What marketing channels are you investing in at the moment, be it time and/or money?
There’s a good chance referrals is one of the marketing channels you are underinvesting in – as I’m writing this, I know we are and it’s definitely on our agenda to fix!
When we’re running Google Ads, our thinking is something like this, for example:
Acceptable spend to secure new client: $1000
→ 4 discovery meetings convert 1 client → Maximum cost per meeting $250
→ 20 clicks to landing page results in 1 discovery meeting (5% conversion rate)
→ Acceptable maximum average cost per click $12.50
The thing is, why aren’t we all applying that same thinking to referrals? Referrals are typically less work to convert, and less work to work with, so how much should we be investing in our referral partnerships?
For high level referral partners, should we be paying them the $1000 you were willing to spend on Google Ads as a referral fee or maybe a credit to their next service/purchase?
Maybe it’s a refer-a-friend campaign to get a voucher of some kind.
Maybe it’s taking them out to lunch as a thank you.
It might be that some are happy for you to give that referral fee back as a discount to their referral, or as a donation to a charity.
It could even be just a personal email to touch base, or regularly sending emails with useful information.
Don’t get me wrong…. Most people will not refer if they don’t believe in you, or your product/service, but for those that will, why not think on how you might elevate yourself to top-of-mind so they are more likely to think of you when a referral opportunity comes along?
If you need a system to effectively manage your relationships check out FocalContact’s CRM, marketing and sales automation capabilities (and affiliate management is coming soon!) at https://focal.contact.