Referral Strategies for Business Growth

Referral marketing is a type of marketing in which you offer a reward to customers for introducing your products or company to their family members, friends, and colleagues. Anytime a person they refer buys from you or joins your network, you give a reward to the existing customer to appreciate them for bringing you new business.

Unlike other kinds of traditional marketing that are targeted at the public, referral marketing tries to take advantage of your company’s current customer base – and the trust their family and friends have in them – to get new potential customers.

The primary reason for selecting referral marketing is to generate new leads through referral strategies. People like to introduce the things they love to their family and friends. It is in human nature to share!

Provided your products and services are good enough, you will probably have many satisfied customers who are already introducing your business to other people. You can leverage this word-of-mouth marketing by offering incentives to past customers, so they can refer more people to your business. Although happy customers may be willing to introduce your brand organically, they may forget to do so if there’s nothing to remind them. Referral marketing provides this necessary reminder in the form of an incentive.

Hence, running a referral marketing campaign puts you in the mind of your existing customers, establishes lasting relationships with your loyal customers, and, most importantly, helps you build a large base of new leads.

Strategies to Expand Referral Network

Referrals are a crucial part of any effective inbound sales strategy. As a matter of fact, the most reliable way to scale any business is by looking for a referral network, but that is if it is done systematically. Sadly, a lot of salespeople rely on old, unpredictable ways to obtain referrals. Little wonder, many people are fearful– and procrastinate – when they are told to get referrals.

But you don’t need to dread referrals, as they have the potential to improve your sales significantly. Below are some referral strategies that can lead to a 100 percent sales increase within a year if you implement them in a systematic way.

Don’t Refer to Them as “Referrals”

The best way to get more referrals is not by asking for them! A lot of customers don’t know what the term actually means. Some may assume that you are looking for a reference or you need names and numbers, whereas what you need is an introduction. So instead of asking for referrals, why don’t you request an introduction directly?. Do this next time you are looking for referrals so that your friend or customers will know the exact thing you want. And you will see that you will make more progress within a shorter time

Don’t be Afraid to Ask

If you are the type that fears to ask for an introduction, know that you are not the only person that feels this way. A lot of salespeople don’t like the idea of talking to a customer to ask for introductions. But the only way to overcome this fear of asking is to just ask anyway. See it this way: Asking for an introduction will not make you lose any business, but you don’t know how much business you are going to lose by refusing to ask. Once you have this mindset, you will start asking for introductions from your clients. You lose a lot of opportunities when you are afraid to ask. So, put aside this fear, and you will be happy you did.

Phrase It as a Request for Assistance

When asking for introductions, you need to phrase it as a request for assistance. The reason is that people like to help others, especially if they are someone they know and like. You can start your introduction request by saying something like, “I was wondering if you would like to help me with something….” By doing so, you are setting yourself up for a productive conversation and making the other people feel good about assisting you.

Make Use of Your Whole Network

It is best to leverage your entire network when looking for referrals. Avoid limiting yourself to a particular group of your network when in need of introductions. So, contact other people aside from your current clients, including your previous customers, present and past colleagues, friends, relatives, social acquaintances, and even friends of friends. The point is that the more people you talk to when looking for introductions, the more introductions you are going to get.

Be Specific about Your Ideal Introductions

One mistake that many salespeople make when asking for introductions is that they are not clear and specific about the type of introduction they wish to get. Salespeople often say, “Do you know anyone who may be interested in my offer? This is a wrong way to ask because it puts the whole burden on the shoulder of the person trying to help you. Instead of doing this, tell them what your ideal introduction would look like. Let them know the kind of customers you wish to connect with. Tell them things like your ideal customer’s job titles, the kinds of companies they work for, their average income, etc. So allow the customer to think about the person they know that fits the description they can introduce to you.

Ask for an Introduction Every Day

While this may seem like a lot of work, it is a worthy thing to do. Besides, how long would it take you to ask for just one introduction? It should not take more than 15 minutes, so try to make it the most crucial 15 minutes of your workday. If you ask for a single introduction every workday, that is five introductions every week and about 250 every year. That’s a whole lot. Think about how many potential customers you can meet with by asking for around 250 introductions every year.

Be Accountable

Instead of just saying you will be asking for one introduction per day, create a plan, adhere to it, and make sure that you do it. One main reason why a lot of salespeople don’t receive many referrals is that they don’t hold themselves accountable. If you intend to ask for five introductions every week, develop a system that keeps you accountable to the exact number every week. But make sure that your goals are achievable and try to use a CRM system or an online calendar to keep track of your introductions.

Host Events That Can Only Be Attended by Invited People

This is the best way to get new customers. If you want to succeed with this strategy, make sure that the event feels special and exclusive. Gather high-level clients and potential customers at a top-class venue. By bringing your old clients and prospects to the same venue, you will realize that your satisfied clients will start doing the marketing for you.

During these events, you can also ask attendees for introductions to people who they think will get value from your event. You will realize that people like to get invitations for their family members and friends to a special event.

Our Referral Program 

Family Building Partner

Our family building program is created to help people struggling to have a child realize their dream of becoming parents. This program also increases awareness about the wonderful process of gestational surrogacy. Our family building partners are paid $1,000 for every qualified candidate they refer to become a surrogate with Physician’s Surrogacy. You may also refer to other people to become our family-building partners and receive between $25 and $100 for each referral that gets accepted into the program.

Egg Donor Referral Program

The Lucina Egg Bank Referral Program enables you to give money to women that are eligible for our egg donation program while earning $800 yourself for each successful referral.

You don’t need to spend anything to participate in our program, and there is no limit to how much money you can earn.

We create this program in order to increase awareness amongst young, healthy women about the constant need for egg donors and the priceless gift they can offer by giving out their eggs. As a participant in the Lucina Egg Donor Referral program, you are going to direct prospective egg donors to us, and once they are chosen, they can proceed with the donation without having to wait. These eggs will be used by Intended Parents who are in dire need of a child to complete their family. When your candidates donate successfully, you are going to receive a generous reward for referring them to us.

Conclusion

While there’s no certain time to boost referral traffic to your website, content marketing is crucial to ensure that all your efforts pay off. There are several ways to drive traffic to your website, i.e., guest blogging, increasing your social media presence, etc. However, you need knowledge and persistence in order to achieve success.

Note that all the traffic hacks you may have learned will not produce results overnight. It is going to happen, but it will surely take a lot of effort and time. As you continue to provide top-quality content, you will start getting more leads.

You need referral traffic, while your audience needs valuable content. So, put in a lot of work to each article you post to make sure they are in line with these goals. One good way to send traffic to your website is by putting your target audience first. And when the traffic finally comes (and it will), continue posting stellar content to keep your readers coming back for more.