You saw a movie that really excited you. Next day in the office, you tell your co-workers about it and encourage them to see it.

During a conversation, talk turns to restaurants. You tell your friends about the great meal you ate last week and recommend the restaurant to them.

This is called word-of-mouth advertising and also goes by the new buzz phrase “buzz marketing.”

In essence, you tell a friend to take advantage of something you like. That’s the basis of the Tell-A-Friend Program and why it works so well for financial institutions.

If you’re not aware, the Tell-A-Friend coupon is handed out during a transaction, as statement stuffers, and in new account packets. It offers a gift to the customer if she tells a friend to open a new checking account and the friend presents the coupon at account opening. The friend gets a gift, too.

Tell-A-Friends (TAFs) work, especially with women. TAFs result in more account openings.

So there can’t be a downside, right? Well, we hear some tellers get tired of handing out the forms to the same in-branch customers over and over. No problem. Our training staff teaches ways to deal with all the tellers’ issues and gives them pointers on how to handle customers’ comments.

Some executives complain they’re giving away too many gifts. Well, let’s see. You have a customer saying nice things about your business and convincing friends to open new accounts with you. But you don’t think it’s worth a $10 gift for that A+ customer for all the good she’s doing to bring new business to you and to encourage her to continue directing prospects your way? Or you don’t think it’s worth $10 for the discounted gift you give to make the new account holder happy when your other marketing expenses to gain that new account were essentially zero?

I haven’t yet heard a banking executive’s or a marketer’s argument against TAFs that stands up.

Results of our direct marketing mail program show about two percent of the customer base redeem TAF coupons each cycle.

I can’t cover all the aspects and angles here. If you have questions about using Tell-A-Friends, I suggest you contact one of the ACTON Marketing sales associates or account managers. If you’re using or you’ve tried a TAF program and experienced resistances in your branches, get in touch with Dennis Flack, our Director of Training. He can solve your staff’s problems and change frontline attitudes for you.

Tell-A-Friend Programs have successfully opened new accounts for decades. The program can work for your organization, too.