UB 40 sang about it, scientific studies use it as a way of grounding their theories, but what relevance does it have for retail?

Well, it’s the secret of a new style of marketing – the power of ten !

It works like this, you find ten people. These are ten specific people. People who trust you, need you, like you, respect you, admire you…..

These ten people want or need what you have to sell, and if they love what you’re doing and how you’re doing it, you win – big time ! Because if they love it, they’ll tell ten more people (or many many more !)

If they don’t love it, it won’t work and you need a new product, concept, idea or need to fulfil.

If they love it, your idea spreads, your business gets talked about – and grows ! Fast, much faster than you’d think, because people are talking about you…..not only are you news, you’re also being personally recommended ! Advertising can’t buy that kind of promotion – It just can’t !

This idea can change the way you do everything – instead of investing in blanket advertising to an anonymous “market” You find the raving fans of your business and market to them, get them on board with your vision, your plans, your ideas, let them contribute. Then they’re not anonymous, they’re willing participants, they’re invested in your business (emotionally not financially) You can only really market to people who are willing participants, like your group of ten people.

So when you want to launch a new spring collection for example, you wouldn’t need to spend a lot on advertising, you could plan a gradual build up of interest that turns into a tidal wave. You could plan your budget accordingly too. Which is the opposite to how it’s done now, where most of the money for advertising is spent up front, then it tails off, which is backwards to what you need.

Ten evangelists can make a huge difference to your business. Ten people who love your shop and tell all their friends where they got X from, who pop in all the time, sometimes just to say Hi, ten people who think you’re great and want to support you…..

Years from now, this advice will be so common that no-one will be able to comprehend that we didn’t do it.

But for today, I’m willing to bet that it’s almost certainly the opposite of what you’re doing?

So, who will you pick to be your top ten?