NickVenturella.com 2-21-16

What Referrals Can Mean for Your Business

February 21, 2016

Every business needs to generate leads. It takes less energy and money generate more business from existing clients than it does to generate brand new business.

Referrals are one of the best sources of leads. If done well, referrals have a higher likelihood of actually buying from you based on the trust they have in the person who  recommended your solution.

Let’s take a look...

Quick Scenario / Quick Lesson:

Me:

  Do you like Star Wars?

Friend: 

Yeah, I grew up on those movies.

Me: 

Have you seen the latest Star Wars movie?

Friend: 

No, I haven’t.

Me: 

If you like the rest of the Star Wars series, you’ll love it. You should definitely find some time and go see it. I would even go with you to see it again.

The above scenario illustrates the power of a referral. Referrals are one of the best and quickest ways to increase your sales.

Let’s break down some of what’s going on in the exchange above and showcase how you can use it to generate referrals in your business.

First off, I’m talking to a friend. That’s important because that means I already have a relationship with this person and we trust each other’s opinions.

For referral marketing to work it has to be natural and there has to be trust there.  That means you need some level of a relationship already in place for referrals to be a beneficial sales and marketing tool.

You may be trying to extract referrals from your existing clients who love you and your work, which should is a prime situation to ask your clients who else they know that could benefit from your solution.

The other thing that is going on in the scenario above is that I’m a brand evangelist for Star Wars. I’m so engaged in the brand that I can’t help but want to share it with everyone I know.

You want your current clients to be so engaged with your brand and love it that they want to share it with others who they think would resonate with it.

Ways to keep your current clients engaged:

Talk with them regularly.

Reach out to your clients just to check in and see how things are going. Listen to them and provide a high level of service and care as you listen.

Thank your clients.

Do you have clients that have been with you for one year, three years, five years or more. Send them a little gift of gratitude for being a long-time client. It doesn’t have to be big or expensive. The idea is that it’s an unexpected gesture of gratitude that helps to continue to confirm for the client that they made the right choice in doing business with you. It helps the client to be impressed with how much you care.

Showcase your client.

Put your client in the spotlight. Profile them as one of your company’s featured stories on your blog, and let the client know about it. This is a simple way to give your client and their brand some extra marketing exposure.

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Here are a couple of resources that may help you generate more referrals and more sales:

A GrowLoop ebook product, “

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Chris Brogan and Owner Media’s, “

†course. (affiliate)

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Make it a great week!