B2B Referral Program Best Practices

There are two kinds of referral sources:

• Referrals from existing clients
• And referrals from colleagues

Here are referral strategies for both groups.

How to ask existing clients for referrals:

• Timing is important.  If a client compliments you on a service or product, thank them and then ask if they have any business colleagues who could benefit from your services.  It’s important to ask when the time is right.
• Run an Email Campaign to keep your referral program top of mind.
• Put your referral program into your service agreement so that clients know you welcome and even reward referrals.
• Use your social media to promote your referral program. 
• Surveys are valuable.  Run surveys based on your service.  If a client is very satisfied with your product or service, follow up with them and ask if they have any colleagues who could benefit from your solutions.
• If you’ve delivered value and the client is very happy, leverage their excitement and ask if they have any colleagues who can benefit.
• If you’ve asked for a referral, and a client says no, or gives you a poor fit, find a good time to ask again.  Make it natural so it doesn’t feel awkward.
• Give your clients an email referral template to make it easy for them to send your information to their colleague so the two of you can make a connection.
• Finally, focus on getting multiple referrals from your clients.  Let your clients know you appreciate their referrals by thanking them and rewarding them with your incentives.  These incentives can be financial rewards, discounts, speaking opportunities, experiences such as dinners, or lifetime residual rewards.
• The more you turn these steps into a routine, it can become a powerful system to generate steady leads.  This system can be done by sales teams, and referral software can even be leveraged to automate and track referrals.

How to ask colleagues for referrals:

• Work with a referral group, where group members belong to the same vertical industry, and their products and services relate to each other.  Ask how the referral group qualifies members to join.  Ensure that the products and services of the group members compliment yours.
• Meet with the group members who have complimentary products and services to yours.  Discuss strategies to make joint offers to each other’s’ clients.
• Look for ways to cross sell and cross serve the same client.
• To ensure quality referrals, educate your fellow members about your ideal client and referral.  Be sure that your fellow members know and understand where your ideal client can be found, and how your ideal client typically finds you.  Let your group know about where your target-rich audiences are, the most common reasons you are retained, and the kinds of problems you solve.
• Focus on being a giver and fulfill a need for the person you’re trying to gain something from, before asking for something in return.  Use the law of reciprocity. If you’re looking for a referral, an introduction, a solution to a problem, or winning a new client, build your relationship and trust by giving referrals to your that group member first.
• Attend your group meetings regularly and participate.  Consider providing educational training and thought leadership to the group as well as serving on leadership committees or boards. 
• Focus on genuine relationships.  Partners, networks and referrals are by far the most effective avenue for generating new business. When creating a system it's important not to get too caught up in the process and incentives. The best referrals work from genuine relationships. Delivering outstanding service, making your clients look good and making their lives easier is how you create advocates.

What's needed for great referrals from both customers and colleagues:

• Have Great Customer Service. Before you focus on a referral marketing system, make sure your customer service is nearly flawless. Referrals are really personal and customers and colleagues who refer are only going to do so if they have 100% confidence in your business and the level of service you provide.
• Marketing and Sales teams need to work together.  Companies need to focus on what's in it for customers, or colleagues, who are passing on active referrals.  Discounts might not always motivate a customer or colleague.  Marketing needs to work with sales to design an effective referral program that motivates referrer goals, such as speaking opportunities, PR, etc.  
• Consider Offering Lifetime Residuals. What’s in it for the company sending referrals? Oftentimes, you see referral systems that simply don’t allocate generous enough residual rewards. Companies seeking referrals often go on to profit in the long term from each one that converts into a paying customer. To incentivize other businesses to send new business your way, offer them something simple: A fair lifetime residual on each referral.

Benefits of winning one new client from a referral group:

• Winning one new client will pay for your referral group membership. 
• Your group membership saves you time, since the time you commit to membership is actually small compared to your other time consuming business development activities, such as cold networking, cold calling, cold email or cold social media campaigns. 
• And you enhance your own value to your clients because you have an ever-expanding network of trusted advisors and referrals to tap into.

As Jim Rohn put it, “Your net worth is your network.”