How to Get Referrals from Your Customers by InsideView

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 How to Get Referrals from Your Customers
by InsideView

shutterstock_76034833Referrals are the best type of leads in B2B sales because they are most likely to turn into sales. To increase your sales productivity, it is important to increase your amount of referrals. Your best source for referrals is your happy customer base. Here are four sales intelligence practices for you to get referrals from you customers after you've sold to them.

1. Asking After Delivery

One of the biggest mistakes salespeople make is asking for referrals right after the sale is made instead of waiting until the service or product has been delivered. Asking right after the sale can make your customers feel like they are just a number to you. It may result in a "no," and may harm your relationship. Customers are much more likely to give referrals once they are happy with what your company has provided. If your company does a good job, chances are your customers will be excited to refer your services to others. The perfect time to ask for a referral is during a follow-up call or meeting a few weeks after they've implemented your products or services. It is a good sales practice to do follow-up calls or meetings to find out if your customers are happy with your products or services and to find out if they need any additional assistance. When your customer tells you that they are satisfied, you should ask for referrals.

2. Helping Each Other Out

Referrals can be a win win situation for both you and your customer. Chances are that you are both looking to increase sales. Try giving your customer a referral before asking for one for your business. If you make a referral on your customer's behalf ? especially if it leads to a sale ? your customer may feel the responsibility to return the favor. A good time to make this referral is before your follow-up meeting after the sale. This way, you can mention the referral at the meeting and ask for a referral in return. Another option is to talk to your customer about teaming up and actively referring each others' services to businesses, which could lead to multiple quality referrals over time.

3. Offer a Discount

An often effective way to get referrals is to offer your customers a discount on future orders or services in exchange for referrals that lead to new customers. Since most businesses are in search of ways to cut down on expenses, this method is often effective.

4. Social Media

Social customer relationship management (Social CRM) can be a great lead prospecting tool. Invite your customers to join your email list or social media pages. Regularly send out emails or update your social media pages with useful information for your customers. If your customers find the information useful, they are likely to send it to other companies, leading to new referrals for your business.

The process of trying to get referrals after the sale also has the added benefit of customer relationship maintenance. By keeping in contact with your customers after the sale, you are developing a long-standing relationship, positioning yourself to be seen as a trusted partner by your customers, which may lead to future sales.

References

Building relationships with customers. Agency Sales Magazine; Greg Marshall (June): 42-44; 2002

Quick Win B2B Sales; Ray Collis, John O'Gorman; 2010