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Below are some of the
challenges
that small business owners
posed when I was doing
referral marketing research
I started off my
research by asking: "What is the greatest challenge you face in
growing your business by referral?"
Here are some of the
challenges that make up the heart of Referral Flood
In my business, engineering consulting, one of
the biggest obstacles is identifying the "prime moment" when a
client is most amenable to making the referral. For instance,
several of our project managers do not capitalize on the end of a
project, when our success is in the present, to ask the client for
referrals or to ask for the opportunity to use their statement or
project as an example for business development.
I always appreciate referrals. Some of the referrals I get are
not the of the quality I desire but I do feel obligated to follow
through due to the risk of losing the original customer. How can I
improve the quality level of referrals.
(1) Getting up the nerve to ask and (2) not sounding as if I'm going
to harass their friends and family.
coming up with a system that would really turn into new
customers.
My greatest challenge is in the asking. I guess I am the same as
anyone else - I hate selling myself and asking for a referral feels
desperate. Shouldn't people who like my work refer me anyway?
Obtaining referrals from current clients. For instance, clients
are reluctant to give out contact information of their closed
network.
As a new business, how do you start the referral system.
To get people to actually feel confident in referring others to
me. They want to help, but say they feel that they are imposing on
others by asking them to give me their business.
Getting happy clients to refer people. They like our work but for
some reason do not send referrals.
Having a good consistent referral program. And, can I ask for
referrals from people I am not doing business with? These would be
people that I am trying to work with, have had contact, but have not
bought from me yet.
training my clients to refer. i.e how do I train my clients to refer
people they know when they think that they have a unique situation.
we deal with a lot of mums and dads and they tend to pre-qualify
their friends and mistakenly assume that they don't have the cash
flow or assets to become a client
The opening line...e.g. "I got your name from.." OR Your firm was
referred to us by" What is the most non-threatening way to begin
your approach to a referral, so that they don't shut you down
immediately?
Setting the stage to ask the right way. My experience is people
don't give referrals because they don't want to upset their friends
with the contact of a salesperson. They try to pre-qualify. Its
easier to just say, I don't know anyone.
Where to start!
People say they will refer but they don't.
Do any of these challenges sound familiar? - These and many more are
all addressed in Referral Flood
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