Technology Marketing Minute

How To Get Your Customers To Sell For You: Secrets To Fueling Referrals

By Robin Robins, President, Technology Marketing Toolkit, Inc.
www.technologymarketingtoolkit.com

I don’t care what type of business you are in, there is no better sales lead than a referral from an extremely happy customer. Most businesses take referrals for granted. They are grateful for the ones they get, but very few have a proactive plan for generating them.

Like any other sales or marketing you are doing, having a systematic way of asking for and working referrals is essential. If you are already getting them now, think of how quickly you will be able to ramp up sales with a more aggressive approach!

The #1 Secret To Generating A Flood Of Referrals

This may surprise you, but the #1 secret to generating referrals is not a clever sales letter or some magical phrase you utter to your clients that causes them to whip out their Rolodex and give you every name contained in it. The secret is simply providing services and products so excellent that your customers are in complete awe. Take the Disney theme parks for example. Millions of people flock to Disney to gleefully empty their wallets. Why? Because Disney knows how to deliver a “WOW” experience.

Satisfied customers who get what they deserve and expect, do not refer in abundance. Customers that are delightfully surprised that they got more than they paid for…fast and friendly service…personal attention by someone who cares, do far more than tell everyone about their experience—they turn into raving fan customers.

Raving fan customers are happy to write you checks over and over again.
Raving fan customers wouldn’t think of doing business with anyone else.
Raving fan customers tell everyone they know about you.

Now here’s the million dollar question: Are your customers just satisfied or are they a raving fan of your business?

Setting Up Your Referral System

Now that you have gone to work in providing the type of service or product worthy of referrals, start asking for them! Here are some times when it would be appropriate to ask for referrals:

At the point of closing a sale. I recently met with an alignment specialist to help me correct a chronic knee problem. After paying him $250 for the initial consultation, he gave me the “rules” of being a client. One of them was that I had a responsibility to refer at least 11 people to his practice. After saying this, he said, “How many of my business cards do you want?” To date, I’ve happily referred several friends of mine and will continue to refer people to him because he was able to get me out of pain when the doctors and physical therapists told me the next step was surgery. Was I offended that he told me one of the responsibilities of being a client was to refer people? Not at all! Because he delivered a WOW! experience to me, I was more than happy to do it. Everyone can incorporate this into closing a sale, but very few actually will because they don’t have the confidence in themselves.
When you are billing them for work done. Gevalia Coffee fuels word of mouth advertising by including a “refer a friend certificate” with every shipment you receive. If you refer a new customer to them, you get 2 free ceramic coffee mugs and your friend (the person you referred) gets a free coffee maker. In your invoices, include a fax back form requesting referrals. Tell your customer that if they refer at least 2 people, they can take 5% or 10% off the invoice as a reward.
After they have bought and consumed your product or service. Send a letter or have a sales person call. Start by asking if they were happy with their purchase. If they say yes, then ask if they would be willing to refer you to a few friends or colleagues.

Other Ways To Generate Referrals

Give your customers discount coupons or gift certificates they can pass on to friends and colleagues. Simply mail them out, e-mail them, or send them in your invoice statement.
Conduct referral events. One client of mine throws a huge barbecue every summer and gets the local radio station to broadcast live from the event. VIP invitations are sent to customers who are encouraged to bring friends. It’s so successful that they hold it every year and try to make each one bigger and more elaborate than the last one. If a barbecue is too much work, a simple after-hours customer appreciation event can work wonders. Ask your customers to bring a colleague.
Have referral contests. The person providing the largest number of referrals in a given time-frame wins a prize. One of my clients held a referral contest for a flat screen monitor and picked up 8 new clients, many of whom turned into managed service contracts.

The Most Important Thing To Do
AFTER You Get A Referral

When someone refers you to a new customer, make sure you recognize and reward them generously. This will make them feel good about referring people to you and will encourage more of the same. If it’s not in the budget to send a gift, then a handwritten thank-you note and a phone call will go a long way.