Referral marketing is when you get your customers to tell their friends about you, it’s that simple. Before you even get any qualified referrals, you of course need to satisfy your current customer base to a certain extent.
Only then will they be confident enough to recommend you to their associates. As we are dealing with B2B businesses, the fact becomes a tad trickier because B2B is a lot less personal vis a vis B2C businesses.
How do you encourage your customers to recommend you? First stay in touch with them and have great products and customer service - of course.
Why B2B Referral Marketing Works
Any B2B referral marketing blog you read heaps praise upon praise on just how effective B2B referral management is and here is why:
Referrals are Cheap
Granted, it takes some time to get an effective B2B referral marketing program running. But once it's off the ground, it's basically having someone advertise you for free. After it’s up and running, the only thing it costs you is the referral awards you offer your referrers for a job well done – presumably.
It’s Another Way to Reward Your Current Customers
With the referral rewards I just mentioned, it is one way of rewarding your loyal customers. I know nothing makes you happier than your local coffee shop giving you a free coupon just because you go there often.
What makes it that effective is that it doesn’t take much effort from them – sometimes just word of mouth or a couple of emails. From then on, they get rewards for using a product they are already using and that way, everyone’s back is scratched.
Qualified Referrals Outrank Everything Else
Referrals are from paying customers so they are completely legit ergo they hold a lot of weight with leads as well as prospects. On average, 14% of visitors to a referral page will take action because they are interested in a product.
How to Make the Most of Your Program
Make the Most Out of New Leads
Here’s something that every B2B referral marketing blog can confirm: a B2B referral marketing program is only successful if you follow up on the new prospects in the sales funnel. So, how do you do this?
Step one: figure out how to capture and do what we call sales lead qualification. You may want to automate the whole process so I recommend using a CRM with referral-ai sales prospecting tool. If you don’t have a solid plan in place to nurture new leads as soon as they enter your sales cycle, you’re likely on your way to failed B2B referral management.
Offer Rewards
One of the best ways of encouraging referrals is by offering rewards to referrers in exchange for referrals. Here are a few ideas when it comes to the rewards you can offer:
Say your product is software with subscriber levels. You could offer to upgrade their subscription for free or better yet, unlock some features for them once they offer you referrals. It will not cost you much and you will have earned yourself one very happy customer and potential qualified referrals.
Another reward you could offer is offering discounts on products in the event that you are not okay with offering upgrades. I can’t think of a single person who hates discounts so go crazy with discounts – responsibly though.
Assess Your Program
There is no way to tell if the referral program is successful or not if you do not track its progress. Track key metrics to determine if the program works or not.
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