{"id":27304,"date":"2018-05-30T10:03:37","date_gmt":"2018-05-30T15:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/?p=27304"},"modified":"2025-12-04T09:58:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T15:58:49","slug":"business-referrals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/business-referrals\/","title":{"rendered":"Valuable Strategies to Generate Business Referrals and Increase Sales"},"content":{"rendered":"

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If you don’t have a referral marketing strategy in place, you’re giving up a substantial amount of revenue.<\/p>\n

Referrals from happy customers represent your best opportunity to grow revenue and profits in your business.<\/p>\n

In fact, customers referred to a product are more valuable. A\u00a0Wharton School of Business study<\/a>\u00a0found that referred customers have a 16% higher lifetime value and are more loyal.<\/p>\n

Yet, many small businesses and startups leave referrals to chance.<\/p>\n

This is a mistake.<\/p>\n

The same Wharton School<\/a> study found that 83% of customers said they were willing to refer products or services they liked, but only 29% actually did.<\/p>\n

Leaving referrals to chance gives your competitors an unfair advantage.<\/p>\n

Here are the proven strategies that can help you generate business referrals and win back the advantage from your competitors:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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  1. Ask for referrals at the right time.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Make it easy for customers to refer your business.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. Promote user-generated content.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. Encourage customer reviews.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  5. Create a rewards program.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Let’s take a deeper look at each of these strategies and how you can use them to create a referral marketing strategy for your business.<\/p>\n

    Ask for referrals at the right time<\/h2>\n

    The saying that \u201cit never hurts to ask\u201d is half true for customer referrals.<\/p>\n

    You shouldn’t feel shy to ask your customers for their help.<\/p>\n

    What’s more important is when<\/i>\u00a0you ask.<\/p>\n

    Ask too early, and you might create a wrong impression.<\/p>\n

    Ask too late, and customers may ignore you.<\/p>\n

    The right time to ask varies from business to business, but a good rule of thumb is to ask when your customer has just had a positive experience with your company.<\/p>\n

    Business author David Finkel puts it even more succinctly<\/a>:<\/p>\n

    The best time to ask for a referral is often right at the time your customer buys. Have a scripted out referral question that you AUTOMATICALLY ask every customer who buys.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Finkel suggests a\u00a0\u201cgift a friend\u201d referral idea: after completing a sale, ask the customer if they know of one or two friends who would like to receive a gift.<\/p>\n

    For example, if your company sells bath and beauty products, offer customers the opportunity to gift a friend a package of samples.<\/p>\n

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