Let’s talk about off line. How about book club or record club you belong to. When you get mailings from them, ever notice card that says if you refer a friend they’ll give you a free book or CD. This is what is called an incentive.

Any marketing expert worth their salt will tell you that there’s no business like business you get from referrals. Why? Because for most part, people who refer others know that person will be interested, and it also indicates that they are happy with your product, so word of mouth (or in this day and age, email) will be good.

Unfortunately very few individuals are going to write you and tell you how happy they are with your product or services. You NEED TO ASK FOR REFERRALS! This applies to everyone – big businesses, small businesses, home based businesses, sales representatives, independent contractors. In fact good salespeople will ask for referral between closing sale and saying goodbye to customer as part of their sales pitch. We ask for referrals from our tenant buyers and sellers in our final letters.

A good example of using this in your business is, let’s say you sell office supplies. Ask your customer for referrals and then offer to give them a discount or dollars off for so many referrals. Or you could give them a gift, like a free pen or calculator, etc. You get idea.

To decide what to give away, think about what will motivate your customer. Will they prefer cash, or gifts. You know your customer best. You need to give them something they want so they will repeatedly give you referrals. We offer cash to our sellers and tenant buyers if they refer someone to us that we do a deal with.

For those in any type of retail operation flyer that looks like cash that can be redeemed or buy one get one free, or get a percentage off, or it’s a tax free weekend, etc. can work wonders. Couldn’t you also mail a flyer to your customers that states, “Good toward your purchase, when you refer a friend”.

I've never been afraid to be different, to take road less traveled, to wander off beaten path and run gleefully right over a cliff. Fortunately for me, flea market is on low ground and I had chance to learn a few things just watching people.

Pop Quiz: Is it best to wedge your booth between other booths piled with junk, where nobody even notices you are there? Or is it better to have a booth out in open away from clutter, where people can easily see you and get to your booth?

I learned hard way. My booth was out in open away from clutter, where people could easily pick up speed and zoom right past. (But I was right next to a support beam, so at least I knew roof wouldn't cave in on me.)

Apparently, sales process at flea market works like this:

Step one, some fool actually stops to look at a toaster-oven with only three coils missing, partially blocking aisle.

Step two, a traffic jam ensues as more people come along and completely block aisle.

Step three, to relieve their boredom, they buy "treasures" they would gladly have passed by if they could just have picked up enough momentum to keep walking. Isn't that a lot like how "gurus" sell stuff on Internet?

Step four, they go home and brag about their great "find" and how it cost them almost 14 cents less than any of other "Happiness is surviving your own cooking" commemorative plaques in their collection.

I leaned my second lesson. To sell anything, you have to slow people down. So I stood in front of my booth.