Build a Referral Marketing Strategy: Tip #1

Brad Miller

A good referral marketing strategy is absolutely essential in growing your small business. This article deals with letting your customers find more customers for you. Once you get a good referral program up and running, it will essentially run itself.

There are three main reasons why a solid referral marketing strategy can be so powerful.

  1. People feel more comfortable when a product or service is recommended by someone they know and trust. This is especially true if the product or service is expensive.
  2. Referred customers are typically less price sensitive. A prospect that comes to you via a referral has already been told about the quality of your service. You’ll find that most referrals can be sold at full price because they’ve been presold on your trust and credibility.
  3. A good referral marketing system can quickly multiply, giving you plenty of interested prospects. This will allow you to choose who YOU want to work with instead of having to take everything that comes your way. You’ll be able to focus on high-quality customers that are highly profitable for your business.

It goes without saying that the success of any referral program directly depends on the quality of your products and services. However, even if your products and services are excellent, you must still work to set these referral ideas into motion. Once in place, you fill find they start working their magic by themselves.

Referral Marketing Strategy #1: It takes One to Know One

Don’t dismiss this referral marketing strategy as too simplistic. I promise you it is very powerful. Here’s how it works.

As soon as you have completed a successful transaction with a good customer, simply ask, “Do you happen to know anyone like yourself that would benefit from my products & services?”

The key to this referral idea is twofold.

  1. You have provided a product or service that ended with high satisfaction and/or went above and beyond expectations.
  2. You have asked for the referral at the point of maximum impact. In every customer interaction that ends positively, there is a point of maximum satisfaction from the customer. Your job is to determine when this point is and ask for your referral as close to this point as you can.

You’ll be amazed by how much new business you can bring in by just asking a happy client for a referral. Most all satisfied customers will be happy to provide a name or two upon request. Don’t be shy about this one. It may be simple, but it works!