Referrals or Advertising?

Too many times I've visited with business owners who say they don't need to advertise because they do all of their business through word of mouth.  Most of the time, these businesses are not growing and in many cases, slowly failing.  Granted, there are some fields that are very fraternal in which the "good ole boy" system is the only way to pick up clients.  Those types of businesses however, are sparse at best.  

If you could load up on new clients, purely from referrals, most people would have a close friend or family member who's a millionaire from a pyramid business.  That's how they work, isn't it?

The truth is... Although referrals may be the best customers to deal with, it's not the best way to find new customers.  Advertising is.

JC