Good business sense, and amazing customer service are the foundation of good business, however to scale you need sales and to get sales you need to get your name out there. Advertising and marketing will only get you so far and yes brand and company story are valuable tools to garner interest but the fastest way to grow your business is through word of mouth referrals.

Enter, super connectors. Super connectors are customers that are fans of the business, and the experience they have. Super connectors are influenced by their experiences and believe heavily in the brand, and the mission of your company, so much so that they feel compelled to share the word with others. You’ve heard the term “Apple Fan” . These die hard super connectors are the foundation by which Apple was able to rise in popularity in the late 1990’s to early 2000’s. These fans were so invested in seeing Apple succeed and Microsoft fail that they made it their mission to tell everyone they knew about Apple and how amazing their Macintosh computers were.

When you are building your company it’s important to identify super connectors that are so excited for your success that they just can’t keep it to themselves. Here are some tips to follow to get and seek out these super connectors in your network.

Learn to be vulnerable with your customers and peers about your desires, your goals and dreams for the company. The more you can explain the dream the more they will get behind you.

Always act with kindness and empathy. People want to see nice people succeed.

Ask people for referrals! This is often the step that people miss. If you ask for a referral, super connectors who believe in your vision, mission and core values will start spreading the word. Oftentimes just asking them to leave you a review is a great way to gauge how willing they are to be a connector.

Give them something to share. Post regularly on social media, ask for people to share your content and interact with them there often.

Keep in mind that you should not assume everyone will be a huge fan of your services and that anyone is a potential super connector, but always listen for the hallmarks of people providing you with compliments, asking where to leave reviews, telling you that they know people that need your product or services and asking for ways to collaborate with you.

If you’re actively listening to your customers and clients you will identify these partnerships and your business will grow leaps and bounds, organically.