When you focus on your customers your customers will focus on you

Setting Up a Successful Referral Marketing Programme in Your Business

Many companies make the mistake of concentrating all their marketing activities, commitment and budget promoting “cold” to prospects who do not know them, when potentially all the business they could possibly want is much easier available and at a great deal lower cost through their own customers.

It makes a great deal of sense to focus more on people who have already bought off you, possibly trust you and are happy with you, your company and your product and service, then to try and sell to a total stranger with all the challenges that represents.
Most customers only know approx. 40% about the products and services their suppliers provide, so there is a great of potential for up-sales, before you seek any new business. The most powerful and low cost marketing concept that still works successfully is “word of mouth”, with approx. 80% of companies getting 70% of their business through referrals from satisfied customers and other contacts.

But these factors are based on you TOTALLY FOCUSING on your customers, and not taking them for granted and ignoring them as most companies do. What efforts you put into focusing on your own customers, you will reap back many times over in referred business, sales, profits, customer satisfaction and loyalty and continuous business growth.

It is not enough to think you just have to give a customary "good service" and your customers will love you and give you all you referrals you want, you have to first "Qualify" for their "Investment" in your business and for the privilege of receiving their referrals. The only way you can do this is to totally focus on your customers in a systamic and structured way.

The challenge with word of mouth is that it is generally spontaneous and unpredictable and companies only get a fraction of the referrals they should be getting. There are many reasons for this; the main one is that companies do not have a planned strategy to maximise their word of mouth referrals.

There is a new innovative, powerful and proven approach to word of mouth, called referral marketing. In brief, referral marketing is a very proactive, structured and systematic process (focusing on your customers) to encourage your customers to think and talk a great more about your company, your products and services (to get them to focus on you). This generates more testimonials, endorsements and referrals which is definitely the best type of business to have.

With referral marketing you go from the “spontaneous” situation to “proactive and highly productive” solution, which is based on a simple programme you set up in your business to greatly increase your customer’s appreciation, knowledge, satisfaction and loyalty of your company and your products and services.

A referral marketing programme is a powerful, structured and systematic process that will maximise your word of mouth referral business.

Such a programme is simple to develop and operate and It will quickly and continuously produce exceptional results and eventfully work “automatically” in your business.

Main elements of a referral marketing programme consist of:

1. Database / CRM Programme - to constantly build your contact base and manage your marketing programme.

2. A “Referral Marketing” Plan - developed with ALL staff, customers and suppliers.

3. A Strategic Customer Care Programme – the absolute core of your referral programme. Developed as per Referral Marketing Plan.

4. Referral Marketing Strategies (Over 105 strategies to consider)

5. Customer Incentive Policies – How you intend to reward your customers

6. Constantly ask “Why should people do business with us?” and “Why should our customers refer us?” and provide maximum solutions to these questions.

The Benefits of Referral Marketing

Compared to traditional marketing strategies, there are many benefits available from referral marketing and these include;

INCREASING: your credibility, leads, sales, customers, profits, referrals, customer satisfaction and loyalty, continuous business growth and market leadership.

You also greatly REDUCE: your traditional marketing costs and threats from competition

In conclusion
There are only a small percentage of companies who can TRULY state they are “Customer Focused” and use a professionally referral marketing programme in their business. The few I have come across, or have I helped in my professional capacity to become “Customer Focused”, enjoy an incredible advantage over other companies. This advantage is mostly based on having a “True Partnership” with their customers, where both parties totally focus and invest their time and money to gain maximum benefit and value from each other.

Referral Marketing Calculator: To see how much potential referral business you can gain through having a referral marketing programme go to http://www.goldnetreferralmarketing.co.uk/calculator.php

Author: Vince Golder, Managing Director, Goldnet Referral Marketing Ltd.
Tel: 07799 34 8642
email: vince@goldnetreferralmarketing.co.uk

For details of Vince’s new ebook “The Power of Referral Marketing” go to www.goldnetreferralmarketing.co.uk