The Mechanics of Referral Marketing

Posted on April 25, 2012 by John Stewart

How well do you trust your mechanic? Is the brand that you trust, or is it the recommendation you received for that specific mechanic?

In some industries, recommendations are crucial in finding the right person for the right job, because everyone’s tastes are different.

This is especially true in the case of mechanics, doctors, dentists, and contractors, painters… just to name a few. Why? Because those professions are very people oriented, and it isn’t always the service that is important, but the comfort level, the experience of the expert, the time management of the company and the overall result.

It’s no surprise that these industries rarely get any advertising time, even if they had the money to do so. Each clinic, each contract site, it all varies. The best advertising tools these professionals have is- their customers.

Giving their customers the best products and the best experience is a priority in these industries, as it is crucial in getting positive word of mouth, the major marketing tool they use.

Growing your referrals and positive word of mouth can be difficult- if you aren’t using the right tools. The best ‘tool’ you could possibly start with is by asking- ‘Do you know someone who may need my services?’ or ‘Can you recommend me to your friends?’

If you never ask, you may not realise how much business you may be missing out on.

Another way to increase your referrals is to provide incentives. It doesn’t have to be a lavish gift or part of a major campaign; it can be as simple as give a percentage off their next purchase, or maybe a small gift certificate.

For future promotions, you can increase the reward for referrals temporarily in order to remind customers about the reward program, incite new customers to refer, or just to show your appreciation for their referrals. It can also be used to remind people that you have lesser, on-going rewards for people who refer.

Lastly, always do your best to follow-up, by showing your returning customers your appreciation and thanks, or maybe by sharing how useful their referral was. People enjoy being useful and like being credited.

Using these small steps, you can easily grow your referrals and create a working referral system that is easy to maintain, manage and expand your business.

If you want to increase your business with online referrals, we can easily set you up with a working, manageable referral system that many companies have already started using. Take a look at our video located on our home page and see how it would work for your company, or check out the latest companies who have signed up and are expanding their referral base!