It is no secret that B2B companies like referrals. Referrals often make great customers because they are referred by great customers. We recently spoke about building referral sources that produce amazing leads. In this blog, we would like to share 5 ways that you can use your CRM to get referral customers.
- Nurture Customers Most Likely to Refer You. Your CRM is two-fold: 1) capture and guide qualified leads through the sales funnel and 2) strengthen current customer relationships. As you strengthen your relationship with a customer, you can track its level of satisfaction and loyalty. If they are showing signs of being an advocate, nurture them through conversation and great customer service, so they want to tell others about you.
- Implement a Referral Program. Your CRM can be used as the hub for your referral program. In your CRM, you can set your goals, identify your incentives and create resources such as emails and updates to make your customers aware of your program. You will save time and money with more accurate results if you are using your CRM for the referral program.
- Create a Referral Drip Campaign. Your CRM can use email to stay in front of your customers. We are all busy, so we need to be reminded. A Drip campaign can be used to inform your customers about your referral incentives along with updates and alerts. It can help deliver information at the right time and strengthen brand awareness.
- Watch Referral Behavior. Buyer behavior changes over time. We use analytics to make predictions regarding the buyer’s journey and behavior on our website, social platforms, and email. Referral behavior needs to be monitored too. Use your CRM to track referral activity and how they are responding to you after contact. What worked yesterday may not work today. If you are getting great referrals, but conversion is declining, it is time to watch referral behavior in your CRM and make adjustments.
- Add Referrals to Your Sales Process. Gaining referrals is a form of selling. After you have completed a sale, ask for an introduction. By this time, you should have had a few conversations with your new customer and learned a few things about them including business relationships and partners. Do not be afraid to ask for an introduction and then use your CRM to track the response.
Getting referrals is hard work, but the payoff is wonderful. If you leave the responsibility to the customer, you will get very few referrals, but if you lay the groundwork and help your customers refer others to you, you will see great reward. Your CRM can be an effective tool to make this happen. If you have questions about using your CRM as a tool to build referrals, we would love to answer them for you. Simply call us at 301-332-0613.
