How to Improve Your Referral Flow
Thursday, April 30th, 2009Generating referrals from your clients is one of the most effective ways to grow your business. It allows you to reach new clients you would have never been able to target, and it enhances your reputation as a trusted source in your industry.
But how do you actually get referrals? After all, people, in general, are fairly lazy so they probably aren’t going to go out of their way to tell others to buy your products or services. Thankfully, there are some things you can do to motivate your clients to recommend you to their colleagues.
Here are some tips for improving your referral flow.
• Make sure your services are worth referring—If you aren’t getting any referrals organically, you might want to take a look in the mirror. Is it because your services aren’t worth referring? Before you move on to any of the other tips on this list, you have to make sure your services are referral worthy. The best way to do this is to offer remarkable service every time, to be reliable (never make a promise you can’t keep), and to simply never settle for status quo.
• Create an incentive for referring—Okay, so now that your services are referral worthy, it’s time to talk about how to actually get referrals. Like I said earlier, in general people are lazy and busy, so the last thing on their mind is advertising your business to their friends. That’s why you have to answer the old question “What’s in it for me?” Give your clients a reason to refer you to their friends. This can be something as simple as 25% off their next order if they refer a friend who becomes a customer. One catch here: just make sure your incentive isn’t so great that it ends up losing you money.
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