Make sure you have a referral program. Going back to my past business experiences and even in my current business, the majority of new business has always come from word-of-mouth.
“In marketing and advertising, up to 70% of new business came from business owners that I had worked with referring their friends and business associates.”
Get a referral program started and then make sure that it doesn’t become like wallpaper. After a while they tend to get ignored, so keep life in it and keep it exciting.
If you already have a referral program, incorporating something new and fresh on a regular basis is critical. You might think about every four to six months having a mini or even a major referral campaign contest. This will bring it front of mind to everyone who may have forgotten about it. Have a cool prize like an iPad or something, whatever is going to spark some excitement in your audience. I guarantee you ‘ll see a major spike in referrals!
In the television business we’d do two major promotions a year and budget for a certain amount of new advertisers. So besides the stream of typical new advertisers we’d get each month, twice a year we’d get a nice bump in new sales from a referral contest. Typically we did this in the Fall and Spring. So you may find that there are certain times of the year that this will work best for you, depending on your particular industry.
