Word of mouth marketing: what's the most reliable way to get client referrals?

​I often hear people say – "The #1 way I get clients is through word-of-mouth."

Yet, that’s true for everyone. All of us get most of our clients through word of mouth – at first – before our marketing engine takes off. Our initial batch of clients are likely to arise from our personal network, if we have done a good job of telling them about it.

However, if after tapping into your personal network you still don't have plenty of clients, then the answer is simple: you need to do more marketing! Thi...