I hear this a lot when speaking to business owners, the holy grail of gaining sales with no effort. Don’t get me wrong, it is possible to have business only through referrals. But, and there is a but…

Not all referrals are equal and not all past customers refer at the same rate or with the same calibre of prospect. So, there is a requirement for a system to be in place monitoring this and rewarding those who bring you more business. After all, how much would you have a pay a salesperson to bring in the same business?

Depending upon how your enquiries arrive, the simplest way is to ask the person where they heard about you.

On the internet, the first time you may know of the referral is when they purchase, so make sure you have a field where they can add the name of the referee.

On the phone, you can have a standard form either directly into your CRM system, which could just as easily be a spreadsheet as well as an off the shelf package. Add a field to collect this information making sure you specify how to store client referrals.

The key is to collect the information so that you are able to search the database for the top referees. It is those referees who are effectively doing the job of a salesperson and you can acknowledge your appreciation.

Appreciate your Referees

Appreciation can be shown in a number of ways from simply sending a handwritten note to giving them something that demonstrates your gratitude. For this, contact colleagues, spouse or others to find out what the referring client would really appreciate. This may be a trip to the opera, weekend away or a fabulous meal in a 5 star restaurant. Rewarding your top referees in this way, shows you appreciate their thoughts and efforts. This will result in them continuing their current behaviour.

Level of Appreciation

You may be thinking “how do I decide on the level of gift?” Consider the following:

1. How much business they have brought to you
2. What impact has it had on your business? This may be additional staff, keeping current staff, updating vehicles, computer systems etc
3. How much would it have cost with a salesperson or using another marketing method?

The answers will give you the level of appreciation award.

Reactivate Past Referees

Now, if you find that most clients only refer once or twice and stop. Then this is an opportunity to review and change. First, contact a few referees, reconnect with them and ask them about any referrals they may have. This opens up the conversation to explore what is happening and whether showing appreciation would be helpful. Remember to “read between the lines” with these responses.

Referrals happening as a result of feeling good about the service and/or experience received. Reciprocity, if once there, can be reactivated and maintained.

Next Steps

Follow this guidance and you will be increasing the volume of business arriving effortlessly

Tell me what proportion of your business comes through referrals and how you track your primary referees.

But, in the world where time is at a premium, marketing smarter than harder is required.

Enter:  Lead Magnets

A lead magnet is material produced by you giving information that your market is currently searching for. It sits on a web page and people can download whenever it suits them. So you see, with a lead magnet your business is open all the time! Even when you’re asleep, out with your partner or having a much needed break!

There are three stages to attracting more prospects and are shown in the diagram below:

Lead Magnet Creation

The formats available are document (PDF), audio, video or a combination. Your choice depends upon your market and the sort of services you offer.  For example:

• A law firm would use text and audio than video unless it is showing people how to fill in a particular form
• A photographer may be better to have a document and video rather than audio
• A recruitment agency may have multiple magnets according to whether they are attracting candidates or clients. For clients, they may find audio better than text. While for candidates, it may be both audio and video. But, this really does depend upon the topics shared.

The one format that builds intimacy faster is audio for the simple reason that people can hear you, your passion, your commitment and that builds the like, know and trust faster.

On the other hand, reports and videos enable you to explain complex topics. The length of each depends upon your topic but keeping it short so people can consume and want more.

Publishing – Which Web page?

You can have your magnet on several pages:

• Homepage
• A special page showing more information. Something like a sales page
• Added to specific pages as a supplement to the content

The purpose is to expose everyone visiting that page to your content and magnet.

You ask people for their email address, and more if that’s appropriate for your market, in exchange for the material. Yes, they can immediately unsubscribe once they have your information, and accept that there are some people who take all that’s on offer.  But, they may come back later when it’s right for them!

It’s having their email address that enables you to foster a relationship. It enables you to send them your newsletter, invite them to seminars or forward items that supplement the magnet information. Lead Magnets are integral to marketing your service business.

So we have two activities completed – creation and publish. Now, let’s look at the third element – Promotion.

Promotion

Even though you’ve created the material you know is wanted by your market, you still have to tell them it exists. And, this needn’t be difficult; it can just be a change in the way you promote your services now.

Add details onto your business card, email signature and forums and groups etc. This gives you an opportunity to offer value without being service led; without having to be there to deliver. Now you are open all hours and your promotions are geared to people having the material rather than making the sale.

Be clear before you promote your magnet, even before you create, just what you want to achieve and how you plan to do it. Then, it will be easy to follow up with people, building your reputation and making many more sales along the way.

Why Lead Magnets

This post opened with the market being tough but it is also part of the changing marketing landscape where the buyers search for independent, value-centred information prior to buying. They are less likely to accept sales oriented material as acceptable.

Lead Magnets make the intangible tangible. People are able to experience your approach, your thinking before having to risk paying for a service that doesn’t deliver or delivers with high costs attached.

By having lead magnets, you offer a no risk way for people to learn more about your services, your approach while enhancing your position as an authority.

To find out more, register for the F R E E Lead Magnet Seminar on 10^th February 2010 at 7pm GMT 2pm EST

The interview lasts for 30 minutes and covers:

1. What would you say the advantages of email marketing are?
2. What tips would you give to the readers regarding subject lines?
3. What tips would you give to readers regarding open rates?
4. What are your tips for improving click-through rates?
5. What is your opinion on e-newsletters?
6. How often would you recommend sending out emails?
7. What would your Top 5 Tips be for start-up Email Marketers?

Plus much more

If you have questions still unanswered, leave them in comments for an answer

Happy Listening

Underrated, Misunderstood - Email is your greatest tool

Less than twenty years, the email has gone from obscurity to be a foundation tool in everyone’s communication kit. Now, that is on a par with the mobile phone!

And just like mobile phones, the email has evolved.

Despite all the filters, controls and the increasing demands upon our time, emails consistently perform by delivering messages when and how you want them.

Epsilon Research produces trends and benchmarking for emails. The latest shows three metrics – delivery, open and click through.

The research showed the delivery remained fairly constant at around 93%. While, the open and click through rates decline slightly. Knowing the baseline for performance means you can measure what you are doing and make sure you are well above.

Delivery

You may consider that all the emails would be delivered as all the email address you have comes from a personal opt in. But, there are times when the network is busy, mailboxes are full and even your email may be classed as spam by the destination server.

So, if you consistently have delivery rates higher than 93%, then you are doing something right! But continue to monitor those emails that don’t get through and consider changing the timing and the day of the week for sending.

Open rates

The trend information has the open rate declining from 24% to 20% over the past two years. This is the equivalent of an additional 4 for every 100 emails not being opened.

Open rates do depend upon two elements – the relationship you have with your people and how you communicate with them. This is as much the headline as the contents of the email.

Please don’t be discouraged by the low open rates. If you nurture the people on your list, remove those who are no longer interested in what you have to say, then the open rate will increase.

You can also make sure the email subject is interesting. When you monitor the open rate, you can see fluctuations. Over time, trends of the better performing headlines will emerge.

Click Through Rate

This does depend upon whether you set up to track the links in your email. By learning what is of interest and the extent of the interest, you can shape future emails to match the trends.

The research showed the click through rate having a small decline from 7% to 6%. So for every 100 emails, 6 respond by clicking the links. But, this does depend upon what you say in the email. If it delivers information, then the reader may be more inclined to click for further details. If the email is used to sell, then the response may well be lower. This may also impact upon the open rates – so monitor the impact of each style of email you send.

So, please take these figures are your baseline and monitor performance. You should always be above the baseline.

Things you can do

1. Set up your monitoring system even if you only send out your newsletter regularly
2. Plan the frequency of your emails
3. Change an element and monitor the impact
4. Improve the performance with each email campaign so the baseline becomes irrelevant
5. Monitor the changes in your lead conversions and referrals