I was out Christmas shopping with my wife last week. We were at Best Buy looking for video games for our teenage sons. My wife asked the clerk for his opinion on the best game for teenage boys. He ran through several. He did a good job, but none of the descriptions were compelling enough to make me want to pick one up. As he and my wife went on talking, a fellow shopper came up beside me and said, "Hey, if you want a good game for teenagers, get this one." I was immediately sold. I had never seen him before and probably will never see him again, but he had instant credibility because I knew he had no reason to give me his opinion other than that he really liked that game.
Referrals are powerful even if they come from a person you have never met before. Need more evidence? Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends has just released the results of her recent survey about selling to the small business market.
"The survey established that a whopping 83% of vendors attract small business customers through referrals — more than twice the number that report getting customers through cold calling, direct mail and other traditional techniques."
You can see the full results of the survey here (http://www.smallbiztrends.com/2005/12/valuable-new-survey-data-on-selling-to-small-businesses.html).
Business-to-consumer or business-to-business, there is no more powerful way to attract business than referrals. Don't leave it to chance. Give them some good reasons to talk about you and then put a megaphone in their hand. A system like PromoterZ(tm) (http://promoterz.com) helps you with both by getting feedback from your customers, asking them for referrals, and giving a way for them to refer their friends and colleagues.
