Word of mouth referrals may be the best advertising money can buy. There’s just one problem: money can’t buy them. There is no digital media or print ad or email marketing that can replace the power of a well spoken word about your company from a trusted source.
Word of mouth referrals give you instant credibility. They are the proof that other customers choose you over the competition. In the world of social media and instant communication via email and text message, news travels faster than every before. In fact, it’s human nature to remember negative experiences more quickly and more frequently than positive ones.
What’s a company to do? It takes purposeful, hard work to generate positive referrals. It may seem simple, but it can be difficult to accomplish:
Provide a good customer experience.
A positive customer experience is quickly becoming the cornerstone to a good marketing program. In the age of lightning fast social media shares, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram provide easy ways for your customers to tell your stories.
Realize that happy employees are the key to a good customer experience.
Satisfied employees provide a better customer experience How do you ensure that your employees are fully engaged? Harvard professor Rosa Beth Moss Kanter says employee happiness is not just tied to the paycheck.
Make it easy and worthwhile for customers to report a positive experience to others.
We’ll talk more about specific tools for effective referrals in our next blog post, but here are a few suggestions to get you started:
– Provide data, links to articles, and easy access to review sites.
– Ask for their feedback through a simple survey.
– Provide incentives for referrals that are unexpectedly delightful.
At Employment Technologies, we had an email just this week from a client in Canada who found us through a B2B referral:
“Other credit unions in our area use EASy Simulations and they spoke very highly of the results, the ease of use, and the fantastic customer support team.”
This quote gives immediate credibility since what we were doing made such a positive impression on their colleagues.
What do we do with this?
- We don’t ignore it.
- We prove the referral to be correct by providing amazing customer service to this potential client.
- We thank the referrer.
- Keep paying it forward. Once we’ve made a deal with a newly referred client, we’ll encourage a new referral by reminding them that they came to us from a referral and we’d appreciate any kind words they had to share.
Referrals are valuable. They provide instant credibility. Ensure your referral program’s success by providing an unbeatable customer experience, by creating an environment for successful and sWord of mouth referrals are the best advertising. They give you instant credibility. Here are some advice for a company how to generate positive referrals.atisfied employees, and by making it easy and worthwhile for your customers to share.
We love our customers, and we can’t wait to meet the new potential business relationships they send our way. Referrals and word of mouth compliments and recommendations make our day!