You might know this, you might not – I’m a foodie and have several “famous” recipes that send people to my parties in droves. I love to cook, and find artisic pleasure in making sensory experiences for my guests that sends them home raving about my cooking, my presentation and my creativity. I live for it.

That’s culinary arts, and this is marketing. Here’s the tie. What I love about my job is the people and the range of experiences. Last night, for example, I got to enjoy an evening as a chef behind the line at Rovezzi’s Restaurant in Sturbridge.

Chris Rovezzi, the owner and executive chef, showed me some great culinary tricks and I learned a lot of great new things that will help me out. Got a few great recipes (I’d share them with you, but I’d have to maim you) and really added quite a bit to my expertise.

Throughout the evening, I noted that Chris was militant about every dish being just right before going out of the kitchen, he was personable and social to his guests, and he managed his team with strong leadership and persuasive charm. Being the marketing die-hard that I am, I had thoughts swirling through my head the whole time about culinary arts and its similarities to marketing. The thing that struck me so powerfully is Chris’ mastery of word-of-mouth marketing. I wanted to highlight his efforts because he’s a great example of what people should do.

Word of mouth is one of the most powerful forms of marketing. Chris has a busy and successful restaurant and there’s a few reasons why:

1. He’s obsessed with quality and won’t accept anything less than the best
2. His staff is personally trained in excellent and personable service
3. The recipes are made the same every time (I saw this first hand!), thus consistent in delivery of product
4. The overall customer experience is very positive, and designed to be memorable

I admire his ability to give the people what they want, which makes them WANT to talk about it. When you’ve done that, you’re doing something really good. Kudos, my friend!

What can you do in your business to generate positive word of mouth?

In no particular order…

• Be consistent in your offering AND your pricing – in other words, don’t confuse people
• Focus on the customer experience and make it a GREAT one (”good” is not good enough)
• Don’t be a jack (or jacqueline!) of all trades – BE THE BEST AT ONE!
• THANK people for their patronage and make them feel important
• Be humble, and genuinely kind and good to your customers/clients. When people feel good, they talk about it.
• Be proactive in reaching out to your customers/clients, asking for their toughest feedback – then ACT on it.
• Ask people to tell their friends/colleagues about you. Chances are, they would anyway, but a request from someone they adore is never an inconvenience.
• Think about things from your customers’/clients’ perspectives – how do they see you?

Give it some thought, and try to ask yourself what makes your favorite vendors so amazing to you. What keeps YOU going back? What prompts you to tell your friends? What makes you want to blog about a great experience?