Over the last few weeks, I’ve had a number of conversations with various people regarding referrals and incentives.  I belong to a closed networking group which means that only one person from each professional specialty can participate in the group.  So, in this group, the purpose of our networking is to actually bring referrals to people within the group and help everyone grow their business.  And as a group, we are quite successful with this model and the model itself has been proven throughout the world with Business Network International (BNI) being a world-wide organization.    

Are you rewarding your referral sources?

Being a member of an organization like BNI already conditions us to think about our network of resources and be on the lookout for people that we can help with our trusted connections.  Every once in a while, we’ll have someone announce they are doing an incentive program for those in our chapter that are able to bring them business.  The incentive is typically cash in the form of a percentage of a resulting sale from a referral.  And you’d think cash would be a good incentive to get people to think more about the business offering the cash incentive.  You’d think, but that’s not the case.  In fact, very rarely have I seen anyone be successful with this kind of program.

Generally speaking, most of us are not motivated by the incentives that might be offered by our colleagues.  And the reason for this is that the incentive doesn’t change our agenda.  We’re out there focused on helping our clients, and friends and family, solve whatever problems or challenges they might be having.  We’re not thinking about what’s in it for us.  And that’s in our nature and simply the way we are wired. 

Rather than announcing an incentive for referrals that lead to sales, I suggest thinking about public ways in which you can recognize those that provide referrals and referrals that lead to sales.  Maybe you publicly recognize someone at an event or a meeting, maybe you acknowledge them on your website or post a special thank you note on Facebook.  Think about sending a hand-written note of thanks for the referral and if the referral turns into closed business, then depending on the value of the sale, you might think about a gift of appreciation. 

What mode of appreciation have you found to be most successful for your referral partners?

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It’s Referral Monday and as always, I’m writing about building your referral marketing program for your business.  The first part of building a referral marketing plan is actually deserving referrals and believing that you do.  Once you’re convinced that you deserve referrals, then you can actually work at executing the rest of your referral marketing plan.

Execution of the plan requires that you actually collect on the referral.  You built your plan, you communicated who your target market is, you set the expectation that you were going to ask for a referral, you delivered an exceptional experience to your client so the referral motivation is there, unfortunately, you never actually ask for it.

Do You Collect on Your Referrals?

In order to have an effective Referral Marketing plan involving your customers, you have to actually collect on the referral.  The best time to ask for a referral is when your customer acknowledges a job well done.  The point here is for you to ensure that you have the processes set up in your business so you can collect feedback.  This should take the form of annual results reviews, project reviews, and satisfaction surveys and reintroduce the concept of referrals and remind your customers about your referral programs during these reviews.

While this is the perfect time to ensure that you’ve delivered as promised and getting referrals, it’s also an opportunity to fix anything that might have gone wrong.  Reviews like this also give you the occasion to think about continuous improvements to the experience you deliver.  Referral marketing is a process and you’ll want to be sure you’re taken yours full circle to collect your referral.

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It’s Referral Monday and every Monday, I write about Referral Marketing.  In order to be a Referable Business, you have to deserve referrals.  A referable business is one that makes business memorable and exciting so its clients will start talking about it. 

A key ingredient to becoming a referable business is to create an awesome experience.  People don’t talk about boring businesses.  When a client has an awesome experience, they’re happy to share the details and they’ll shout it from the rooftop. 

If you've created a WOW experience, your clients will shout it from the rooftops.

A referable business is one that has created a memorable experience and makes clients feel compelled to share their thoughts and spread the good word about the business.  They’ll essentially do the selling for you—and that’s the whole point of referral marketing. 

In order to continue to deserve referrals though, you need to keep that level of experience going—from the first interaction with a prospect through the first sale and into every subsequent sale and service inquiry thereafter.

Regardless of what tools your clients use to talk about you, you still have to ensure that you deliver that WOW factor on a consistent basis.  Figuring it out takes some work and some dedication and it’s an ongoing process.  But once you’ve got the right mindset, you’ll always be on the lookout for making every part of your business a smash hit.

Do you do business with an organization that delivers WOW?  I’d love to hear about it.  Next week, I’ll share some ways to create that WOW factor.

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