Creating Customer Referral Programs Strategy

1. Evaluate your database

   The first thing that you have to do is evaluate your customer database to identify contacts whom you have a good rapport with. Create a list of possible referrers and these could be people you are currently in contact with, past customers, industry leaders, your suppliers and others. You have to approach the topic with great tact. Avoid pestering as this may turn off your contacts and loyal customer.  

2. Define Your Referral Program

   There are two types of referral programs and these are: incentive based and non-incentive based programs. A study conducted by a Chicago University found that having non-incentive based referral programs for clients are more effective by 24% when compared to incentive based referral programs. Identify what offers to give for customer referrals and break down your referrers into categories highlighting the offers to give to them.  

3. Outline the Required Resources

   You will need to have a workflow on how the client referral program will work. The workflow needs to lead your contacts on the processes the program will follow as well as provide alerts to the sales team. Create a landing page that your referrers will use to provide more information and develop a holistic referral kit. This could be eBooks, case studies, videos and anything else that gives the people you are working with insight into the product or service.

Dos and Don’ts of a Client Referral Program

Dos

It

Don’ts

Do not bombard your leads with cold calls and sales pitches. It