When you think about it, there is no better place to find new prospects that may have an interest in your particular niche than to ask your satisfied customers to recommend their friends and acquaintances that have similar interests and passion for the subject.
Some of your customers may not legitimately know other people in your niche, but those instances will be the exception.
If you are dealing in any kind of business subject or niche like a hobby, or a recreational pursuit, or a leisurely pastime, there's a very good chance that your customer will have friends and maybe even family members that also participate in the same activity.
Rarely do individuals follow a pursuit without also taking part in the more social aspects of that niche like parties, monthly user meetings, joining clubs or associations of like-minded local people, tours, events, etc.
Most of us like to have company as we enjoy our passions. We like to "celebrate" and participate in our fun pursuits with the company of friends.
If you offer a quality and very targeted product or service, your happy customers should have no hesitancy whatsoever in inviting their close friends to find whatever it is you have to offer.
In fact, they may already be participating with their friends in some type of common experience.
Your challenge will be to present a better or higher quality proposition!
No doubt, you've seen "Tell A Friend" boxes on web sites and "tear outs" in magazines. They are all for the same purpose: to get you to refer your friends to the advertiser.
This is simply a time-tested marketing strategy to increase sales at your business without adding much cost or effort to your advertising expense.
Not only that, but getting a satisfied customer to share his positive impressions of your business gives tremendous "good will" and credibility to your business. Friends listen to friends a lot more closely and seriously than they listen to impersonal advertising.
Having a satisfied customer recommend your site to a close friend is many, many times more effective than having you, the unknown business owner, spout off the benefits you feel you have at your business.
After all, you're biased and stand to gain financially from the prospect . . . a close friend is not so biased and doesn't stand to gain anything from his recommendation.
Some "fortunate" businesses are built upon customer referrals almost exclusively. Think of what that "free marketing" could mean to your small business if you never had to spend a dollar on ads and other broadcasting strategies to get the word out in the public about your products.
Don't be too passive about getting customer referrals. Some people would have no hesitancy at all about giving your business "a plug." They just may never think to do that.
But if you ask them to tell their friends about your company, they may be willing to become an unwitting salesman for your business.
In fact, customer referrals can be so powerful that some business owners will offer a reward or a reduced price on products for those that refer one or more friends to a web site or product.
Incentives for referrals can be a powerful motivator to spur some customers into repeated action.
Even if you don't offer a "reward" for sending people to your web site, at the very least, you ought to ask and remind people to do it. Plant the seed that this type of help is a win-win-win activity for your customers.
It's a win for the referral because he is introduced to a valuable business or product in a niche in which he already has an interest.
It's a win for the customer because his friends will thank him for alerting them to this opportunity they may not have found on their own.
And it's certainly a win for your business because you reap new prospects that are both targeted and that don't cost you additional advertising money to locate . . . and you benefit from having a satisfied customer objectively recommend your business without compensation.
By the way, whenever possible, have a mechanism set up online that makes referring friends very easy for your customers. Take all the hassle and work out of making contact by employing tested formats and services to automate the process as much as possible.
Such services will send the recommendation about your site to both you and the referral, they will allow you to pre-populate the desired message, they will handle multiple referals all at once, they can provide a place for a personal customer message to his friend, and they will even give the prospect an immediate way to sign up for registration at your site.
So the next time you want to increase your sales, think seriously about implementing some type of customer referral system at your web site so that your happy customers can help you with your business marketing at no additional cost to you!
