How do people find out about your business? Better yet, how do you find out about businesses? How did you find the last person who cut your hair or fixed your car? Chances are you were referred by someone. Business is not so different from the rest of life: one of the best ways to get business is by having someone referring business to you. But how can you encourage your customers and clients to recommend your business to friends and family?
1. Provide excellent service
This is often brushed aside as a given, when many times it is not. What are you doing to ensure that your customers are getting the best product or service you can deliver? Do your customers agree that you have a superior product or provide superior service? Ask them. How can they refer someone to you if they disagree?
2. Create a win-win situation for everyone
Once you’ve got happy customers, go one step further and offer a reason for them to recommend you. Maybe you offer a discount to the referrer and the person referred, or another kind of financial incentive.
3. Keep In Touch
It’s one thing to make a sale and never reach out to a customer again, but the businesses that get the most referrals are the ones that have ongoing relationships with clients and customers. To accomplish this, postcard marketing, blogging, and social media are great solutions. By regularly interacting with customers and clients, you are the logical choice when someone is looking for what you have to offer—and your customers will remember to mention you.
4. Ask for referrals
Like any other marketing method, give your customers a call to action. Sometimes, business improves merely by asking customers if they would be willing to refer you to friends and contacts.
Referral marketing can be one of the best free ways to expand your business. Many more ideas for referral marketing, including an Essential Referral Marketing System, can be found Here
David Carleton is a San Diego Local Business Marketing Consultant who specializes in showing small business owners how to spend less and get more from their marketing and advertising using low cost strategies in local business marketing, lead generation and conversion, Internet marketing and social media. To download a copy of the free report, “7 Steps to Website Success”, go to http://LocalBusinessMarketingSuccess.com
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