Half of new business comes by referral. Nobody owns it and there is no budget for it.

The channel that produces the best customers at the lowest cost is usually the only one with no owner, no forecast and no diagnosis when it slows.

By Steve 5 min read
Abstract bridge artwork for Half of new business comes by referral. Nobody owns it and there is no budget for it.

Ask most owner-managed businesses where their best customers come from and the answer is some version of “word of mouth”. Ask how many came from word of mouth last year, from whom, and how long each took to arrive, and the answer is usually a shrug. The channel that produces the highest-converting, longest-retaining, least price-sensitive customers is frequently the only one with no owner, no line in the budget and no forecast attached to it. This is not an oversight born of laziness. It follows logically from how referrals appear…

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