Last updated 14 November 2026. Published by Simple-Growth (Motherbase Limited). Market: United States.

This is a story about an owner who wants steady, predictable new business — but who's only getting it in bursts, because the only lever they know how to pull is spending more on ads. You run a promotion, enquiries spike, you feel like a marketer again. Then it goes quiet. You run another one. Same spike, same silence after. You're not bad at marketing. You've just been taught that marketing means buying attention one burst at a time, instead of building a line of people who already trust you and tell the next person before you've spent a cent.

PYMNTS Intelligence's SMB Growth Report found 63% of small businesses that gained new customers said word of mouth was key to that growth (PYMNTS, US, 2025). That's not a reason to stop advertising — it's evidence that the channel owners trust most to actually convert is the one almost nobody has a deliberate system for. Most SME marketing plans have a line item for ads and nothing at all for "who already has the attention of the people I want, and how do I earn five minutes of it."

Chet Holmes' Dream 100, later carried forward by Russell Brunson and Dana Derricks, is simple to describe and uncomfortable to actually do: list the 100 people, publications, podcasts, communities or partners who already hold the attention of your exact ideal customer, then build real relationships with them over months, not a single cold pitch.

Kevin's seen what happens when a business stops waiting for one big marketing push and starts building a steady pipeline of relationships instead — eleven separate revenue streams at a Wanaka bike park, each one with its own small, loyal audience. With 730 season passes to sell and 300 loyal regulars renewing without being asked, that left 430 to find in ten weeks — six a day, every day, not one campaign and a prayer. The mechanic's one job was simpler still: offer fifty customers a free bike check. Repairs went up. Rentals went up. Accidents went down. None of it came from an ad.

"Kevin D'Ambros-Smith was the first coach that helped us and he was so great. He understood the business straightaway, was able to identify some of the areas where we could grow it, and some of the things to park. I don't think the ROW branding would be nearly as strong without his input. He was just brilliant."

Sarah McGuinness
Founder & CEO, Revolutionaries of Wellbeing (ROW)

Relationship-building doesn't show results this week, and most owners are measured — by themselves, most of all — on this week's enquiries. So the slow compounding list gets shelved every time a quieter month creates panic, and the ad spend goes back up instead. This isn't for you if you're already building that list every week without being told to — plenty of owners are, quietly, and it shows in how calm their quiet months feel. It's for the owner whose marketing plan is really just "spend more when it's slow," because nobody's ever sat down with them and built the other list.

If your marketing plan is really just "spend more when it's quiet," that's the first habit to replace.