You've heard how important it is to ask for referrals, but what about rewarding referrals? That's just as vital to the success of your business, but often overlooked.
Because, whether it's your child getting popcorn for doing his homework or a sales rep getting a trip to Hawaii for beating her quota, you always get more of any behavior you reward.
The same goes for referrals: If you want more of them, reward them.
Back in the 1990s, MCI built a wildly successful phone company largely by rewarding referrals.
Their MCI "Friends and Family" program, launched in 1991, offered 20% savings on long distance for calls made from one MCI customer to another. Thus, existing customers had a powerful incentive -- 20% savings -- to convince others to join MCI.
Referrals poured in and business boomed, because MCI smartly rewarded referrals.
So, don't just ask for referrals -- that's elementary.
Reward referrals -- that's smart.
Stuck for ideas? Copy MCI's example. Offer clients a 20% discount on their next order for every person they refer to you AND offer the new client a 20% discount on their first order.
You can do better, I'm sure, but this probably better than what you're doing now.
If you own a small business, you're in the Twin Cities, and it's not yet April 21, I hope to see you at my seminar to build your business and benefit the Japan earthquake victims, on April 21.
More ideas like these in my Free Report, Guaranteed Marketing for Service Business Owners.
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