Referrals are tricky, one way or another they are always tricky.
Most of us sit around complaining about not getting enough referrals. I know I’ve been there and done that.
What I hate about referral marketing is just how damn hard it is to figure out from the ‘marketing gods.’ There is almost nothing revealed about how to get more referrals. All of them will sing the high praises of referrals but when it comes time for the rubber to meet the road nobody has anything that even remotely resembles a solid action plan.
There is the E.A.R. formula. Earn, Ask, Reward.
Okay, got it. Now how do I do that if I am a dentist? What about if I run a professional services organisation? How do I Earn, then Ask for, then Reward?
This is what makes referral marketing difficult. The implementation of the formula.
I was listening to an IMA CD about a dentist who works with kids – name completely escapes me. He runs an annual event called Smilepalooza. It’s a big circus type event that is hugely successful for generating referrals and also retaining customers – in this case children.
The big problem with these events is coordinating them. Most business people have almost no experience putting on events, so it is incredibly overwhelming.
That said, everyone who has run these events with the agenda of giving back to their customers has always done well generating referrals. It keeps this guy’s dental practice full so it can’t be all bad.
Of course that isn’t the only option. We’ve had tremendous referral success ourselves using the model of newsletter and referral competition in our own business.
Getting referrals is all predicated on having an engaged customer base who love you.
I have now been on the other ‘side of the fence,’ Ben and I have had more referrals coming in than we can keep up with.
Surprisingly, there isn’t that big a gap between too few and too many in this case. But of the two problems I can tell you which one I would rather have.