Grow Sales Beyond “Waiting” for Referrals
Referrals are a powerful tool to use in sourcing new business opportunities. Many companies rely on referrals as a means of improving their business growth, but it can also be a struggle to get a consistent flow of referrals that your business can rely on for growth.
Are you busy that relies predominantly on referrals from other loyal customers?
Most of these referrals come from your every day or long-term loyal customers. These referrals solicited or not, show that your customers are pleased with your services and are willing to put their reputation on the line for you. The good thing about this is that you don’t have to go through the introduction phase of your sales pitch as your prospective customer already has confidence in your business from someone they trust. You just need to cultivate a new and lasting relationship. Although you are getting new customers your business might not grow beyond a specific scope as the referrals are of the same type of customers.
There are many businesses that rely exclusively on referrals and still have registered significant growth.
This can be a very alluring thing that can make you lazy in promoting your business in other markets locally or in other new places. You can use the referrals and combine them with different sales strategies which can produce massive growth. This way you are in a better position to steer your business in the direction you want it to flow.
The flip side to this is you become so dependent on referrals that you do not realize your business is not growing, as the referrals do not guarantee a steady flow. Chasing cold leads can be frustrating and finding new customers from new markets is hard work and time-consuming. This can at times seem like tedious work when you have a lot of customers that need your immediate attention. For any business to grow and be successful, you need to grow your customer base.
For this, to work you need to examine the sales pitches you used to clinch your first referrals. The sales strategies you employed then that you can use now to duplicate the same formula to generate more sales growth.
Get to understand your customer & their needs.
Ask these questions – Who is your customer? What are their needs? What attracts them to your business? Does your business have a point of difference?
Then work on providing superior quality services or products. By following up on your referrals, you get to grow your business and your sales skills which will, in turn, make it easier for you to foster new relationships in new markets to get more customers. Referrals are a good way of growing your business but investing in a good sales marketing program will also help you further your business opportunities and open yourself up to other, possibly untouched markets.
Here are some points you can use in your business:
- Referrals should only be a way to boost your sales enquiries not be reliant on solely for the next job.
- Apply lead generation strategies to get a more consistent flow of new quality customer enquiries.
- Directly approach more of your perfect clients. Who are your perfect clients?
- Add additional referrals strategies at the end of the sales funnel (eg. ask for more referrals, customer feedback surveys).
- Be proactive in your sales and business growth.
- Implement a proven industry-specific system and strategy.
Let Next Level help you.
Talk to us about implementing a sales funnel that works for you and your business.