Every now and then I like to post a simple tactic that readers can put to use today. This is one of those posts.

I’m a big fan of acquiring testimonials from happy clients to sprinkle through your marketing materials. I know this technique gets overdone by the Internet marketing crowd, but when a prospect reads a credible comment from another person, endorsing the promise of you marketing message, it does have an impact. I advocate asking every single client for a testimonial, whether you use them all or not, because I think it forces the client to consider the value you bring or, and this is equally important, allows them to discuss why they don’t feel comfortable providing you with a testimonial.

Pretty straightforward to this point, but now for the reverse part.

When you receive a testimonial from a client, clip a very powerful sentence or paragraph and print (you can do this in-house with post card templates from an office store or StockLayouts) 10-12 postcards with you client’s comment, a simple offer and your contact information. Then, send these cards to your client and ask them to jot a hand-written note and send them along to folks they think would benefit from this offer. (Yes, put postage on the cards for them.)

The power of this little technique is that you have made yourself very easy to refer, you have personalized the referral and created a marketing approach that may stir a little buzz from sender and receivers – all good things. Plus, any client that sends these out has just resold themselves on being a client.

Now, all you need to do to create a flood of referrals is focus on making every client testimonial happy.