Growing Your Business by Increasing Customer Referrals

Bylori

Growing and expanding your business is likely one of your top priorities. Advertising, marketing, promotions — all of these are effective ways to get the word out and increase your customer base. One of the simpler and easier techniques for boosting your business is to increase the number of new customers who are introduced to your business by existing customers. Increasing customer referrals gives you advantages that other methods cannot match.

Benefits of Customer Referrals

  • Referred customers already have an idea of what to expect from you. They’ve been told by their friend or family member what you do, how well you do it, and what they can expect when they take their business to your company.
  • Referred customers already have a positive feeling about you. Referrals are made by happy, satisfied existing customers. The prospect will have already experienced some of that positive attitude toward your company.
  • Referred customers cost less to acquire. Word-of-mouth advertising through satisfied customers is the least expensive, but probably the most effective, of marketing methods. Referrals cost you nothing in standard advertising or marketing expenses. Your main investment is the excellent products and customer service you’ve already provided to existing customers.

Methods for Acquiring Referrals

  • Ask for referrals: The simplest method of getting referrals is to ask for them. Ask customers if there are other people in their lives who could benefit from your products and services. Make it convenient for your customer to provide you their referral’s information by including a request for it on your customer satisfaction survey and other follow-up marketing communications.
  • Time the request properly: The best time to ask for referrals is when customer satisfaction is at its highest, usually at the end of a satisfactory transaction or when the customer offers a compliment or word of appreciation.
  • Narrow the request: Keep the scope of the request as narrow as possible. Instead of asking for referrals out of everyone the customer knows, ask about a smaller set of the customer’s friends and acquaintances who could specifically benefit from your products or services.

What are some of the best ways you can use these techniques for increasing customer referrals for your business?

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