Referrals. What are they good for? I’ll tell you – absolutely everything!
When you boil it all down, most companies are all in the same business: the business of customer service. Yes, we may all sell different products and services, but in the end, we are all in the business of providing customer service.
Even hospitals are in the business of customer service. Think about it – they may be there to fix you up or cure something, but when you are treated with “special” care and made to feel good, that’s customer service.
What better way to get new business than by a reference? When customers are satisfied, they tell others about you. Customer referrals tend to be the best opportunity for new business. And, they can cost a whole lot less than traditional methods of getting new business, such as direct mail, TV and radio ads and telemarketing.
Did you ever think of formally adopting a program to encourage your existing customers to help promote new business for you?
At ASA, we have a formal customer referral program. We offer our customers two first class tickets to anywhere in the United States, or $2,000 in cash. All they need to do is bring us a new customer. Many of our customers have taken advantage of our referral program. It’s a win-win for everybody. I have seen many referral programs in all types of businesses. I am convinced it’s the most effective method of getting qualified leads for your business.
Now, it’s very important that you back your words with actions. You must provide good service, or it won’t be easy to get customer referrals. Have you heard of the 6-42 rule? Studies have proven that a satisfied person is apt to tell six other people about their experience. However, an unsatisfied customer will tell, on average, 42 other people about a bad experience.
To get referral business, you need to have customers who experience “that extra something” during their sales experience. You need to make sure your people understand this and it’s engrained in them. They need to go the extra step to make sure the customer is happy and make sure there isn’t anything else they can do for that customer.
Nothing complicated here; it’s common sense. We are all consumers, and we all know what good service is versus bad service. Set up incentives for your employees to keep this important topic in their minds at all times. This will guarantee good referrals.
You should also think of generating referrals with other business partners. See if you can get reciprocal links on Web sites so that more customers can find you. If customers are satisfied with another company and visit that company’s Web site, you might just find those customers making their way to you via the Web. You can track these leads and even have a program for those business partners, as well.
So, when you plan your marketing strategy, make sure to include a comprehensive program that deals with gaining client referrals. It starts at the top, and it needs to permeate all the way through an organization.
