Business thrives in a constant stream of customers. Customers can be acquired through different means. And in generating leads, it takes skill, timing, and courage. It is important to get new customers because these people are the lifeblood of your entire operation. Without new customers especially for small and medium enterprises, the business might not have enough funds to sustain its operations.
There are several ways that you can generate referrals:
1. Know your NPS (Net Promoter Score) – this calculates or assess customer loyalty or level of satisfaction thru their willingness to recommend a company’s product or service to others. To get your NPS score, ask your customer this question, “On the scale from 0-10, how likely is it that you would recommend this company to a friend or a colleague?
To calculate your NPS: Company NPS = % of promoters – % of detractors x100
What does it mean?
How do you interpret the result?
When you start tracking your NPS make sure to have a benchmark. Different industries have different NPS scores. It is important to compare yours to your industry’s average. When you compare results, use the companies which have similar data collection conditions otherwise your data analysis will be wrong.
2. Ask customers, teach them how to generate referrals – Providing excellent service will open doors of opportunity and new customers. Our customers are the best source of referrals. This is considered the best way because people tend to trust the words of another person.
3. Send reminders to refer people – Customers and potential customers viewing a company website will read relevant articles posted in their blog section. If they are interested enough, they will leave their emails as a subscriber. This can be used as an opportunity to send marketing campaign materials and a way for car dealers to get more business from.
4. Have the refer page remain accessible on different platforms – People, especially the younger ones, tend to be more mobile meaning they’d rather use their phones or tablets to research information. That is why, when sending links for the referral page, it needs to be adaptive to whatever platform a customer will be using.
5. Provide incentives – The best way to entice participation and gain more referrals is by giving out incentives. It can also be in a form of games or raffles but just the same, people love winning and getting free stuff.
6. Get testimonials – Customer testimonial is powerful proof that what you are selling works. People can easily relate to another customer’s experiences. These can also be used at the company website to encourage more customers to use your service or product.
By understanding how satisfied your customers, the more that you will get a positive feedback. The keys to ensuring customer satisfaction are:
- Active listening
- Answering customer inquiry
- Provide immediate resolution
- Go the extra mile