FRAM SYSTEMS ^blog

Do you know when to ask for a referral?

Ask the owners of businesses of all types where their best business comes from and a good number of them will tell you it’s a result of ‘word of mouth’ or referrals. In fact, referrals should be an essential part of your marketing plan. If you don’t have a referral system, one that you can test, track and improve then you actually have no way to improve your referral rate and are letting potential referral dollars fall through that big hole in your pocket.

Listen, treating clients nice, doing a good job for them, providing them with quality products and/or services, even going well out of your way for them, is no guarantee that they will send you any referrals, let alone quality referrals.

You have to ask

You have to ask for referrals. There are many ways to do this and there are many strategies that will generate a constant stream of referral business for you. While I can help you with discovering and implementing a referral system that is ideal for your type of business, everyone needs to know about the opportunities to ask for those vital referrals.

When it comes to asking for referrals, a critical factor is timing. There are times to ask, and times not to ask. The time to ask is when, quite literally, opportunity is knocking. Let’s consider some of the best times to ask for referrals – we call these “Magic Moments.”

Magic Moment #1: When a prospect becomes a client or customer. As a rule, people won’t give you money unless you have done something for them or unless you have shown them how they can benefit from doing business with you. If your sales story is good enough to convince a person that what you offer promises enough benefit for them that they will open their wallets and give you money, they just may know someone else who may likewise benefit, and they are prime candidates to ask for referrals.

Magic Moment #2: At the time of repurchase. When a customer repurchases from you, they obviously are at least somewhat happy with you. It may be that it was easier or more convenient to do business than it was to drive across town or to do the research to find another business that offers like services, but in any event, they still spent money with you. This is a good opportunity to build on your relationship with the customers and take the pulse of their true level of satisfaction. If anything needs to be cleared up or fixed, do it now and let them leave thrilled – but before they go, make sure you let them know that you appreciate referrals and will welcome any they may send your way.

Magic Moment #3: When a customer refers someone to you. If you have a client happy enough to refer someone else to you, whether that referral chooses to do business with you or not, the referrer at least feels good enough about you that they did refer someone. And when they discover how easy it is to refer, they may have someone else in mind.

Magic Moment #4: When a customer complains. One of the worst things an unhappy customer can do to a business is to not say anything and just go away and do business with someone else. First off, they’ll have to start an entire new relationship with another business, and they may miss out on the compensatory service they could get from the business that offended them. Second, the business doesn’t have the benefit of their feedback to make the necessary changes that can make them better for all of their customers. You should make it very clear to all your customers that you welcome complaints, and when you receive them, you should go overboard to see that your customers are not only satisfied with what you’ve done to make it up to them, but that they are thrilled. It’s often the complaining, then thrilled customer that becomes a business’s biggest advocate, and their biggest referrer of quality prospects.

Magic Moment #5: When a customer thanks you. We use the words “thank you” to express appreciation for something someone has done for us or something they have given us. It’s an expression of gratitude, and can easily be capitalized on by saying something like; “Thank you for noticing, Paul. We really do try hard and we appreciate it when our good customers – especially customers like you take notice. We’re always looking to add new customers and would like to have more just like you. Who do you know at the club (association, church, group, etc.) that would benefit from what we’ve been able to do for you?”

Magic Moment #6: When a customer needs your help. Your response to assist a customer may be within the expected bounds of the service you normally provide, but what will make a huge difference is how you respond, or how you provide the help they need. Doing what is expected will earn you no points. But going overboard – doing more than they expected to the point of astonishing them will earn you loads of points, and the right to request a favor on your part – namely, a referral or two.

There many other times that you can ask for referrals. The key is for you to always be on the alert for the sound of opportunity knocking. Always be thinking of ways to perform better and more service to your customers and how you can capitalize on those opportunities and turn them into referrals and those referrals into dollars.