Referrals – how do you stir them up?

Tired of spending money on leads that turn into a whole lot of nothing?  When it comes to getting new business, your existing customers are your best customers. It’s proven they spend more, and are less expensive to keep than gaining new ones. How much did you spend last year acquiring new customers?  Existing customers bring their family and friends – providing free business for you.

So what do you have to do generate the almighty referral? Make your existing customers extremely happy! Go beyond their expectations so that they want to tell others about you.

If you’re like me, it’s always helpful to know what the end result would look like so here is a snapshot.  (You can click the image to see the results of the whole survey.)

1. Send the satisfaction questions to your customers
2. Create a benchmark from the results – mark where your customer’s happiness level is today. 
3. Create an action plan from the results – what you learned will help make your customers extremely happy. 
4. Most importantly - take action and let your customers know what you are doing. (That follow up is so rare and so valuable in strengthening the relationship your customers have with you. It lets them know you listened and you are taking xyz action.) 
5. Finally, send the same survey again and compare to your benchmark numbers to find out how the changes you made impacted how likely your customers are to refer you.

Now you have what you need to start getting referrals. Get that survey out the door and then come back for a visit. Comment here or email me at cshahar@constantcontact.com. Let me know how the survey went! What worked, what didn’t work, and what do you want some guidance with? Until next time, happy growing!