When I look at the outsource marketing side of my business I can tell you that more than 80% of my clients have been through referral.
92% believe what their peers have to say about a brand.
That is huge. And without even looking at those figures we all know that a sale through a referral from a friend or existing client has a higher rate of closing than other marketing channels. I know when I am looking for a new product or service I will ask friends, colleagues etc for recommendations.
Referrals mean trust. If a client is referring business to you, it shows that they trust you and are more than happy with the experience you have given them. I would say that referrals are one of the most valuable sales opportunities in business, and it’s essentially like free advertising.
When a referral is given, you know that some if not most of the general objections have been overcome. There are lesser pricing objections and they have a head start on understanding what it is you offer, reducing the closing time.
Of course, everyone would love to get referrals, so how do you actually get them? Do a great job! Duh. You’re not going to get referrals for offering a second-rate service or below par product. Then it’s all about customer service or as I like to think of it “customer communication”. It is about consistent behaviour, after all referrals aren’t going to start happening overnight, you need to work on them.
Don’t forget to ask for them, it may just be a slight nudge that gets you the first one!
Not only do they help with social proof and SEO, but reviews help a potential client make a decision easier as reading reviews becomes part of the buying process. If you don’t have any reviews available for viewing then you aren’t providing the information needed to help make buying decisions.
We’re all constantly trying to improve our business and our offering and reviews give us feedback! This is GOLD and they should not be ignored. Don’t take reviews personally if they aren’t all glowing, take the feedback on board and improve!
After one of my workshops an attendee emailed me with some feedback. She mentioned that the layout of the desks made it hard to see me and the screen and that as the workshops are 3 hours long, and laptops/tablets are required her laptop battery diedwith an hour left of the workshop. And there were only 2 power points in the room. I was really happy to receive this feedback as it was genuinely helping me improve how I run my workshops, at it was prefaced exactly like that.
It was only late last year that I implemented a new post workshop strategy where I asked for a simple rating and then feedback and eventually a review. The increase in reviews has allowed me to utilise them more when marketing my workshops and increased their visibility.
The main goal of any business is to gain business to increase sales and if you don’t have referrals and reviews as part of your marketing strategy, then you’re doing yourself and your business a disservice.