Here’s an e-mail my hubby/business partner received from someone he knows and who has referred clients to our company for their promotional product and custom printing needs.

This email is being sent out to the ethical/competent promotional product providers I know.

You have “the products”… I, on occasion, have “the clients.”

In my business, as I’m always willing to “revenue share” with folks (in any capacity) that find me business, I expect the same.

If you “get it,” want to “play fair in the sandbox,” e mail me or call me … “first come…first served”… and let me know what you have in mind in terms of a revenue share arrangement. FREE is not FREE anymore … lol …

Hmmmm. What do you think? Is this the “new” word-of-mouth marketing? Something like online affiliate marketing, but in offline mode? Sort of takes it to a different level.

I do “get it,” as this e-mail states, but what I “get” is very different. If someone is going to profit when he make referrals, I think it should be clear and transparent up front. I am not, however, choosing to “play fair in the sandbox,” as I truly don’t see the value of this system. I think it presents a risk, aside from the fact that it creates tracking and payment homework. More admin stuff to do.

I’d like our company to receive unsolicited testimonials and referrals from real clients who go out of their way to praise our marketing services. To me, that’s the real thing. These are the people who truly become our brand ambassadors. Not because they have received a referral fee.

What do you think? Is this something you would entertain for your business or company? Have you paid out referral fees? Do you get paid referral fees? Tell me how it’s working.

This philosophy was grounded in the idea that Maker’s Mark wanted to think of all of its customers as friends. Given that its customers are its friends, the distillery from its first days decided that it didn’t want to ‘market’ to its customers, because the founder viewed advertising as rude. And why would you be rude to your friends?
But by 2000, Maker’s Mark had grown from its humble beginnings in Kentucky where the founders personally befriended and knew most of its customers, to having customers all across the nation. Maker’s Mark had seen its production and distribution expand greatly, and wanted to do the same thing with its marketing. And since personally befriending and communicating with most of its customers was no longer possible for the founders, the company got creative.
Bill Samuels pitched the idea to the board of creating a brand ambassador program for the distillery. The idea was for Maker’s Mark to reach out to its existing evangelists, and let them act as a marketing extension of them, by meeting and befriending new customers, which is what Samuels and the founders wanted to do.
So instead of changing its marketing mindset, Maker’s Mark decided to find a way to scale it. The founders were determined, maybe even stubborn, about the fact that they wanted to treat their customers with respect, and as friends. When growth made it impossible to personally befriend every customer, the distillery leaned on its existing evangelists to help the company spread its marketing message.
But this all started with the marketing mindset of viewing the people that purchase its products as “friends,” not as “customers.” Everything else took care of itself.
What’s your marketing mindset? Will it scale? And perhaps more importantly, do you believe in it so strongly that you will fight for it?