Does your business depend on referrals? You ought to know thousands of other companies also seek the same niche for their business too. Every reference you fail to make is every customer or even a more extensive business network that you lose to your competitor.
That 20%
When it comes to growing a referral business, you ought to find the 20% of the customers who would refer your business to others. This 20% need not be just customers providing word-of-mouth marketing for your service or business. It might be a local newspaper ad, social media posts, or any advertisement channel. Find that 20% of factors that are driving up your business. Now, it is time to give more importance to such factors. It is not easy to keep track of who referred to whom if you have an extensive referral business. Thus, you ought to use analytics or CRM solutions to determine the output from each channel or type of customer. For instance, if your analysis finds out that customers over 50 years are more likely to refer your business, focus on such customers more by providing exceptional service.
A unique experience to share
Your referral business quantity will increase if you can provide a unique experience for your customers to share. Do you now that the chances of a satisfied customer sharing his experience are very less than an unsatisfied customer? Thus, if you want to stay ahead of the REFERRALS BUSINESS you ought to provide something that your customers will remember enough to share.
This experience is not about customer expectations. It is your fundamental obligation to serve your customers to exceed their expectations. If you are looking for a unique experience in your service cycle, you need to think outside the box. For instance, a special counter for senior citizens or customers with a toddler in a supermarket would be a unique experience for the customers to share with their social circle.
Referral programs
In most cases, customers would never voluntarily share or spread about your business, unless there is some profit in it for them. This scenario is where referral programs come handy. Do you know that referral programs are beneficial if you are looking for building B2B business? Creating a viable referral program is an important job. It is not easy to build up motivation in all kinds of customers with the same program. Your end customer will need a different motivation, and a dealer who would refer your business to fellow dealers or distributors should need a different style of programs. Also, remember to communicate about the programs to the customers. Promote the referral programs, just like you would promote your business or product.
If you want to go over and beyond, you can find numerous service providers who would refer your business to your niche and create leads for your business. You can choose to pair with such service providers. This networking is crucial if you are in a cut-throat competitive industry, or if your niche is quite small and hard to reach via common channels like social media, and so on.
