Too few businesses ask for referrals. Referral business can be a powerful source of revenue. It costs little to obtain, and the possibility for earning more referrals is almost limitless.
Now, there will be some customers who give referrals without any prompting, but most people aren’t that proactive. Unfortunately, most businesses are too scared to ask for referrals. They feel like it looks desperate, and they don’t want to pressure their customers. These are understandable concerns, but if you ask for referrals in the right way, it’s not obnoxious or desperate.
Remember, satisfied customers enjoy helping your company. If you’ve provided them with a positive experience, more times than not, they will be happy to tell others about your business. And even if that isn’t the case, what’s the worst that can happen? They can say “no, I won’t refer you.” That’s not the end of the world, is it?
Asking for referrals
Now that you feel a little more comfortable asking for referrals, let’s go over the specifics of doing this important marketing task.
Ask your best clients—I’ve found that my best clients tend to refer people that are much like they are. So, if you want more profitable, stress-free clients, ask your most profitable, stress-free clients for referrals. And yes, that means you shouldn’t ask your pain in the @$$ clients for referrals because you’ll end up with more clients just like them.
Wait until the client is happy—Who do you think is likelier to give you a referral: the client who just called to complain about your service or the one who just sent you a thank you note saying how great a job you did? You need to ask for referrals when the client is happiest.
Don’t ask for a referral when invoicing—It’s tacky to ask your client for a referral while you’re sending over a bill. Wait until a week or so after the bill has been paid and he’s enjoyed the product or service before asking for the referral.
Keep in contact with your clients—Even if they aren’t actively buying your products and services, you still need to maintain relationships with your clients. Not only can this help you stay in the awareness and earn more of their business, but it also allows you to earn their trust so you can ask for referrals.
Follow up with the person who gave you the referral—Don’t just take a referral and run. If one of your clients refers someone who ends up doing business with you, follow up with them and let them know how it went. Thank them for the referral!
Do you get a good amount of referral business? How do you earn so many referrals?
Between Twitter, blogs, forums, and websites like Yelp, consumers now have a stronger voice than ever before. And with the popularity of online reviews increasing daily, it’s probably only a matter of time until someone leaves your company an unfavorable review. No matter how good you are at what you do, it’s impossible to make sure every single customer is satisfied. Even if you do everything right, there are still those people who just can’t be satisfied.
So, what should you do when your business gets a negative review?
Don’t try to argue with the reviewer—The last thing you want to do is get into a shouting match with the upset customer. It only causes the customer to get angrier, and it makes you look unprofessional to anyone else who reads your response. So, no matter how angry you might be when you see that bad review, take a step back and calm down.
Take what they say seriously—Sometimes, the truth hurts. Nobody likes being criticized, but you need to view criticism as a learning opportunity. Try to get to the core of what the negative review is about, and ask yourself if there is anything you can do to improve so this doesn’t happen again in the future.
Try to rectify the situation if possible—If there’s a way for you to get in touch with the reviewer, try to talk to them to see what you can do to make them happy. This shows the customer that you truly care about them, and it could cause them to amend their negative review.
Don’t overestimate the impact of one bad review—A single bad review isn’t really that big of a deal. Even the best companies have bad reviews. Most customers understand that a bad review here or there isn’t a total indictment of a company, and they’re willing to overlook it. Just make sure bad reviews don’t become a pattern.
Never write fake reviews—Don’t ever review your business or have one of your friends write a review. It’s inauthentic, and it breaks the review guidelines of websites like Yelp.
Don’t try to bride customers into writing good reviews—There’s nothing wrong with letting your customers know they can review you online, but you can’t offer any incentives or payment for them doing so. Again, this just isn’t authentic, and it violates the review guidelines for these sites.
Has your business received any negative reviews? How did you respond?
We live in an age where consumers are skeptical of companies. The internet is full of scams and misinformation, and the customer just doesn’t believe anything anymore.
It’s your job to earn their trust. The best way to do this is to position yourself as an expert…someone they can trust. How do you do that?
Become an avid reader—I love reading. I’m constantly checking out my favorite advertising and marketing blogs, and I have more books than I can count related to copywriting and marketing. I’m truly committed to learning something new every day, and I’m always working to incorporate the new things I learn into my work. Constant learning is the most important thing you can do to truly become an industry expert.
Talk to others in your industry—Chances are you know some other people who work in the industry. Try to connect with these people and bounce ideas off them. You can soak up valuable information from others because everyone has their own way of looking at things and going about their work. If you don’t know anyone you can talk to, get online and seek these people out in forums and social networks.
Conduct your own studies—Have certain concepts you want to explore? Wondering if old study results still apply? Rather than waiting for someone else to discover the information you’re looking for, try doing your own studies. You’ll learn new things, and if you decide to publish the results, you’ll position yourself as an expert in your field.
Experiment with new ideas—You never want to ignore traditional, proven techniques in your industry, but you also don’t want to stop exploring for new ways to become better at what you do. The true experts are always experimenting, trying new things out to help push their industry forward.
Strategies for Positioning Yourself as an Expert
Now that you know how to gain the knowledge to become an expert, let’s quickly talk about some things you can do to share your expertise and get others to view you as the expert you are.
Blogging and guest blogging—Blogging is one of the most popular tools for sharing your expertise with others. By posting quality content on a regular basis and also guest blogging on other blogs, you let your audience see that you’re a thought leader. The result? They begin to trust you, and they’re more comfortable doing business with you in the future.
Article marketing—Article marketing has a negative connotation attached to it, but when done properly, you can still get results. Publishing high quality articles on trustworthy websites can increase your exposure, helping to build your credibility. Of course, it’s also a good way to build links back to your website, so it’s a win-win.
Strong social media presence—Get active on Twitter and other social networks to highlight your expertise. Note that this doesn’t mean publishing a bunch of self-promotional content. Instead, it involves taking the time to interact with others, answer questions, offer your insight, and share valuable content.
Active PR campaign—I highly recommend signing up for HARO. Every day, 3 emails are sent out that contain opportunities for you to get quoted in news stories. Simply put, reporters need expert sources, and this could be your chance to get your name out there and let the world know you’re an expert.
If you’ve seen a Staples commercial during the past few months, you know this rant you’re about to read is justified. If you’ve yet to witness the most annoying commercials since Six Flags introduced that old man dancing to a really irritating song, take a look at them below:
From the first time I saw this commercial, I was annoyed and vowed never to return to Staples again. Of course, I think I’ve only been to a Staples like once or twice before (I remember the prices actually being higher, not lower, than other places), but that’s beside the point. The point is that you can’t annoy people into doing business with you. Creating a loud, hyper, and screaming commercial isn’t the way you want to get customers’ attention. Sure, this commercial gets their attention, but it’s not the kind of attention you want. Unless you’re Billy Mays (R.I.P.), yelling is NOT a good sales technique.
The commercial grates on your ears, and it forces you to frantically look for the remote so you can either:
a) Turn down the volume
b) Change the channel
c) Throw the remote through the screen
But that’s not my only problem with this commercial. The truth is Staples is treating their customers like they’re idiots. They create an intentionally loud and annoying commercial, which shows you that they think this is the kind of low level garbage their customers will respond to. I’m not saying advertisers need to treat their commercials like they’re creating an Oscar award winning movie, but seriously, this mindset of “appeal to the lowest common denominator” has got to stop at some point. It shows poor taste, and it’s really just insulting and rude to heckle and yell at your customers.
Another thing the ad agency that made this commercial didn’t seem to think about: If you’re trying to attract new customers who don’t shop at Staples or already have a negative perception of Staples, do you really think this will bring them into the store? If anything, it only forces them to harden their stance against Staples, ensuring that they definitely don’t step foot inside this store. The annoyance technique only causes people to associate the Staples brand with being annoyed.
I truly hope I don’t know anyone who likes this commercial. Otherwise, it’ll be like that Seinfeld episode where Jerry stops dating a girl because she found a Dockers commercial to be smart and witty.
What do you think? Am I overreacting? Or is this really an early leader for worst commercial of the year?
If you can improve your customer service, you’ll increase client retention and create a more positive image for your brand. Simply put, excellent customer service is necessary for growing a successful business. And it’s not just enough to say “We care about our customers”…you need to actually show it.
Here are several simple things you can do to transform your customer service from average to extraordinary.
Train your staff to be the best—Michael Jordan didn’t become the greatest basketball player of all time just by showing up for the games. He trained constantly so that he could improve his skills and be better than everyone else. The same concept applies to your customer service team. You can’t rely on them to be great just by throwing them on the phones every day. You need to spend time training them, helping them learn specific strategies they can use to better help customers and to keep clients happy.
Reward great employees—If your employees aren’t happy with their jobs, how can you expect them to have that bright, friendly attitude they need to help keep customers happy? Your employees are your most valuable asset, so you need to make sure they’re happy. You can do this by rewarding employees who do great jobs. This shows them you appreciate their work, and it gives them an incentive to provide excellent customer service.
Get to know your customers on a deeper level—Don’t just treat your customers like a number. You need to build relationships with your customers. Get to know who they are, what their likes and dislikes are, what their expectations are, and other important things about them. The more information you have, the more able you’ll be to satisfy them and target them in your marketing efforts.
Show your customers how much you appreciate their business—I don’t know about you, but I’m much likelier to do business at a company that actually shows me how much they appreciate my business. From extending a simple thank you when a customer makes a purchase to offering exclusive discounts and freebies to loyal customers, there are several things you can do to show your appreciation to customers.
Be willing to deviate from company policy—You can never forget the emotional and personal side of customer service. Don’t treat your company policy like it’s the law of the land. Sure, it’s an important guideline, but you need to be willing to bend the rules to keep customers happy. This will help you understand the customer’s pain better, and it will allow you to create a response that keeps them satisfied.
What are some other things companies can do to improve their customer service? Share your best tips by leaving a comment.
