat business. If you do
a Christmas party at a country club and they hire you again the following
December, you are doing repeat business. If a company attends a trade
show four times a year and they hire you in the spring, and then hire you
again in the fall, that is repeat business.
Referrals and Referral-Generated business
- This is the backbone of my “Viral Marketing” program. Referrals are
when others suggest you to their peers. If your birthday party mom
mentions to her gardening club how great you were and someone from the club
hires you to do their grand daughter’s party, that is referral business.
If a principal at a school where you performed sends out an e-mail to all
the other principals in the district and you book 3 additional programs as
a result of that e-mail, those are referral generated bookings.
Leads - are when someone provides you with
the contact information of someone they feel would be a good prospect for
you to contact. Leads are good, but they are not as valuable (by a
long shot) as referrals. If you get a list of the names and addresses
of all the elementary principals in a district and you do programs for elementary
schools these are leads. If you attend a scout fair and have a booth
where you have a drawing for a free magic show, all the names and addresses
you gather from the entry forms are leads for potential birthday parties
and/or scout awards banquets. If a mother sees your birthday party
show and gives you the name and address of her son’s scout master so that
you can call him about their upcoming awards banquet, that is a lead.
A smart marketing knows how to graciously accept a lead
and THEN to try and turn it into a referral. Once you have the contact name
and number (NOT before!) you can carefully ask if the person would be willing
to go to this person on your behalf and tell them about you to sort of “warm
them up” to your call.
This results in a MUCH better situation. If it is done
right you can even get them to get the lead to call you. The difference between
you calling a lead and having a referral generated prospect call you is immeasurable.
A phone call is NOT just a phone call. It makes a BIG difference in positioning
depending on who called whom.
Spinoffs - are almost any business that
results from you performing at a function. In the strictest sense,
repeat business and referral generated business are both examples of spin-off
business. However, I tighten the definition of spinoffs for the purpose
of my marketing systems simply to distinguish between the various sources
and types of business that can be generated from performing a show.
In a systemized marketing program like “Viral Marketing”
it is very important to delineate the elements in order to analyze closely
the best methods of positively impacting the various sources of future business.
In other words, I teach different tactics to secure repeat business than
I teach to generate leads, which will both be different from the tactics
I teach to use to stimulate referrals. In addition, the methods used
to close sales from one type of viral marketing effort might be different
than the closing methods of another.
So, for my programs, spinoffs will refer to shows that
are booked based on people in the audience seeing your show and wanting you
for a similar (or not so similar) event of theirs. So if a mom saw
you at a birthday party and wanted to hire you for her child’s party, that
would be spin-off business. If you were working a Christmas party at
the country club and the country club then wanted to hire you for an Easter
party, that would be spin-off business (seems like repeat business, but it
isn’t because it is a different type of engagement). If a father brings
his children to a summer library reading program and decides to hire you
for his upcoming trade show, that is spin-off business.
If you don’t see the difference in some of these, then
you will fail to treat them differently and might miss out on some of the
easiest sales you will make. Study this.
Supplementary Sales - Supplementary sales result in income
apart from your performance fee. Many performers refer to this as BOR or
Back-of-the-Room sales. Again, the concept of BOR, while a great method of
income generation and one that I highly recommend, still limits you if you
aren’t cognizant of all the different ways that supplementary sales can be
worked. They don’t always have to be at the back of the room after a show.
You can also pre-sell stuff using order forms. This is
the method I use in my school shows and talk about extensively in my book
“How to Quadruple Your School Show Income”. You can pre-sell items to the
group that hired you for them to use as prizes, table centerpieces, or give-aways.
Birthday party performers do this when they offer goodie-bags for an added
fee.
In “Viral Marketing” I teach you several ways to use supplementary
sales to not only increase your revenue, but I also show you how to use these
sales to stimulate further repeat, referral-generated, and spin-off business.
For information on Viral Marketing (6 CDs and an Action
Guide to help implement the ideas, all for $129) or “How to Quadruple Your
School Show Income” (a quick-read book that can change your school show business
for just $20) visit my
products web site
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