I have a contemporary that founded his business about the same time that I did (mid-80's).

I don't know how he started his business, but I rented a criss cross directory and made cold calls to every business in my town, then the four towns that touch my town, then I started cold calling businesses in Worcester. I was young, stupid and broke, so I couldn't afford to pay for long distance calls or advertising. Eventually, I had enough business to support myself. The lesson that I learned is that Cold Calls Suck!

Fast forward a few years to the day that my friend and I met. He's got a base of business. I've got a base of business. We both know that Cold Calls Suck. He advertises on the radio, in the paper, etc. on the web and generates calls from people that he complains are mostly tire-kickers and price shoppers. I talk with existing clients and past clients. We usually talk about service. We usually talk about more business. We always talk about referrals.

The best (hold it)

THE BEST SOURCE OF NEW BUSINESS IS

A REFERRAL FROM A HAPPY CUSTOMER.

I tried advertising. I didn't like tire-kickers and price shoppers. I didn't like that it distracted me from talking to existing or past customers. I didn't like that I had to spend money and wait for the phone to ring. I didn't like that the phone might ring at any time of day or night and that if I didn't answer and a competitor did, I may miss that opportunity forever (even though I paid for it). I like having control over when I'm going to call. Truth is that for years, the first call that I made was to a happy client and the second call was to the referral that I got on the first call. (Another truth is that I'm pretty good at that call. In 1994, I switched my business line to a non-published number. I didn't want anybody but friends or friends of friends to find me.)

As I look at my friend's business, I see that he doesn't keep customers forever. He doesn't get many referrals, but he continues to struggle with where to put his advertising dollars this year. When I want a new client, I never think about where to advertise. I call a happy client.

Frankly, if you're into advertising, promoting, speaking, inbound marketing or cold calling for your business and you don't want to change your mind, fine. I'm not trying to change it.

However, if you've tried referral groups, if you hate cold calls, if you're sick of waiting for the phone to ring, if you want to build a 100% referral based business that drives itself, check this out.