Grow Your Business the Easy Way
With Referral Marketing
What is a referral?
A referral is an offer of an introduction to a contact and the offer to vouch for
you.
Why referrals are your best friend.
Referrals are the easiest way to generate new leads and close the deal in the shortest
time. Referrals help close a deal many times more than a lead developed by cold
calling.
Referrals are cost-effective. They cost almost nothing when compared to the value
they provide.
When you receive a referral, you have instant credibility in the eyes of the prospect.
This factor overrules everything else in favor of referral marketing.
Anybody who has been in sales knows that cold calling is only slightly less painful
compared to pulling teeth. Ok, may be not so much. But that's why most people avoid
cold calling if at all possible.
In these days there are numerous options for any kind of service. There are also
and many ways of delivering a product or service irrespective of geographic boundaries.
It becomes essential to find a way to bring in new customers outside of general broadcast advertising. Referral marketing fills in this requirement nicely.
Referral marketing is one of the best ways to make a sale since it has the highest
closing ratio of any mode of lead generation. The prospect has already been acquainted
about your services and may even be expecting your call.
Without referrals the leads pipeline may just run dry while
you are servicing your existing clients.
Since you were referred to your prospect by somebody he cares about, he is in a receptive mood to hear how
you can solve his problem. This has reduced your sales effort by at least half.
what is the purpose of asking for a referral?
Saves time, more time to spend on helping the client. Far more effective than cold
calling. Strengthens your existing relationship with the referrer.
Who should you ask for referrals?
Networking associates, clients, Friends, Business Associates, Vendors, Past clients.
Ofcourse, you need to ask everybody you know. The value of each referral varies
depending on various factors such as relationship of the person providing the referral
to the new prospect, the position of the referrer, the needs of the prospect etc.
When should you ask for referrals?
With a client, of course the best time is always when he is in a good mood. some
argue that you can also ask for a referral at the end of the planning stage of a
project where he has committed to buy from you; but before he receives delivery.
There is a reason for this. Just after he's made the purchase, your client is
committed to make this work. At the same time, he is looking for validation of his
purchase decision. He may be eager to have others he knows to get on the boat with
him.
Your question may go like: "Now that you have taken the first step, can you introduce
me to someone in your network whom I can provide services to just like you? "
Most people send out cards during Christmas and other days important to the customer.
Why not ask for a referral too at the same time?
How should you ask for referrals?
- Face to face is the best. Ask couple of leading yes questions to remind him
of how satisfied he is with your progress.
- Then you can ask : Who else you might know in your network(of doctors, of retailers,
of restaurant owners) who can benefit from my services too?"
- Brainstorm with the client as to who he can refer you to.
- It helps to put industries/fields/suppliers etc on a paper and let him make the
list.
- Be as specific as possible about the type of client you are looking for.
- After the meeting send him a Thank you letter + Your Business card.
- Followup with pre-printed referral card.
- Followup occasionally with a phone call.
If the client does not give you any referrals over an extended period of time,
there may be something he is dissatisfied with.
Biggest referral mistakes
- Not asking for one.
- Making suggestions and not being firm about it.
- Asking only once.
- Waiting for the sale to be completed.
- Making it me oriented instead of you-oriented.
Setting up a referral system
To be successful at anything, you need a system. Its the same with referrals too.
Its easy to create a system once you get comfortable asking for referrals.
The when, the how, and the where of asking for referrals will change from person
to person and industry to industry but the why always remains the same.
Now you have ideas on how to get started using referrals to grow your business.Please
let me know how you grow your business with referrals.
Action Items:
Sit down right now and draw up a referral system for you. Make a plan to call up
all old clients and associates once a week. Make sure you dont call the same people
too often.
If you liked this article, you will love the one on lead generation. Click the link
in the resources section.
Resources.
More
on lead generation
10 biggest mistakes salespeople make
Referral templates