7 Tips to Help You Generate More Genuine Referrals
The best reviews come from people who are genuinely enthusiastic about your products or services and will naturally share that enthusiasm with their friends and family. People aren’t shy when it comes to talking about their experiences with companies, especially when you consistently deliver a quality experience that compels them to speak positively about your brand. This helps to build the overall trustworthiness and credibility of your business.
So, how exactly can you get your existing customers to refer your business to their friends, family, colleagues, and networks? We’ve compiled a list of 7 tips to help you generate genuine referrals from your customers:
1. Exceed expectations
Do more than just achieve your customer’s goals; strive to go above and beyond by sharing their content on social media, shouting them in your blog post, and overall just proving to be an indispensable resource to them. Then, you won’t even have to tell them why they should tell their networks about the great work you do because they will naturally do so.
2. Keep existing customers engaged
In order to maintain your spot at the top of your customers’ minds, you need to continue investing in the relationships you make with them and provide ways to keep them engaged with your brand all throughout their customer journey and beyond.
3. Align with your customers’ values
Before asking for a referral, learn what your customers truly value. By aligning your incentive or acknowledgment with those values, you’ll be able to demonstrate the impact their referral will have.
4. Listen, respond to, and adapt to both positive and negative feedback
Getting a negative review can be uncomfortable and may take you by surprise, but on the bright side it can be an excellent opportunity for growth within your business; that is if you really listen and adapt to it. You need to know how your customers feel about your products, services, and overall experience so you can use their feedback to work through the issue, improve your relationship with that customer, and improve your company as a whole.
5. Distribute your content and resources across multiple different channels
People are more likely to do business with you if you provide valuable resources to them. Additionally, if you want your customers to go the extra mile for you, you need to provide them with different ways to do so. The more places you appear and the more resources you offer, the more comfortable your clients will feel in providing positive feedback.
6. Refer and engage with other companies
Making it a habit to give other businesses a referral is an excellent way to receive one back from them even if you don’t have a formal relationship with them. It’s like a chain reaction!
7. Don’t force it!
If a client says they don’t give referrals, simply just respect their request/decision and continue to provide excellent service so that if they do refer you in the future, it’s because they genuinely want to, not because they feel forced or pressured.
The bottom line is, there is not one exact ‘best’ way to get referrals. Different businesses need different things, and the things you need may change over time and will vary depending on your goals. One that remains true for all businesses, however, is that if you want to get your customers and potential customers raving about your service, you have to go above and beyond to delight them, providing excellent customer service throughout the entire customer experience (and afterward)!