Ways to Get More Customer Referrals for Your Business

 

 

In the world of freelance, customer referrals are everything. The amount of customer referrals will often determine how successful one’s business can really be. As word spreads quickly, having customers refer others to you and your services is a wonderful way of gaining new business and making more money. There are a few distinct ways to get more customer referrals for your business.

 

Give 100% Effort All the Time

 

One of the best ways to help ensure that customers will refer your business to friends and family members is to do the best job possible every single time. Nobody wants to refer a less than satisfactory freelancer to those who they know and love. If you put 100% into all of your work you are sure to get customer referrals out of it as well as the satisfaction in knowing that your work is top notch.

 

Ask How Things Went or How a Sick Family Member Is

 

Instead of asking directly for a referral, just be friendly and keep in touch. Ask how the ad you designed is doing with converting their clients to sales. Ask if your customer’s mother is out of the hospital yet. If you are an accountant, check to see if your customer has been remembering to save their receipts. And although it seems strange, do this without any sales pitch. You are calling to show that you care, not that are looking for new business.

 

Ask Customers to Refer You to Others

 

Another way to get customer referrals is to ask for them. If you do a good job in your freelancing position, there is no shame in asking others to spread the word for you. This will benefit not only you as a business owner but those who utilize your services as well as they are getting great work which was recommended by someone they know.

 

Know a Gem When You See One

 

Some customers should be treated even more special than others. There are certain customers that can generate buzz around your business. If you think that a specific client could generate a lot of new projects coming in, then cater to their every need. Your hard work will pay off and new customers will come rushing in.

 

Offer Discounts for Referrals

 

If it is within your budget to do so, offer discounts to those who refer your company to others. For example, offer the referring customer 10% off the next job order if they refer someone to you and that individual uses your services. Offering discounts is a great incentive for many to refer companies to potential clients.

 

Is it a Business Card or a Coupon Code?

 

Instead of leaving all of that white space on the back of your business card, why not place a coupon for your services?

 

Customer of the Month

 

Award a “Customer of the Month” every month and see how excited each customer gets. Award a certificate or plaque that can be then hung in your customer’s place of business. The award can remind them of your services as well as become an attention getter for visitors of your client’s office.

 

Take a Silent Approach to Customer Referrals

 

If you aren’t comfortable asking for referrals, you can ask for a referral in writing. How? You can place “We appreciate referrals” on all of your printed and online materials. You might think that this won’t work but people see it and remember it, even if only subliminally. Either way, it doesn’t hurt to write this on all of your materials, does it?

 

Make Sure That Your Customers Are Getting Their Moneys Worth

 

If you want your customers to refer you to their friends and family then you need to make sure that your customers feel as if they are getting enough value from what they pay you. What are your customers getting for their money? Take the time to think this out and then every chance you get convey this value to your customers.

 

Ask for Comments on Your Website From Past Customers

 

A way in which you can inadvertently obtain customer referrals is to ask customers to leave comments about your services on your website. When comments are posted on a freelancer’s website and they are good comments, this will act as a potential referral as interested parties will see the beneficial comments and this will refer them to your company and your service offerings.

 

Use Friends and Family Members in the Quest for Customer Referrals

 

Friends and family members may also play a key part in the referral game. Ask those close to you to get the word out about your business and this may bring in a lot more referrals by doing so. Friends can provide you with referrals, introduce you to prospects, endorse your services, display your business’ literature in their homes or offices, and distribute or publish your business information. Just remember to use tact and don’t go over the line and be too pushy or salesman-like with your friends and family.

 

Remind Your Customers Why Your Business is Special

 

What do you offer that is different from all other businesses? What makes your customer special compared to other similar businesses. Send newsletters, pr releases, and other business related news to your customer base. This not only reminds them about your services but reassures what they already know about your services - your services are the best.

 

Holiday Promotions.

 

You should take advantage of the holidays. Why not send out a holiday card or gift to past customers to show that you remembered them and that you and your business still exist. Be innovative and you can think of a low priced option…even if it means homemade cookies with your logo baked into the middle. You can even stick a coupon or promotional item in with the card.

 

Make Sure to Incorporate ‘Thank You’ into Your Business Plan.

 

“˜Thank you’ is a very important ingredient in a successful business plan. Make sure to say “˜thank you’ to your existing customers, potential customers, to clients after a meeting, peers, and anyone else that you deal with in your business. It is a good idea to follow up meetings with a hand-written thank you note, but emails are better than no thank you card. Creating happy customers also creates more referrals.

 

Print a Calendar for Your Customers.

 

Branded calendars are one of the best promotional items that a business could give out. They are useful and they are hung on the wall for everyone to see. Wouldn’t it be a nice thought to print out a calendar filled with your designs and give it out to your customers? Or even better yet, You could utilize cafepress.com to print out a personalized calendar including your customer’s campaign with you, with your business information on every page of the calendar. A calendar is usually displayed where everyone can see it and needs to be constantly referred to for dates. A calendar is a perfect promotional item for your business and is well worth the money.

 

Give Your Best Customers Something of Real Value

 

Customers often don’t want to refer their friends to your freelance business because of the fear that you might mess up their friend’s project. In order to ensure that your customer will tell their friends about you, offer your best customers some nice gifts to give to their friends. Your customer will feel selfish if they don’t follow through and give these gifts to their friends. In order to ensure that the customer doesn’t keep the gift, offer your customer a referral award.

 

Every Customer Gets 2 Cards

 

When you send out your customer’s invoice, how about paper clipping 2 business cards onto your invoice or correspondence with a personal note asking your customer to keep one and to give the other one to someone who could use your services. If you have a good relationship with your customer, he or she will be glad to help.

 

Keep an Open Line of Communication

 

One of the most important services that you can give to your customers is communication. While you are working with a customer, on a semi-daily basis touch base with your customer. Your time and concern will translate into happier customers which in return will translate into more customer referrals.

 

First Projects and Interactions with a Customer Counts Most

 

It is important to be the best that you can be at all times, but especially with your first interactions with them You probably didn’t know that a new customer can take up to eight negative interactions with you as long as you both have a positive interaction at your first meeting. This doesn’t mean that you can be a jerk after the first time that you meet, it just means that you should pay the most attention to your first meeting together. What are you going to do with your new customer to make sure that there is a positive impression of you?

 

Why Did You Lose That Customer?

 

If you lost a customer, then you should find out why they left. If you lost one customer for a specific reason, you will probably lose more customers for the exact same reasons. It is perfectly fine to call and ask why you lost your customer’s services. If this sounds too scary for you, then send out a questionnaire with the hard questions.

 

Networking with Other Freelancers and Businesses

 

If you are serious about getting more customer referrals, then networking with other freelancers is a great way to do this. Some great ways to do this is by attending Chamber of Commerce events, networking events, volunteering at high visibility non-profits in a high visibility position, church memberships, and anything else that will get you face to face with people. One of the large networking associations for business owners is BNI - Business Networking International. They hold weekly lunch meetings and include one individual for each business professional. Their website has a listing of meetings that can be searched by zip code.

 

Approaching Local Businesses

 

Try approaching similar local businesses and shops and offering your services in return for free promotion of your services. For example, if you are a muralist, offer your local pediatrician a free mural in exchange for your business cards being placed out on the front desk. If your mural is good, just think how many clients you would get from that one free mural. That free mural would pay for itself in no time. One mural could keep you busy for the rest of your career (because once you get clients, word of mouth keeps your business going).

 

Utilize Friendship Marketing

 

Find local businesses and co-market each other’s business. The idea is to include each others’ promotional material in outbound orders, such as flyers, coupons, business cards, or freebies. One site to help you find sites interested in such partnerships is Mom Packâ„¢ . However, if you want to use friendship marketing locally, you will most likely have to mail, phone, or visit potential marketing partners to create the partnership.

 

Another idea for friendship marketing would be to offer customer referrals in exchange for displaying your business cards. An example of a situation where this would work is with a graphic designer offering to sending all of their customers to a specific printing company in exchange for that printing company displaying that designer’s business cards. It is a win - win situation for both parties.

 

Placing ‘Invite Friends’ or ‘Send Article to Friends’ Buttons on Your Web Site.

 

At the minimum, you should place an ‘Invite Friends’ button to your web site’s front page. However, it would work really well if you placed a ‘Send article to friends’ button on all of your article pages as well.

 

Start an Affiliate Program.

 

Starting an affiliate program is sometimes the best way to go. The way that this works is that you pay a certain set fee for every referral. This is good for people who don’t want to pay anything out of pocket for advertising, unless they get a referral that is. Here is an article on how to start an affiliate program.

 

Provide Monthly Advice Chats.

 

Provide monthly advice chats where people who need help can chat online with you if they need help in your expertise. Tell all your customers about this and tell them that their friends and family are welcome to join in.

 

Offer a Guarantee.

 

Potential clients might be concerned with changing freelancers and using your services for the first time. Address this concern by offering a satisfaction guaranteed claim. Tell your customers about this guarantee and they will be more likely to put out their neck for you and to refer their friends and family members.

 

Join a Word of Mouth Referral Club.

 

Join a word of mouth referral club and get qualified leads.

 

Keep Track of Referrals

 

Keep track of where and how you are getting successful customer referrals. Buy tracking referrals, you will know what works and what doesn’t work.

 

Other Similar Articles Online

 

Never Ask for Referrals - Referrals are an outcome of doing things well. When you take care of your customers and you do it better than anyone else, referrals should come your way.

 

Seth’s Blog : How to Get Referrals - Given the no-win nature of most referrals, you need to reset your expectations and consider a few ideas.

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