Increasing your referrals in 5 easy steps.
There are unlimited ways you can reward your customers/clients that refer business to you and you might have even tried multiple different ways to see what has worked best. You might have tried giving them gift cards, coupons, discounts, etc.… but to your dismay they just don’t come in consistently. I’m going to give you 5 simple steps to create your very own referral system. Remember, a system is a set of steps that are duplicatable and once implemented should be able work with or without you involved.
Success leaves clues and what I have seen is that the successful businesses that generate referrals on a consistent basis do these 5 steps purposely. This system will work for any business regardless if you are in person sales, online or over the phone.
I’m going to help you construct a simple script that will help generate referrals over and over again.
Step 1.
Express to your best customers how much you appreciate them and that they are your ideal customer. That could look something like this:
“I really appreciate having the opportunity to work with you Mr./Ms. Smith. It makes my work truly enjoyable and more rewarding having someone that appreciates and understands the value in what we do. I wish all our customers were like you. Thank you. “
Step 2.
Then explain that you would rather do business with more people like them above all others and that you would appreciate if they would share their experience with their trusted associates. That could sound something like this:
“I spend a lot of money on advertising and it works much of the time, but my best customers come from referrals like you….and I prefer to work with friends and family of my best customers. “
Step 3.
Help them see the exact customer you want. Tell them clearly the type of person you are looking for. That could sound something like this:
“Right now, we are looking for parents who have children whom are experiencing a difficult time following direction or have short attention spans that are looking to make a change. This could really help change both the parents and the children’s life for the better.”
Step 4.
Offer a completely risk-free/obligation-free opportunity to their referral. This continues to build confidence and puts you in the high value column for them. That can sound something like this:
“If you have a friend or family member that you feel would benefit by what we do, I would greatly appreciate the referral. I would be happy to offer them a FREE 30-day trial so that we can get to know each other. This isn’t our normal starter offer but because they are referred from you, we want to give them the best experience possible to see if we can help them.”
Step 5
You could stop at step 4 but I would recommend going all the way to step 5. This is the step where you offer them a bonus or reward for doing so. It could sound like this.
“I have some FREE 30-Day Trial cards you can give them and for each one that comes back from you, you get $100 cash as a thank you for spreading the word.”
Challenge: Take a few minutes and sit down and go through each step and write out your script based on your business model. Discover what incentives you can offer and begin this immediately. Train your sales team, customer service team and anyone that is in a position to ask, to do this and watch your referrals come in systematically, month after month. This will be your biggest marketing ROI if you do it properly and consistently.
While this is a great system, you should also consider how many times you ask for the referral. Do you do it only once and only from your new customers? Most businesses stop at 1X. WHY??? Consider putting in place multiple opportunities to ask for referrals.
Here are a few places you can ask for referrals:
1. At the point of initial inquiry
2. At the point of sale
3. At the point of renewal/anniversary
4. At the 3-month mark
5. At the 1-year mark
6. At the point they give freely their testimony
7. On their birthday/anniversary
8. On their valentine’s day
9. On other special days to your business
10. On other special days to them
Asking for referrals can be as simple as, “Happy Birthday! Here’s a $10 gift card and a couple referral cards worth $100 each! Hope you have a great celebration!”
I always like to give gifts before I ask as it builds a sense of reciprocity and a great way to continue to strengthen that relationship.
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