As a small business owner (in addition to being the Entrepreneurs Guide here at About.com) I wore out a yellow highlighter on John Jantsch's new book, The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself. Not only that, but its resale value on Amazon will be maybe a buck, given its dog-eared condition after I bent so many page corners for further reference. (Not that I'd consider selling it.)

If the mark of a good business book is that it motivates the reader to take action immediately to improve his business, then this is a great book. The Referral Engine is about incorporating referral strategy into your marketing plan. You may already know a lot about referrals from being a member of BNI or LeTip or other lead/referral groups. This is still an important book for you, because it puts referrals into a broader context. Among the passages I dried out a perfectly good highlighter to record for my future reference:

• When a referral strategy pervades your entire business thinking, you begin to approach customer relationships by asking "What am I here to give?" or "How can I serve" as opposed to "What can I sell?" You begin to look for and develop strategic partner relationships with a view toward adding value...instead of as a means to get in front of new prospects.
• If you find yourself saying, "I believe you get referrals by doing good work, not be asking for them," then I'm going to suggest that you're not really sure of the value of your products and services. Remarkable companies always ask for referrals, not simply as a way to acquire new business, but also as a way to help the most people get the results they are after.

• A business model that focuses on making all four Cs [content, context, connection, community] an integral part of the customer experience, blending high-tech with high-touch tactics, is today's greatest opportunity for creating a business that turns into a referral engine.
• In a fully functioning referral marketing system, the emphasis is moved from finding to being found, creating valuable content, engagement, and interaction where the ideal prospects are already looking.
• Put tangible referral tools into the hands of your referral sources.

OK, you get the idea of some of the principles. What enthused me about the book was that immediately after reading Jantsch's hundreds of ideas, I implemented a couple. In my case, in about an hour I designed and ordered referral postcards to send to clients. I always send a thank-you note to clients after we complete a job for them, but in addition to that I'll now be mailing them stamped postcards they can send to four friends who might like our services. This is much better than handing someone a bunch of business cards.

I also started using LinkedIn more strategically after reading Jantsch's suggestions. I already have a lot of recommendations from my contacts, but they are mostly for corporate management positions I've held in the past. Now, when I call a customer after a job to see how everything went and get a good report, I'll follow up with a request for a LinkedIn recommendation for my business (not for me personally). What a great way to let potential customers know what others think.

The Referral Engine is filled with ideas you can use today to build your business, and it shows you, perhaps more importantly, how to create a business that's referrable to begin with.