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If I were to ask any audience “What’s the best form of advertising?”, there would be no question that the unanimous instant response would be Word of mouth advertising.  Every businessperson knows that but there is one component that many business people miss. That component is that if you want word of mouth advertising, then you must give customers something to talk about. People talk about things that are different and unusual.

It’s not enough to offer service, selection or price. We must give unusual service, a WOW selection, and unbeatable prices to have customers talk about us. There is one other component that is often overlooked, and that is sometimes we have to tell our customers and even give them the words to use. An example is Volvo which tells us that their cars are safe and we in turn tell others how safe they are.

Enough of the build up. I had 2 terrific days in one of the most wonderful towns in America, Livermore, California. Livermore is located about 45 minutes outside of San Francisco. It has a great looking downtown with a streetscape project that is something to see and some wonderful merchants who make the town come alive. The other interesting thing about Livermore is that it is the home for 40 wineries.

I delivered a 2-hour program on the first day and then worked with 11 different businesses over the next 2 days. I want to share my experience with one of those merchants because there is a lesson to be learned from it. I informed the business that I would be writing about my experience but I will still omit the name of the business.

First, my goal in a short consulting session is to find their story or what makes them different than their competitors. The business I worked with was a winery. It had a beautiful tasting room in the down town. That in itself is unusual because most wineries have their tasting on the premise. The second interesting point was that this winery didn’t own a vineyard. They bought all of the grapes they needed from various vineyards. That’s interesting because they can select the best of the grapes from the best vineyards. And not only do they buy the best, but they also are only concerned with making fine wine. They are not grape farmers; they are Master Wine Makers. Now I have some great material to work with.

It gets better because the owner didn’t come from the wine industry. He came from high tech and had NEVER made wine commercially before. However, it was his hobby and passion as a young boy learning from his grandfather. It was his hobby for 25+ years. In 2000, he took the plunge and bought the grapes and made his commercial wine. Of course it takes 2 years before it is ready, so his business didn’t really start until 2002.

Think about all of these great talking points. Goes from avocation to vocation. It’s the American dream. He even named his vineyard after his 2 sons. I then positioned him as the Award winning master winemaker, having the focus squarely on the owner. Sounds good? I thought so and suggested the story be written up and used in their marketing and advertising.

There was only one problem. The owner HATED the whole concept. He didn’t want anyone to know it and even told me that there were some vineyards that were 4 generations old. My response was so what. It doesn’t affect this. Every time I would try to make a point, he would come back with another weak rebuttal.

Then I realized the problem which is quite common among retailers. For any better words, it’s a lack of self esteem. So many times we have customers complaining to us, sales reps telling us we didn’t buy enough, and vendors calling us on invoices that are 2 days late. How can we have an ego? We don’t think we are good enough regardless of our story.

I made the suggestion not because I wanted to flatter the owner. On the contrary, I know that focusing the marketing around the owner is a tough sell but if that is the “lead story”, the thing people will remember them by, I am obligated to suggest and sell it. Many times we think we aren’t good enough. That is common among people who do anything easily and well.

This winery didn’t even like that part of just being a winery and not a vineyard. I don’t understand why but I left that shop so frustrated because I couldn’t reach him. There are three lessons here:

1. Stories sell.  Stories are the core of word of mouth advertising.
2. It’s about the business and the effect it will have on the customers. It really isn’t about you even though the marketing focuses on us.
3. Word of mouth advertising is about having your customers repeat the right words as well.

So give your customers the words to say and your message and your word of mouth advertising just got better.