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In fact, no one knows they exist.
Doubtless, the best way to do business is to have people talking about you. But how do you do this?There is a whole system behind the concept and a mere blog article won't suffice to discuss it all. But it's true. It exists. There is a way to become "trending," as it were---to make people talk about your business.
Some businesses spend a lot first on advertising before they become the talk of the town. And even after that, they have to maintain the trend. But some became the core of conversation merely by "chance" it seems, and maintains it in the same way---by seeming luck. They just sell their products and people talk about them.
Have you ever tried eating at Baliwag's restaurant along Visayas Avenue? It's a full-swing posh restaurant serving stylish native Filipino dishes. Yes, Baliwag had a couple of TV commercials before starred by comedian Joey de Leon, but it stopped. And anyway, nothing was mentioned about a Baliwag restaurant. The commercial merely touched on the roasted chicken (lechon manok) outlets.
But the restaurant is there and more and more people are talking about it. In fact, I learned about the place from a Unilab executive who also heard of the eatery from her friends. And now I'm talking about it to you, readers, and some of you would probably try it out, especially those who live nearby.
It's better doing business with people naturally talking about you (on their own) than coming out on TV urging people to take notice of you. Anytime in business, I'd rather that people pursue me than I pursue them. Besides being expensive, pursuing people all the time is a most uncertain way of doing business, besides very tiring.
Here's another example---Aling Charing's Longganisa. I don't know if you had the fortune to try their native sausage (longganisa) which in the 70s was a top hit at the Quinta Market in Quiapo. I was a kid when my mom brought me to this wet market to buy the sausages. They were superb! Nothing like them in those days and more so today. Longganisa types in Metro Manila today are often the pits, except if you chance upon authentic Vigan longganisa.
Now, Aling Charing's longganisa was never advertised, not even through package labeling, and yet it was doggedly sought for by its regular buyers. I mean, even if it transferred to another place, people sought it. Well, later it made use of package labeling. That went on for years.
Question is, what made these businesses sought after by their customers? Predictably, you may say its because of product quality. Well, yes and no. Yes, because product quality is very important. It's hard to get people running after you if you sell something rotten. No, because it's not really the product they were selling. It was the relationship they were offering their customers.
I've seen good product quality all wasted simply because of poor relationship with customers. And I've seen how excellent relationship made up for poor product quality.
So, what do we mean by "relationship"? Treating customers as kindred.
Aling Charing, when still alive, kept close relationship first with my grandmother, and then with my mother---as if they were real relatives. The relationship was transferred to customer family members. And I noticed how Aling Charing kept that up with her other customers that I saw there. Now, imagine if you have relationship like that with your first 30 regular customers. It's easy to see how your customer base can spread and expand even without you advertising your business.
Keep up the relationships and soon more people will be talking about your business. The same is true with how waiters treat customers at Baliwag Restaurant (Well, as of this writing, their waiters practice excellent customer relationship. I don't know 2 to 5 or 10 years from now).
Powerful sales is always relational. It's how you make people naturally talk about you and your business. It's applicable to both online and offline businesses, and especially network marketing businesses.
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