How to Build Referral Business for the Long Term
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Watch the recording here: http://videos.outboundengine.com/medias/0eakguankr No matter what industry you’re in, your business is growing due largely to referral business from your past clients. Providing excellent service and delivering value counts for something, but what really happens between the time you do business with someone and the time they need to recommend you to a friend on the fly? In this webinar, we’ll show you how to build a sustainable, long-term process for generating referral business for years to come. In this 60-minute webinar, we’ll cover: - Referrals and why they’re awesome - Why you’re not getting enough referrals - How the buyer journey directly relates to referrals - Harnessing the power of email to drive referrals - Long-term planning with OutboundEngine
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How to Build Referral Business for the Long Term
- 1. How to Build Referral Business for the Long-Term
- 2. What We’ll Cover Today Part 1: Referrals (and Why They’re Awesome) Part 2: Why You’re Not Getting Enough Referrals Part 3: How the Buyer Journey Impacts Referrals Part 4: Harnessing the Power of Email for Referrals Part 5: Long-Term Planning with OutboundEngine
- 3. Part 1: Referrals (and Why They’re Awesome)
- 4. Part 1: Why Referrals are Awesome! Why Referrals are So Important
- 5. 85 percent of small businesses say that word-of-mouth referrals are the number one way that new prospects find out about them. Verizon and Small Biz Trends Part 1: Why Referrals are Awesome!
- 6. The most successful marketing tool for small businesses (by far) was friend referrals (52.2 percent). eMarketer Part 1: Why Referrals are Awesome!
- 7. 83 percent of consumers are willing to refer a friend after a positive experience… …yet only 29 percent actually do. Texas Tech Study Part 1: Why Referrals are Awesome!
- 8. 91 percent of customers said they’d give referrals when prompted to do so… …yet only 11 percent of salespeople ask for them. Dale Carnegie Part 1: Why Referrals are Awesome!
- 9. Part 1: Why Referrals are Awesome! Types of Referrals 1: Traditional Word-of-Mouth Referrals
- 10. Part 1: Why Referrals are Awesome! Types of Referrals 2: Testimonials
- 11. Part 1: Why Referrals are Awesome! Types of Referrals 3: Online Reviews
- 12. Part 1: Why Referrals are Awesome! Big Picture So what does this all mean?
- 13. Part 2: Why You’re Not Getting (Enough) Referrals
- 14. Part 2: Why You’re Not Getting Referrals Short-Term Referral Issues 1: You’re Not Asking
- 15. Part 2: Why You’re Not Getting Referrals Short-Term Referral Issues 2: Bad Experience
- 16. Part 2: Why You’re Not Getting Referrals Short-Term Referral Issues 3: Your Good Isn’t Great
- 17. Part 2: Why You’re Not Getting Referrals Short-Term Referral Issues 4: Not Being Specific
- 18. Part 2: Why You’re Not Getting Referrals Dunbar’s Number
- 19. Part 2: Why You’re Not Getting Referrals Long-Term Referral Issues 1: Not Managing Your Reputation
- 20. Part 2: Why You’re Not Getting Referrals Long-Term Referral Issues 2: Not Staying Top-of-Mind
- 21. Part 2: Why You’re Not Getting Referrals Long-Term Referral Issues 3: Not Continuing to Build Relationships
- 22. Part 2: Why You’re Not Getting Referrals In Summary Referrals Happen Before, During and After a Sale
- 23. Part 3: How the Buyer Journey Impacts Referrals
- 24. The Classic Sales Funnel (AIDA) Part 3: Referrals and the Buyer Journey
- 25. Buyer Journey Stage 1: Awareness What Happens: Someone find out about your business. Why This Matters: Can happen anytime. Have you prepared your clients to work for you?
- 26. Buyer Journey Stage 2: Interest What Happens: This is the research phase. Why This Matters: What will your unknown prospect find about you?
- 27. Buyer Journey Stage 3: Desire What Happens: A conclusion is reached and an action is triggered. Why This Matters: Everything leads up to this moment.
- 29. Buyer Journey The Other Side of the Funnel
- 30. Buyer Journey Stage 4: Support What Happens: You have to ensure your client is happy. Why This Matters: First step in building a long- term relationship.
- 31. Buyer Journey Stage 5: Loyalty What Happens: All kinks are fixed and client is content (but not yet loyal). Why This Matters: This stage is long and requires your attention.
- 32. Buyer Journey Stage 6: Advocacy What Happens: This is what you’re building towards. Why This Matters: All your hard work pays off and your business grows.
- 33. Part 3: Referrals and the Buyer Journey Bringing It Full-Circle
- 34. Three Long-Term Referral Problems: 1) Managing Reputation 2) Staying Top-of-Mind 3) Continuing to Build Relationships Part 3: Referrals and the Buyer Journey
- 35. Part 4: Harnessing the Power of Email for Referrals
- 36. Part 4: Harnessing the Power of Referrals Loyalty leads to referrals… but how? - Value - Really Good Content - Help not sell - Establish Expertise - Build loyalty over time
- 37. Part 4: Harnessing the Power of Referrals Really… Email is the solution?
- 38. Marketers consistently rank email as the single most effective tactic for awareness, acquisition, conversion, and retention. Gigaom Research Part 4: Harnessing the Power of Referrals
- 39. For every $1 spent on email marketing, the average return on investment is $44.25 ExactTarget Part 4: Harnessing the Power of Referrals
- 40. 91 percent of consumers check their email at least once per day on their smartphone, making it the most used functionality. ExactTarget Part 4: Harnessing the Power of Referrals
- 41. It costs 6–7 times more to acquire a new customer than retain an existing one. Bain & Company Part 4: Harnessing the Power of Referrals
- 42. 70 percent of consumers always open emails from their favorite companies. ExactTarget Part 4: Harnessing the Power of Referrals
- 43. Part 4: Harnessing the Power of Referrals Overcoming Long-Term Issue 1 Not Managing Your Reputation
- 44. Part 4: Harnessing the Power of Referrals Overcoming Long-Term Issue 2 Not Staying Top-of-Mind
- 45. Part 4: Harnessing the Power of Referrals Overcoming Long-Term Issue 3 Not Continuing to Build a Relationship
- 46. Email Creates Long-Term Referral Business Part 4: Harnessing the Power of Referrals
- 47. Part 5: Long-Term Planning with OutboundEngine
- 48. Recap, Takeaways and Webinar Special
- 49. Takeaways Point 1: Referrals are the lifeblood of your business. Point 2: There’s a lot you control when it comes to referrals. Point 3: Contact with your clients doesn’t stop at the sale. Point 4: Email is the answer to building long-term referrals. Point 5: OutboundEngine does 100% of the work for you.
- 50. Webinar Special Waved setup fee until 8/31 OutboundEngine.com/AugustWebinar
- 51. Questions?
Editor's Notes
- Notes: We’ll wait for everyone to join the webinar and get started in just a couple of minutes here. Ok Were going to go ahead and get started. I’d like to thank you for coming today. Here are a few housekeeping announcements: If you have any questions, travis will be waiting to answer them. Just type them in the chat window and he’ll answer as we go. We’re also gonna be recording this and will send you the slides and copy of the recording afterwards. And last but not least we’ve got a treat for you. Those who registered for the webinar will get a special discount, which we’ll talk about at the end too. So let’s go ahead and get started… Image: Kedzie
- The topic of today’s webinar is what is one of the primary forces behind your business: Your REFFERALS and how it’s in your power to control them and even increase these leads. First, we’ll start off with what makes referrals so awesome and the different types of referrals you can receive. Then move on to addressing why you might not be getting referrals or not enough. And then after that, I’ll then go over the process from start to finish of how people find your business, become clients and how every stage of client interactions actually plays directly into the number of referrals you get. Following that, I’ll show you how email is the secret weapon you’re not using to drive referral leads for your business And finally, I’ll talk a little bit about how OutboundEngine can help you plan for the long-term to keep your business growing through high quality referrals from past clients. Image: Kedzie
- So part 1, referrals and why they’re awesome. We’ll cover some pretty power statistics about referrals that you might not be aware of and go over some important distinctions between the different types of referrals. Image: None
- How much easier is your life when you get a referral from a past client? It’s the best, right? Referral leads close much faster and easier than regular leads, so it’s fair to say that referrals are just plain awesome. However, while being excellent at what you do helps you attract new clients, there’s a lot that you can and should be doing to set yourself up for referrals. For immediate, post-business referrals, getting the ask or the timing wrong can mean losing your chance at getting that client’s help. But more importantly, having a long-term plan is essential to continually keep referrals flowing from your past clients to your bottom line. In short, you can play the build-it-and-they-will-come game, but know that getting referral business requires active planning and execution. Image: Kedzie
- (Read stat) That’s probably telling you something you already know, but it’s so important to remember When 85% of your business is driven by referrals, you should have a system/process in place that is focused on building, maintaining and growing that number. So whether you’re sending clients a pie every month or taking them out to lunch – you need to have something in placed to help them remember who are you. Image: Kedzie
- (read stat) Incredible. When asked point blank, small business owners ranked referral business as the most successful marketing tool. At the end of the day, you’ll be receiving business from new prospects. But what would your business be like if you stayed in touch with your clients, so that way they can send you more business on top of what you have right now. Image: Kedzie
- (read stat) Think about that for a second. If you’re in real estate for example, and you have a pretty average year, 20 houses bought/sold. 17 out of those 20 people would gladly refer you to their friends…but only 6 of them actually will. Wouldn’t it be great if you got 8 or 10 of those 20 people sending business you way? You know your average commission…how much more would you take home in a year if more people referred business your way? Image: Kedzie
- And in the same vein as the last stat, we’ve got this: (read stat) Customers are ready and willing to refer you to their friends but guess what, the only problem is that 11% of you are even asking. Something so small and simple! All you have to do is ask. Image: Kedzie
- Before we get into the next section, it’s important for you to know that there are a few different ways you can define referrals. The first is your traditional word-of-mouth referral. These are pretty straightforward. This is when you thank your clients for their continued support of you and ask if they have any friends that could benefit from your services. Depending on your industry, you might be able to incentivize these requests, too. Image: Kedzie
- Now the second type of referrals are a little more indirect. This would be a testimonial posted to your site. Whether that person was referred to you and then visited your website or they came to you on their own, that testimonial works as a sort of third party referral. Best part is…it works. It’s as simple as that.. It WORKS! 68 percent of consumers trust opinions posted online. That’s why testimonials on your site help convert referral leads even when you’re not part of the process. Image: None
- Lastly, the third type of referrals are online reviews. Similar to testimonials, online reviews from known sites like Yelp, Google and Facebook truly have a significant impact on your business. 88 percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. At the end of the day, the more reviews that you have online, the better prospects will understand who you are and how you conduct business. If it’s positive and they’re ready for business, more than likely they will contact YOU as opposed to someone else. Image: None
- Long story short here, referrals are powerful, it’s going to happen with or without your intervention, come in different shapes and sizes, and work best when you guide the process. Take control of it. It’s important to understand all of this here before we get into the meat of the presentation. Knowing all this here will help you learn why you’re not getting referrals…and how you could be getting more.
- Hopefully you’re business is growing already from the help of referrals. As we discussed last section, happy clients and customers – they’re always going to be willing to give referrals. However, willing to give referrals and actually taking the time to do it for you – they’re two different things. This part is split into two different stages of the referral process that pinpoint why you’re not getting referrals or not getting enough. Let’s start with the short term. Image: None
- So short-term issues, you’re not asking for them. I know, This one might sound obvious, but as research has shown, the majority of people out there – they don’t ask for referrals. The solution for this is simple, but not necessarily easy. You may have to get out of your comfort zone to do this, but it will pay off over time. Let them know how much you appreciate their business and how important they are to you. You’re happy to see them happy and you’d like to spread that same joy to their friends, family and business colleagues. Just remember to be direct, polite and humble. I’ll talk more in a bit on finding the right time to ask for referrals and check out our blog too, we just did a big post on how to pinpoint the right time to ask for referrals. Image: None
- Now outside of simply asking for referrals from your past clients, you might need to eat a slice of humble pie and adjust how you’re doing business. This is why online reviews for your business are a great way for you to get feedback about you and the service you provide. I get it. Criticism can sting, but you should also look at it as a gift. Use legitimate negative feedback as an opportunity to improve your business. Take a step back and honestly assess if you’re consistently delivering the best possible customer service and providing optimal value to your clients. Also, remember that as powerful as good reviews are for your business, negative reviews are harder to curb and overcome, so be proactive in finding a solution for that. Image: None
- Other times, your good just isn’t great in their minds. To transform a satisfied customer into an advocate for your business, you have to do more than meet expectations. Just remember that good customer service is what your clients expect at a minimum. They expect that. To motivate someone to recommend you to others, you have to go above and beyond their expectations. You have to provide them an experience. Even small touches can go a long way toward creating that “wow” factor. This wow factor will vary from industry to industry, but a good way to see how to go above and beyond is to scour yelp and other review sites to read up on what your competitors are doing differently that are causing people to write reviews for them. Use these to your advantage.
- Lastly, assuming that you’ve done a stellar job, and asked someone for a referral…your ask might fall short by not being specific enough. I mean, simply saying “I’d love for you to write review for me” isn’t enough. You have to know what you want before you make the ask, and more importantly, you need to make things as easy as possible for people to follow through. Once your client agrees to help you out, it’s bad to leave them hanging – and the longer you wait, the more likely they are to lose interest. If you’re asking for an online testimonial or review, make the process easy. That’s what it’s about – make it easy for them! Send them interview questions or links to sites like Yelp, LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+. Anything you can do to make the referral or review process simple and convenient will improve your chances of success. Image: None
- Moving on from the short-term issues with getting referral business, we move on to the long-term issues. Remember, referrals can take 3 different forms, you have - word of mouth referrals, written testimonials and online reviews. All three of these review types all share a similar flaw when it comes to long-term referral business: they get harder to achieve as time goes by. This isn’t to say that the work you do is devalued with time either. It’s just human nature. There’s a principle known as Dunbar’s Number. This number essentially says that people can only maintain 150 relationships with people. Meaning that over time, it’s just human nature to forget you, lose touch and move on. Let’s take a quick look at the three reasons that are preventing you from getting referral business from past clients over a long period of time.
- First issue is pretty straightforward. If you’re not taking the time to manage your reputation, referrals will suffer. Just a few stats to throw at you… 50% of referrals decided not to call based on their personal research. If you lack presence or the information they’re looking for – they’re not going to contact you. 80% of potential clients check out a company’s website. 68% of consumers trust opinions posted online. 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. In short, even if a past client gives your name to a friend, they’re going to do a lot of research on their own before getting in touch with you. Times are changing. Just because it’s a referral from a friend doesn’t mean that’s an easy ticket. They will do research on you because the information is readily available online that anyone can access. The web is very powerful so use that to your advantage. So if you’re not setting yourself up for success by having online testimonials and reviews in place, even your word-of-mouth referrals might not pan out.
- Next on the list of long-term referral challenges is staying top of mind with past clients. This is such a common problem for all of us. We have our core relationships and friendships, work acquaintances and then everyone else. What are the odds that we’ll be able to recall at a moment’s notice the nice real estate agent who helped sell our home five years ago? It’s not personal, either. As humans, we’re not able to maintain relationships with everyone we meet. This goes back to dunbar’s number that I mentioned earlier. It could be years before you ever cross paths with that person again, and if you’re not easily recalled by a past client, you just lost out on a referral lead you didn’t even know existed.
- Lastly, not continuing to build relationships with your past clients is hurting your long-term referral business as well. Just because you’re done working with that person in a professional setting doesn’t mean that your job is done. You got them to the table, built up their trust in you, and earned their business, but if you want them back at the table again (or sending their friends to you), then you have to keep earning their trust. Over time, people forget things. How helpful and knowledgeable you were. The special treatment they received from you. Remember, it’s just how we’re wired. The quality of your relationship with a past client has suffered and as a result, so will your referrals. Failure to continue to build and nurture your relationship with that person can hurt your business growth potential.
- So in summary, Referrals happen and your business grows as a result. But there are numerous places in the life cycle of a potential buyer and past customer where referrals take place. Understanding both the short term and long term barriers to you getting referral business is the first step in correcting this problem. There’s more on this in a bit.
- Now let’s get into the meat of the presentation here: understanding how the buyer journey impacts your referral business. No matter what industry you’re in, your buyer will take a pretty straightforward path to get from being an unknown person to a new client. Let’s explore that buyer journey next and I’ll show you the steps along the way that directly impact your future referral business.
- This is the classic sales funnel. It’s the simplest way to describe how small businesses get new business. This funnel is know as AIDA , which is a marketing acronym that stands for Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action. While it’s a somewhat dated representation of the complexities of the marketing and sales process from start to finish, it is still a great illustration tool to broadly simplify the process. The funnel of different types of small businesses will take place over varying lengths of time, but will still stick to the core concepts behind AIDA.
- The first stage is awareness. Simply put, this is when someone finds out about your business either through their own research, your marketing efforts or some form of referral. Since this stage can happen at any point in time, it’s important that you’re top of mind with your past client. I’ll use a realtor example to talk through each of the stages. In this case, we have a guy named John. John is tired of apartment living and makes the decision to shop for a house and puts a message out on Facebook asking his friends for agent recommendations. More than likely, he will not receive just one recommendation. He’s going to receive 3 maybe 4 maybe 10 agents that he can contact. What if you were in the mix of the recommendation for John? He’s aware that you’re a realtor that can help. What are you going to do differently to make sure he contacts you and works with you?
- Stage two is the interest stage. Think of this as the research phase. Your potential prospect is doing their due diligence to research their options, similar to what you’d do when shopping on Amazon. From our previous example, John now has a handful of agents to check out online. He’s checking their websites, their reviews and their information of their sites. He’s looking at Betty’s profile, Eric’s yelp page, Tara’s facebook page, and also looking at your online information too. Remember, with long-term planning, this stage will work to your advantage because your review sites and personal website all speak to the information a new homebuyer is looking for. Image: Amanda – Funnel Stage 1, 2
- The last stage before that person becomes a client is the desire stage. It’s a brief stage, especially if you’re in an industry with a longer sales cycle like real estate, insurance or mortgage, but it still takes place. Essentially, during this stage and near the end of their search, the person comes to a conclusion about what it is they want, and that triggers them to take action. With John and his hunt for a real estate agent, One agent sticks out in particular because of the reviews on his website and the content the agent has displayed. It’s all about the financial benefits of buying a home, and that resonates with John. Let’s beef up your online presence. Let’s get you positive reviews. Focus on getting testimonials for yourself. Make a name for yourself online like how you’ve made a name for yourself in person. Let’s get John to contact you. Image: Amanda – Funnel Stage 1, 2, 3
- Congrats! You’ve been selected as the winner and because of it, you now have a new client. This is the point in the funnel that results in a transaction taking place. For a realtor, this process would obviously be longer compared to someone like a home service repairman, but no matter your industry, this is the stage that you get a new client. So now what? Does that person immediately go out and tell their friends? What should you as a business owner do? Stay in touch initially but gradually let them slip away? Obviously that single client won’t be looking to buy a new house every year, so what’s next?
- I give you, the other side of the sales funnel. The part of the funnel that few businesses address and is arguably the most important part of the referral process. Starting immediately after the point of sale, the other side of the funnel illustrates how customer retention is the new form of customer acquisition. More importantly, this side of the funnel will show you how investing more into your past clients will give you more in return than trying to reach new audiences. Understanding this will show you how to go from good to great.
- So stage 4 of the buyer journey happens in the days following a transaction. Ever had buyer’s remorse or things not work out as expected? This is the stage where the business owner works to ensure they have a happy client. Things can be frustrating for both parties in this stage, but it’s the first step in creating a long-term relationship. This is also the stage where you can take a stab at asking for referral business. Using the realtor example from before, the agent reached back out to John a week after moving in to see how things are going and to offer assistance. Lots of agents do some sort of closing gift and this would be a good time to do this and ask for something in return. But most important of all, you first have to make sure that the needs of your client have been met before you move on to the next stage.
- The loyalty stage happens after all the kinks have been worked out and the customer is content and for the most part, loyal to you. However, if you’re not continuing to build a relationship, staying in touch with them, and keeping your name top-of-mind, your referrals won’t be near what they should be. A lot of companies make the mistake of stopping here, which is a big no-no for building up referral business in the long-term. In this stage, the best thing any business can do is work to help, not sell, to their past clients through entertaining and engaging content Email and social media are the best ways to accomplish this and I’ll cover more on this in the next section.
- Lastly, you’ve built up your loyal client base and they’re ready to refer new business your way. However, having loyal customers is one thing, but activating them to work on your behalf is how you get referrals. This is the stage where past customers actively refer their friends and indirectly promote your business through word of mouth. At the end of the day, you may spend a lot of time generating new business. That’s great! But what’s missed often is nurturing the relationship that you have with your past clients. Don’t forget to keep in touch with your past clients so that in the long run – you may generate business from them! That’s the power of referral business!
- Now take a look at this diagram for me. Let’s bring it full circle. From start to finish, the buyer journey and in turn the referral process for your business looks something like this. Supporting your past clients helps build loyalty and in turn, turns those positive feelings towards you into referrals, which then starts the whole process over again. However, there’s still a bit of a disconnect on how clients actually turn into advocates for your business.
- The support stage can happen on its own, but often it need a conscious effort on the part of the business owner. Happy clients lead to more referrals. Loyalty is built up after supporting needs have been met, but over time, while that loyalty might have started strong, it fizzles out by the advocacy stage. Loyalty and advocacy happen over time, sometimes over the course of many years. As I’ve said before, three things stand in your way to having a robust referral program: Your online reputation Staying top-of-mind And continuing to build client relationships. How then do you over come these issues and use the second half of the funnel to your advantage?
- The answer is pretty straightforward….email.
- Loyalty takes time, so it’s important to nurture your business relationships long-term through email and social media, so you stay top of mind. So how does this work exactly? It’s pretty simple: You need to be engaging with past clients and sending them really good content that is interesting, engaging, helpful, and aims to provide solutions. So rather than an email newsletter that talks about local mortgage rates, you’d send them a list of inexpensive home upgrades that help increase property values. Content that adds value not only helps build a stronger connection with customers; it establishes you as an expert in your field. By keeping your name tied to your content your customers will continue to be reminded of who you are and what you do. Over time customers learn to expect informative updates that keep them interested and coming back for more, and they’ll begin to look forward to what’s next. What you receive in return is loyalty. When you remain top of mind with your customers, it naturally generates customer referrals. Automating this process is what we do at OutboundEngine. I’ll go more into details on how we do this for you in a bit. Common thread between three long-term referrals problems Keep their happy sentiment about you and your business alive over long period of time Need to address time and advocacy issues http://www.outboundengine.com/blog/automate-marketing-generate-referral-business/ Image: None
- I know, you’re probably thinking “really, email… you’re telling me that’s the solution?” And I’m telling you yes. The age-old email debate of “is it dead, is it not dead” has been going on for years. Not only is email not dead, it is thriving. Regardless of what industry you are in, email is an opportunity to connect with customers and stay relevant long past a transaction. Need more proof? Let me quickly blow your mind with some email stats from this year alone:
- (read stat) This is compared to any other sort of ad spend, marketing channel out there. Email still reigns supreme in 2015.
- (read stat) This makes total sense too. Think for a moment of what your average commission is per new client or customer. I’ll bet that single commission check has a bigger dollar amount than a years worth of email marketing expenses. Even if you just got two more people to refer you business in a single year, their referrals would pay for your marketing and then some. Just some food for thought.
- (read stat) Makes sense. What’s the first thing you do when you check your phone in the morning? Or as you wait in line at the coffee shop. Or ride the elevator up to your office. And unlike social media, once that email is in someone’s inbox, they’re always going to see your name. Social doesn’t give you that guarantee.
- (read stat) This number is huge and incredibly important in the context of building your referral business. Businesses spend too much marketing to audiences of people who don’t know them, rather than marketing to their past clients. Who’s more likely to send you referral business: someone who saw your direct mail piece or someone who has actually done business with you?
- (read stat) So not only is email the tool marketers view as being the single most effective tactic for awareness, acquisition, conversion, and retention, it’s the tool that consumers say causes them to take action.
- Email is the solution to your long-term referral challenges. When it comes to your reputation, when done right, email helps preserve your name and reputation in the minds of the clients you’ve worked with. By taking the approach of sending them content meant to help, not sell, you’ll craft an image of your business that will keep the positive experiences alive over months and years to come.
- This is one of the easiest fixes out there and it’s the one that’s so often overlooked. Businesses spend too much marketing to audiences of people who don’t know them, rather than marketing to their past clients. When you send email to your past clients, especially if you’re sending them content that they care about, you build trust. When trust is established, past customers will open your emails, pass them along to friends and engage with you. And when people in their social circle ask for a recommendation, your name will be first on their list because your regular emails have kept you top-of-mind with them.
- Lastly, email helps you build relationships with a lot of people without having to talk to each person individually. This is why good email content is critical to the referral process. Instead of simply promoting yourself, focus on providing content that will be valuable to your clients. For example, in real estate, a client who’s just purchased a home doesn’t want to be inundated with new listings and mortgage rates. Instead, send something of interest, such as helpful home maintenance tips or information on DIY upgrades that will enhance their home’s value. This type of content not only shows you’re interested in maintaining a relationship, but it also paints you as an industry expert and trusted professional.
- If you’re doing a good job, people will be more than happy to recommend you to their friends. However, we’re all human. We forget details, lose touch and move on with our lives. If you’re not actively working to build relationships with past clients, staying in touch with them, and improve your online presence, then your referral business won’t be as strong as it should be. Focus on the long-term engagement strategy through quality content using email and social media. Be proactive and get new clients to review you online and continue to nurture those relationships for future referral business. This is how you build referral business for the long-term.
- We make your life easier by doing all of this work for you. Content, email and social is exactly what we do for our clients at OutboundEngine. We automate this process and help turn happy customers into loyal advocates. Let me give you a quick overview of how we can handle this for your business. (switch to live dashboard overview) At the end of the day, whether if it’s because it’s time consuming or because you’re interested in other things besides creating campaigns, we get that! Imagine if you had to create campaigns and do real estate or insurance or loans or what your profession is. You’d literally have two full time jobs. OutboundEngine provides you a 100% do it for you solution where we will help you stay in front contacts and help you get referral business by managing your social media and email campaigns. The campaigns that we create all add value to your clients. It’s the type of content that’s engaging. It provides your clients information that they need and would have searched for it themselves if you hadn’t sent it to them. It’s content that they can share with friends and family – which helps you get more exposure and maximizes your referrals. We create all of the contents for you and send them out through email twice a month. With every campaign, we want to make sure that we are branding You. Your social media pages will be taken care of as well. No matter how busy you are, we will make sure you will always have an active presence as we post every two to three days to give your clients contents to engage with. Now, you’re probably thinking Ok… great. But come on, how do I measure my success? How do I know if this will work for me? We’ll let me ask you this, what’s a car without a dashboard. How would you know when to fill up your tank or when to get an oil change? That’s what we thought of when we created OutboundEngine. We provide you with a dashboard to view all of your results as well. We want you to know who’s opening your campaigns. We want you to know who you’re staying top of mind with. We want to maximize your potential of getting referrals by helping you stay in front of your clients with valuable content. No matter what, this is the type of content they are searching for – so might as well present it to them so they don’t have to do it themselves. That’s what it’s all about there – making it easy for your clients. That way they will remember you!
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- So – what should be your biggest takeaways from this? Point 1: Email marketing is a long-term strategy to retain customers, increase repeat business and grow referrals. Point 2: Remember that wherever your prospects or clients are at in the buyer journey, there’s always something you should be doing to continue the flow of inbound referrals. Point 3: Staying top-of-mind after the point of sale is crucial for building long-term relationships and in turn referrals. Point 4: Email is the best way for you to turn happy customers into loyal advocates. Point 5: OutboundEngine does 100% of the work for you. We write, design, send and automate the entire email marketing process to help your business grow. Image: None
- As I mentioned earlier, if you attended this webinar you qualify for a discount on our program I’ve shown you a bit of what we can do for your business today. Bear in mind that email is only a piece of the online marketing puzzle that OutboundEngine can solve for you—we also provide expert social media marketing and clean, professional websites with lead capture capabilities. So as a thank you for attending today’s webinar, we’re waiving the ENTIRE setup fee for anyone who mentions this webinar special when signing up. (This is about a $150 discount, no chump change) However the catch is that this offer is only good through the end of the month and expires on 8/31. We’ll also send you the details in the followup email.