8 Ways to Rev Up Online Referrals, Guarantee a Steady Flow of New Customers
“The best referral engine there is… is a happy customer.” ~John Jantsch
In a transaction-based business, sales are driven by good customer experience. When shopping and researching their purchase, your customers look for evidence of a good customer experience. They look at your blog content, your Social Media profiles and your online reviews.
Online reviews are actually digital referrals. Even though users may not know each other, online referrals are full of trustworthy information about customer experiences that help others in their quest for the best place to buy.
Most business owners and salespeople believe that whether or not customers refer them is entirely out of their hands. But science shows that people can’t help recommending products and services to their friends – it’s an instinct wired deep in the brain. And smart businesses can tap into that hardwired desire.
The secret to online referrals is in understanding how customers refer and to tap into that process with specific, proven practices.
8 Ways to Rev Up Your Online Referrals
1. Set Yourself Up for Success
- Identify who you are as a “brand” What do you do better than anyone else? What is your chief competitive advantage? This is why your customers buy from you.
- Identify your ideal customers. Your product cannot possibly be all things to all people. Until you accept the notion that you must keep your market focus tight, you’ll constrict your business’ ability to grow. Explore this scenario that I’m sure you’ve had happen once or twice in your years in business: “You know, if we had ten more customers just like this, life would be great!”
- Believe that you deserve referrals. This mindset must pervade your entire organization. Everyone must accept that they’re committing a disservice by NOT providing an easy path to bring the tremendous value of your products and services to those who need it.
2. Become a Publisher of Valuable Information
Leverage Social Media to talk with your customers, not at them. We all can recollect where we’ve heard great information. It could be something as simple as a weather report that saved you from traveling at the wrong time. Or something complex, like the best way to navigate the purchase of a car or home.
Those businesses and their salespeople can become instant “likable experts” with the delivery of valuable information. Create and maintain a blog to help new buyers decide. Post 2-3 times per week (or more) and syndicate it on your Social networks to drive traffic, leads and sales back to your site.
3. Educate Your Customers
Your customers are naturally qualified to act as your volunteer referral sales force. But to fully reap the benefits of this referral source requires more than just asking your customers if they “Know anybody who needs what you got.”
If you’ve set yourself up for success by identifying your ideal customers, you’re more fully prepared to teach others how to spot and ultimately refer that ideal customer to your business.
4. Ask for Online “Referrals”
In today’s retail environment, the number of reviews and average rating correlates closely with conversion to purchase. 96% of shoppers say that online reviews influence their purchase decision. However, very few businesses or their salespeople think to actually ask for the referral (aka: online review).
The very best time to ask for a referral is at the point when you realize and acknowledge a job well done. We’ve all had these situations happen, some more often than not. Those times where we’ve hit it out of the park with customer experience. It’s all a matter of creating a mindset to ask for referrals. I have found this phrase to be very productive:
“My business is based on referrals and I’d really appreciate you taking a moment to share your experience with others. Here’s how to do it…”
5. Relentlessly Work Your System
What you focus on and pay attention to can transform your business. Implement a system to:
- Monitor and listen to what your customers are saying
- Introduce and remind your customers about referral programs
- Perform periodic reviews – find out what kind of job you’re doing and correct course accordingly
6. Don’t Forget Social Media Crisis Management
Every time I present or talk about the subject of online reputation and referral building, someone (or two) asks about what to do when a “hater” comes knocking. It’s never an easy subject to cover because every business and every situation is different. My first piece of advice is to institute a solid “best practices” procedure for you and your employees.
Social Media crisis management is part of your overall marketing system and you MUST have a process in place for when disaster strikes. Don’t pretend it will never happen. It always does at some point.
On the subject of negative comments or reviews, in some cases, you can just let the haters be haters. If you’re doing everything right, the crowd will either come to your defense or ignore the silliness. But when there’s an issue that needs to be addressed (and this WILL HAPPEN), you’ll be glad you have a Social Media Crisis Plan in place to help you through the storm.
7. Ask for Customer Feedback
Just like asking for referrals, get comfortable with asking for customer feedback. Do this in person or in survey form. Take nothing personal. Be genuinely interested in what they have to share because there’s so much to be learned from customer feedback, especially the negative things.
Make it easy for your current customers to share what they liked and what they didn’t like about their experience.
8. Measure & Analyze
Stoking the fire of your referral engine requires diligent goal setting and review of key performance indicators (KPIs).
If you’re a salesperson, it can be as simple as a spreadsheet or Google doc to track your referrals. Social CRMs such as Nimble work really well for those more advanced in the Social Media and online reputation channels.
For businesses, measuring and analysis requires steady attention put on tracking KPIs and leadership of your sales force. You’ll want to track:
- Online reviews
- Referred leads
- Closed deals
Measuring and analyzing these will get you closer to your goals quicker. The time you spend pays you back with dividends.
Online referrals and questions about them are by far the most common subject of conversation during my consulting. These 8 ways I’ve shared will get you traction and hopefully alleviate some apprehension. When you’re ready to go to the next level and solidify your efforts to gain new customers, reach out to me with a call or email.
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