This week, we’ve decided to have the Synergy Marketing Consultants Blog focus on the topic of increasing your customer base. As always, we’ve mentioned that when handing out promotional gifts to your customers, one of the most popular results is the increase in referrals that many companies get. And you know where you can get those from!
On BusinessWeek.com, Michelle Nichols writes that maximizing your ability to get sales referrals is a key component to growing your client base. She writes that most referrals are generally nice people, considering that your store was recommended to them by others who are already fans of your store.
It only makes sense that if they enjoy their experiences with your business, they will be bound to refer even more people to you as well. Referrals are often “pre-sold”, writes Nichols. Someone who was referred to you usually walks in already under the impression that he or she will be making a purchase.
Therefore, referrals are often more loyal than their non-referred counterparts. Consider the “friendship factor” that comes in to play when people are referred to your store. You’ll want to do your best to provide them with what seems like preferential treatment. After all, you’d love for them to come back and bring along other new customers with them.
As much as Nichols encourages business owners to make the most of their referrals, she does make the point that entrepreneurs should never rest on their laurels. You should never stop marketing, she writes. Continually adding new clients who are not particularly related to your current client base is still a necessity for business growth.
“The reason is simple,” writes Nichols, “From these new, nonreferred customers, you can then start to generate referrals from new spheres of influence, new ‘flocks’, if you will. It’s similar to opening a new branch office in a distant land. Suddenly, a whole set of new relationships and possibilities emerges that you would never have discovered if your business remained 100% referral-based.”
Of course, marketing to new customers does cost business owners more than it does to get referrals from existing customers. You have to have a strong marketing plan to attract new people to your business, and this costs money. This is why making the most of your referrals will always be an important factor in the growth of your company.
We will continue to take a look at this topic in tomorrow’s blog.
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