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MARKETSTORM NEWS AND ARTICLES
Treat every referral as if you have won the lottery!
by
Duncan McAdams
Personal referrals - or getting business through word of mouth
- is considered the most successful and compelling method of selling
anything in today's market. Your business will benefit from it more
than any other form of marketing. Why is this?
People will always ask colleagues, friends and family their opinions
of a product or service to quell their fear of buying from your
business. Remember we all start buying something with a whole bunch
of fears that need to be addressed before we hand over the cash:
- Will I get ripped off?
- Can I really afford it?
- Am I making the best decision here?
- Will the thing last?
- Will the company stand by their product if something goes wrong?
If someone has referred a customer to your business, many of these
fears have already been laid to rest. The selling cycle becomes
easier as the referrer has done most of the selling for you. Which
is why referrals must be treated like you've won the lottery - and
the person who gave the referral must be rewarded well.
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It's amazing how one referral leads to another - Here's
an example from Ray Duncan, Managing
Director of Alliance Construction Ltd.:
Up till a couple of years ago we had worked for Pinehurst
School, an up-market private school here in Albany, building
3 stages of extensions, valued at say 1 and a half million
dollars.
The school Principal, Sherida Penman Walters, being impressed
with our performance, field staff, etc. referred us to other
school principals, i.e. Kristin School in Albany (another
school of high reputation) Corin School for Girls in Remuera
(of equal in reputation) and East Tamaki Primary (Ministry
of Education), where we were given opportunities to tender
for their work.
Since that time we have completed almost 5 million dollars
worth of work for Kristin on 3 separate contracts over 2 and
a half years. Corin School 1 point 6 million and East Tamaki
school was worth about 700K to us in turnover, and, we have
just started another contract at Pinehurst School worth 1
point 9 million dollars.
All this from the one referral.
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So ask yourself the following questions:
1. How can you increase your amount of word of mouth sales?
2. Are you recognising and looking after the person who referred
that business?
3. How are you going about increasing the quality of your referrals?
To get referrals you must place yourself in front of people
and ask for the referral - be specific. Call 10 people you know
today and asked them to refer business to you.
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It's as simple as that. So in this
case, as I have your attention, I'm asking you now!
Do you know of any small to medium size businesses that want
to: increase their sales; improve their image; or release
a new product or service?
We specialise in bringing marketing and design together
and making it work - and we do it well.
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