Increase your Word of Mouth Business Referrals…

A good old fashioned word-of-mouth referral is still the most effective way to grow your business. If you have customers who absolutely love your product, they are likely to recommend you to others.

A great product or service is clearly the best thing you can have to spur word-of-mouth growth. The second is incredible customer service. Believe you have these simple factors sorted? Here’s what else you can do to guarantee that word of mouth referral...

1. Offer time-bound referral incentives.

Customers will often remember how great your product/service was, but forget to actually tell anyone else about it - as their busy day to day lives continue. A better idea to ensure you get the referral is a time bound incentive— say a specific discount or gift offer. People love a discount or gift! By doing this, the customer will also benefit from the referral, and therefore be a lot more likely to give it.

2. Have a set referrals process in place.

Simply asking for referrals means that it will be impossible to measure them. The key is to have a specific referral system in place, for example: a form which can be filled out on your website.

3. Do something unexpected after the engagement.

The last impression you leave  a customer with is most often the one which lasts the longest. Like a restaurant that gives you a free box of chocolates at the end of the meal, provide something unexpected and unpaid for after your time together. This will add customer value to your relationship, and ensure they feel valued.  

4. Be incredibly thankful.

This seems obvious, but so many businesses forget about it. Placing a call, sending a note or a gift to a customer will almost always guarantee you a referral as the customer will be so chuffed that they will want to tell somebody about it - or maybe even their entire social media feeds. It’s easy to send an auto-generated email — personal communication and gifts will set you apart from the competition.  

5. Automate all reminders and referral processes.

Personalized, tailored thank-yous, emails and reminders take time. While dealing with the everyday running of a business, it can be easy to lose track of referral processes. Make sure that your CRM or calendar generates reminders to get everything out to the right people at the right time.