Remember a time when you shared ... with someone ... to you, like a friend, family member or loved one, about a great deal you got, an awesome ... a company, service or product t
Remember a time when you shared information with someone important to you, like a friend, family member or loved one, about a great deal you got, an awesome experience, a company, service or product that was above and beyond what you ever expected.
Remember that time? Remember how great you felt when they called you up and told you how happy and appreciative they were that you introduced them to that company?
Well, you owe it to your customers to give them the same opportunity with respect to your products or services.
It's important that you understand the power of referrals. Not only with respect to how it benefits you, but how it benefits the people giving them to you, and the people they refer. In essence, it does three important things:
1. It helps your customers better appreciate the benefits and value they receive each and every time they do business with you.
2. It gives them an opportunity to give back to you by way of appreciation they feel for the experience they get from your product or service.
3. It gives them the opportunity to benefit other people in their lives who are important to them.
The critical component of getting referrals from happy customers is really simple: Keep them elated about doing business with you.
I've said this before, and I'll continue to say it again:
"Treat your customers or clients like dear and valued friends."
Why is that important? There are many reasons, but for this purpose it's because "friends tend to do business with friends."
* If someone needed life insurance, I know who to refer them to; my friend Chris at New York Life.
* If someone needed to get a $10+ Million dollar loan for a startup or expansion, I'd refer them to friend Judy at Chandler Financial.
* If someone needed printing services, I'd refer them to my friend Lynn.
Friends do business with friends, and the more enjoyable the experience they have with you; the more they know you and trust you; the more they feel like they've received more benefit and advantage from you than they could anywhere else, then you've got a referral system that just won't quit.
Now, you may be thinking, "I'm not sure my product or service has elated my customers as much as I'd like it to."
Don't despair. Just start now and ask yourself some questions to get in the mindset of creating a valuable experience for everyone who ever inquires about or does business with you ever again.
* Am I giving the best possible value or benefit I humanly can to my customers or clients?
* Do I genuinely care about my customers or client's best interests and needs at the best level I should or could?
* Am I genuinely thinking about their interests above my own?
Remember, "it's all about them. It's never about you."
One of the greatest forms of confirmation you can give to a customer or client is the opportunity for them to give the same benefit or advantage to somebody in their life who is important to them.
Walt Disney said it best: "Do what you do so well people can't resist talking about you."
Do yourself and your customers a favor: offer them the best damn product or service you possibly can; treat them with respect, like a dear and valued friend; and, give them the opportunity to toot your horn for you and generate more business for you than you can ever imagine.
Craig Valine is the publisher of the The AwfulMarketing Alert Newsletter, "Where you learn GOOD marketing strategies by looking at those who do it really BAD." To subscribe his free newsletter, go to: http://awfulmarketing.com/ezinesubscribe.htm
