A large majority of business owners and managers that I
speak to tell me that referrals or word-of-mouth promotions, account for
a significant percentage of their new business enquiries. However, many
business owners do not have a formalised, ongoing referral-generating
procedure in place. In many instances, business owners feel that they
are being too pushy or are too embarrassed to ask for the referral.
As a result, their referral generating procedure is ad hoc,
uncompelling and subsequently, not maximised to its full potential. Simply
asking "please give me the name of someone who you think will be interested
in my service" just doesn''t ''cut the mustard'' when it comes to generating
referrals.
Unfortunately, however, this is the extent of referral
promotions for many companies. It is important to remember that you are
a typical consumer - people ''out there'' in the marketplace behave, react
to promotions and consume in a similar manner to you.
Think about the last time that a company asked you for
a referral:
- Were you delighted with the quality of the service and the performance
of the product?
- Were you rewarded for taking the time and trouble to give the referral?
- Was the person you referred given special treatment or an added
value offer that they truly appreciated?
If you answered ''yes'' to these three questions, then most
likely you were happy to refer your friends, family, associates or colleagues,
and they in turn, were happy to be referred by you.
The Secret to Generating Referrals and Maximising Conversion
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It is essential that you build a current database
of clients with whom you have a positive, ongoing relationship.
Here are a couple of examples of referral promotions that
have worked well for my clients in the past, just to give you some ideas:
