Growing your business by referrals.
At my last appointment with my dentist, I noticed a sign at the reception desk offering a choice of gift cards from a number of popular retailers. All I had to do was refer a friend to my dentist and I would automatically be eligible for a card from one of my favorite retailers.
What a deal! Win for me – I get to shop. Win for my friend – my dentist is a great dentist and a great guy. But I worried. Wasn't my dentist going to go broke offering such an incentive?
Turns out not. The way to make a business grow is word of mouth (no pun intended). In an ever increasingly competitive market, client referrals are a great way to increase your client base. Nudging it along with a few incentives can make it grow that much faster.
Check out a recent article in Macleans (May 3, 2010) p 47, entitled "Highly recommended: it's pure gold when a happy customer steers a prospect to you. Here's how client-referral masters make this happen consistently." Author Joanne Black, a referral selling specialist and author, is quoted stating "a well-executed referral program shortens the sales process by at least 30% and converts at least 50% of prospects into clients." The article gives a number of great tips, many inexpensive, to get client referrals.
Check out some recent additions to the library on this topic:
Maybe your dentist has a similar plan. If not I can sure give you the name of mine!
One thought on “Growing your business by referrals.”
That’s a win-win solution for the retailer and the dentist. Through this strategy, different business fields can collaborate with each other to spread information about their services to prospective customers using word-of-mouth testimonials from their regular clients.