I have a question for you. How many different systems do you have in place for getting your existing prospects and customers referring their family and friends to your business? If you don't have at least 2 systemized methods for generating referrals, it's time to start putting some in place.
You'll already know why referrals are so great to work with. If you have ever had customers who have been referred to you by somebody they trust, they are a dream come true for most businesses. Thats because they usually don't need to be 'sold' to because they see you as somebody they can trust, and they also complain less and will rarely ask for refunds.
People who are referred to you also tend to be much more comfortable buying at higher prices. That means your margins and profits from these customers can be much higher than for the average customer. And because they were referred to you as the local expert, your positioning as a trusted advisor gives you the opportunity to influence and guide people much more easily.
If you invest the time to put together a well designed referral marketing program, you could cut your marketing and advertising budget substantially, attract more of the best kind of customers, and make more money while spending less and not working as hard as you do now.
So what's the best way to start generating more referrals?
The easiest way is to get yourself to the top of the awareness or top of mind of your customers. If you make a concerted effort to get to know your customers and what they really want, you can find out this information quite easily. You can do this either individually by sitting down with clients over coffee or lunch, or as a group by surveying them. Either way, you want to find out what their most important interests and issues are.
Once you have found what is really important to them, start giving them valuable advice and information on those topics in the form of articles, books, reports, white papers, videos and expert interviews. The idea here is that you want to try to actually help them, regardless of whether or not they ever give you money. Who would have thought that helping people would be a great marketing strategy?
It's perfectly fine for you to send Christmas and birthday cards, but in this economy, it's just not enough. You have to stay in touch with your customers regularly, or they'll forget about you and will go to your competitors when it comes time to buy.
The idea here is that if you SHOW people you care about them more than anybody else other from their family and friends, you are going to constantly be at the top of their awareness. This is a powerful position to be in, but hardly anybody goes after it. The good thing is, your competitors aren't doing it either, so it leaves the door open for you.
What you'll start to see is that when people are socializing with work friends, or having a dinner party with their family, and somebody says they have a problem you can help solve, your customers will automatically think of you, and recommend you as somebody who can help.
I'll leave you with this thought - If you really take this to heart and don't just go through the motions of doing it, you'll probably be astounded by the results. If you connect with your customers and regularly send them helpful information, your whole business will be transformed. So give this strategy a 30 day trial in your business, and start attracting as many referrals as you can. You'll be very glad that you did.
You'll already know why referrals are so great to work with. If you have ever had customers who have been referred to you by somebody they trust, they are a dream come true for most businesses. Thats because they usually don't need to be 'sold' to because they see you as somebody they can trust, and they also complain less and will rarely ask for refunds.
People who are referred to you also tend to be much more comfortable buying at higher prices. That means your margins and profits from these customers can be much higher than for the average customer. And because they were referred to you as the local expert, your positioning as a trusted advisor gives you the opportunity to influence and guide people much more easily.
If you invest the time to put together a well designed referral marketing program, you could cut your marketing and advertising budget substantially, attract more of the best kind of customers, and make more money while spending less and not working as hard as you do now.
So what's the best way to start generating more referrals?
The easiest way is to get yourself to the top of the awareness or top of mind of your customers. If you make a concerted effort to get to know your customers and what they really want, you can find out this information quite easily. You can do this either individually by sitting down with clients over coffee or lunch, or as a group by surveying them. Either way, you want to find out what their most important interests and issues are.
Once you have found what is really important to them, start giving them valuable advice and information on those topics in the form of articles, books, reports, white papers, videos and expert interviews. The idea here is that you want to try to actually help them, regardless of whether or not they ever give you money. Who would have thought that helping people would be a great marketing strategy?
It's perfectly fine for you to send Christmas and birthday cards, but in this economy, it's just not enough. You have to stay in touch with your customers regularly, or they'll forget about you and will go to your competitors when it comes time to buy.
The idea here is that if you SHOW people you care about them more than anybody else other from their family and friends, you are going to constantly be at the top of their awareness. This is a powerful position to be in, but hardly anybody goes after it. The good thing is, your competitors aren't doing it either, so it leaves the door open for you.
What you'll start to see is that when people are socializing with work friends, or having a dinner party with their family, and somebody says they have a problem you can help solve, your customers will automatically think of you, and recommend you as somebody who can help.
I'll leave you with this thought - If you really take this to heart and don't just go through the motions of doing it, you'll probably be astounded by the results. If you connect with your customers and regularly send them helpful information, your whole business will be transformed. So give this strategy a 30 day trial in your business, and start attracting as many referrals as you can. You'll be very glad that you did.
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In this affiliate marketing training we look at how you can get started online and make money easily, even if you have never built a profitable blogging site before.
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