When it comes to sales, referrals are the holy grail. If your business is not generating referrals, then you are at risk of stagnation.
The reason why referrals are powerful is that they streamline the process of building trust.
Getting a new client is difficult because before the client commits to working with you or your company, they have to trust you first. If that client is not a referral, you wouldn’t have an external advocate vouching for your organization thus making it difficult to build trust.
For referrals, the process is different. When someone is referred to you, they would already have some trust in you due to their relationship with the person who referred them. This makes it 90% easier for you to sell and close the client.
When it comes to referrals, I don’t play around. Apart from generating them personally, I’m always pushing my team to generate referrals.
If you want to get more referrals in your organization, then take a leaf from my playbook by making use of these 3 ways.
1. Always Exceed Client’s Expectations
Happy clients will always give you referrals. One of the mantras I abide by is overpromising and overdelivering.
When I had my first Business Seminar back in February this year, I assured entrepreneurs that the value they were going to get from attending the seminars would be more than $3000 or I refund their money.
Most of my team members thought I was nuts. I did the seminar and addressed 10 entrepreneurs in an intense four-hour workshop. All the reviews were positive to an extent that each of the attendees referred other people that we had to get a bigger venue for March.
By exceeding the expectations of my clients, I got referrals who eventually got me business and became clients.
2. Incentivize People Who Give You Referrals
One of the initiatives that moved the needle for me this year was when we ran a referral campaign. Everyone you will meet in life is always asking about what’s in it for them. This is why it can be helpful to incentivize your customers for giving you referrals.
This can be something as simple as giving people a 5% commission for every referred sale.
When we implemented this in our organization, our sales shot up as we now had a lot of external salespeople who also wanted to get a commission for referring people they know to deal with us.
The important thing however is to stick to your word. When we ran our referral campaign, we had a competitor that copied us; Their strategy worked until they stopped paying people their money which resulted in negative reviews.
3. Ask for Referrals
Sometimes to get referrals, all you need to do is ask. You’d be surprised at how many people are willing to give you referrals if you were to just ask.
How do you go about it? Every time you finish up with a client, always ask them if they know someone else who would benefit from your services. The moment they admit that they know someone, immediately ask for contact details so that you reach out.
My team generated over 50 leads a day doing this.
To conclude, the last thing to do when it comes to getting more referrals is to also give. If you are in business to business, always introduce people to each other. Introduce your suppliers to your clients, your clients to your failed leads. The more you connect with people, the more you’ll be connected.
I will be hosting a business seminar later this month, I want you to be part of it. You can get more information here.
