While working with many small and medium businesses, I observe a recurring trend. Most of their profitable customers come to them from referral sources. I am sure even your top customers have come from some referral source.
Yet, almost no company has a marketing strategy built to stimulate referrals. There are many reasons for this. Over the following few blogs, I shall discuss a few steps these organizations can take to harness the power of referrals.
Let's start with the fundamental question - why should people refer you?
Obviously, there are a few immediate answers that come to our mind:
Excellent service
Great performance
Customer Satisfaction
However, one point that is missed out by almost everyone is that people refer remarkable organizations to others. In the words of Seth Godin, such companies are the ones worth making a remark about. It directly correlates with your points of differentiation and unique selling proposition (USP).
So, if you want to generate referral business, you need to stand out from the crowd. You need to do one or more of these things
Look different
Address some specific unmet needs of the customers
Do things differently
Strike some emotional chord with the customers
Every restaurant works hard to increase its menu. This makes almost all of them look and feel alike. Some brave entrepreneurs have made a bold move of going with a single menu. Read this article in The Hindu. These small players have gone against the tide and made themselves remarkable.
What are you doing to become remarkable?
In the upcoming few blogs, I shall discuss ideas for:
Differentiating yourself
Creating USPs
Smart messaging
Driving organizational change built around the core of referral marketing
Keep reading. Keep changing. Keep implementing.
Subodh (June 1, 2022)
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