It seems like I have been having a lot of conversations around the subject of how to get more referrals lately. Small business owners love referral marketing because it is cheap and effective. The main cost is time spent seeking and following up with prospects. Referred prospects become customers at a higher rate and with less effort because of the implied trust of the referral source.
Given the effectiveness of referral marketing, I am always surprised at how few businesses have a systemized approach to collecting referrals. If there is a system at all, it is usually restricted to following up on referrals once they are received. If you want to work on consistently receiving referrals, here are a few tips to get you started:
- Provide a quality product \ service – First and foremost you have to be worthy of receiving referrals. People love to give referrals but no wants to be embarrassed because they recommended a shabby product or service. As the saying goes, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. Make sure your product\service is worthy of referrals first; then work on your marketing.
- Ask for referrals – Sounds simple, but very few people ask for referrals on a consistent basis. Make a habit of asking for referrals. Set goals for yourself to ask for so many referrals per week. If you are doing good work for your customer (see above) they will thank you and compliment you. Take this time to ask if they know of anyone else that you could be helping.
- Make it easy for people to refer you. In order for people to send you quality referrals they need to know what a quality referral looks like. Don't assume they know. Be able to share with them, preferably in writing, a description of your ideal customer and the problems that you can solve for that customer. Let them know exactly what will happen when they refer someone to you. No one wants to be the person that unleashed the salesman from hell on their favorite aunt.
- Give referrals to others –The Golden Rule, The Law of Attraction, Giving to Get, which ever name you want to use, the best way to get referrals is to unselfishly help others. At networking events, rather than focusing on what you can sell to a new acquaintance, focus on how you can help them. Helping someone solve one of their pressing problems is a great way to get them to know, like, and trust you.
- Buy referrals – or rather, give people an incentive to give you referrals. Gift cards, special pricing (10% off if you provide 2 referrals), special offers (refer 3 and yours is free), contests (each referral = a chance to win) – the list of ways to reward referrals is virtually unlimited. Hint: the more you can make your incentive program resemble a game or contest, the more people will want to participate.
P.S. - If you found this post helpful, please refer other small business owners to my blog : )
