Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Referral Strategies - Part 3

Referral Rewards Lets go through a list of rewards you could give people for referring you business. (Please read the Special Report on Automatic Success to understand the psychology behind this its available in your Immortal Members Area under Sales)

There are two ways to reward. 1. For referrals whether you sell them or not 2. For referrals where you make the sale

I encourage you to have systems for both. And like much of whats on the list below, you need to know your numbers to successfully use some of these methods I am about to share.

If you want to make each referral gift stay on the profitable side, you need to know

  • Cost per lead
  • Cost per appointment (if you have this in your sales process)
  • Cost per sale
The Marketing Analysis Calculator spreadsheet I prepared for you in the Software > Free Software of your Immortals Membership area is an easy way to begin tracking this information if you dont know it. Specific Rewards To go to a World Class level, you need to know your customers and keep notes on what your customers like and dislike. If you have good referral sources, you want to start rewarding them with things they really like personally. Not some generic across the board gift that any Tom, Dick or Harry is going to be given.

Your top referral sources deserve special treatment. Once you see a pattern of giving from someone, you may phone their secretary or business partner to find out a couple of things like

You start by saying,

Hi Mary, I wanted your help on something. John has been referring quite a bit of business to us and we wanted to do something special to thank him. Can you tell me if there is anything he particularly loves to do in his spare time?"

This will lead on to questions like -

What does John do on weekends?

What hobbies does he have?

What Team does he follow in sport?

Does he have any goals in life you could share with me?

Does he have a favorite movie, book or something else?

Then you ask them to keep your call a secret so you can surprise him. You organize your gift and send it through BAM! Now that has serious Wow Factor.

So lets go through a list of rewards you can put on your list. You may decide to arrange 5-10 rewards for varying amounts of sales generated. For example, $100 sales you give away X gifts. For $250 sales, you give Y Gifts, $500 plus you give Z gifts you get the idea.

Rewards (combine many on the list to create ultimate thoughtful gifts)

I find the key is to give people lifestyle enhancing gifts money is a boring cop-out! Money trading for referral strategies falls into a Joint Venture strategy under my definition.

Referral Rewards include things like -

Limo ride

Dinner for 2

Movie tickets

Live Show

Holiday

Flights

Weekend Away

Harley Ride

Gift Vouchers to Favorite Store

Favorite Alcoholic Beverage

Bottle of Wine (standard)

Tickets to Sporting Event

Hot Air Balloon Ride

Book/s

DVDs

CDs music

CDs area of interest (i.e. self-help etc)

Send them a Special Report (from my Immortals Site like this one cheers!)

Massage voucher

Subscription to a magazine

Hire them a dream car for a day (Ferrari etc)

Flowers to turn up at their house / office

Organize a caterer to turn up at their house and cook a meal for them

Chocolates

Bath and Relaxation Products

I am sure this list will stimulate some ideas for you time to make your own list or add to this one. The more you do this and get to know your customers, the easier this is.

Now to my favourite... and WHY?

I think one of the best referral gifts you can give is a magazine subscription.

Why?

#1 - Because it is low cost.

#2 - It is something physical that gets sent to them and will act as a surprise every time it hits the letterbox.

#3 - You can custom choose the magazine based on what they have a passion or interest in - this is ultimate personalization.

"It's the thought that counts"

#4 - The monthly reminder keeps you top of mind for future referral generation.

#5 - It is systemized for you by the company that fulfills the orders - you only need to order it once - how easy is that?

#6 - The entire cost of annual subscription can be absorbed in the first sale you make (do your numbers)

#7 - They get 12 gifts for the one referral - over delivering at its best!

#8 - This gift naturally engages the Law of Reciprocity. If they fail to send more referrals, then every month they get a reminder when that magazine hits their desk. Before long, the natural Law of Reciprocity kicks in and they make an effort to send more people to you.

The system that you initiated and gets fulfilled by someone else creates a system of ongoing referrals - "Ultimate Leverage" Need I say more?

In Part 4, I will reveal the critical step - this is where most businesses fail to maximize their referral systems.

Until then...

Think BIG! Act BOLD! Have FUN!

Scott Groves is the Author of 6 Books, and Founder of "Immortal Entrepreneurs". His work has been endorsed by names such as Mark Victor Hansen, John Kanary, PhD's and CEO's worldwide. You can get more business growth strategies in Scott's Immortal Entrepreneur Members Area by visiting http://www.scottgroves.com