I Hate Asking for Referrals! – 6 Proven Methods for Getting a Flood of Referrals Without Asking

Written by David Frey


Continued from page 1

In fact, we found our financial planner through a raffle offered throughrepparttar local Boy Scout troop. We "won" a full financial analysis and eventually purchased some of his products as a result ofrepparttar 135065 raffle.

Referral System # 5

Most everyone has a barber or hairstylist they use on a frequent basis, especially if you have children. I don’t know about you, but my barber always engages me in conversation during my haircut. And most barbers and hairstylists are very happy when you give them a $2 - $3 tip. Do you see where I’m going with this?

Why not approachrepparttar 135066 local barbers and hairstylists and offer them $1 for every referral card they pass out to their customers. You might even motivate them to talk up your business by promising them a percentage of each sale that results from their referral.

Referral System # 6

The last referral system will not only bring you referrals, but will also create a lot of goodwill. I learned this tactic, strangely enough, by Princess Diana and a local real estate agent. When Princess Diana died a close associate of hers was interviewed and revealed that Diana always carried a set of "royal" thank you notes.

Every time she met with someone she would remember their names and as soon as she got in her car she would write a short thank you note to them. The people cherishedrepparttar 135067 thank you notes they received fromrepparttar 135068 Princess. After hearing that, I started to carry around my own box of thank you notes.

But here’s what really will make this referral tactic take off. Not long ago I received an email from a subscriber to my Marketing Best Practices Newsletter that had this phrase underrepparttar 135069 man’s signature:

By Referral Only

By Referral Only...means: We invest 100% of our time and energy to delivering first-class service to our clients. As a result, our valued clients, suppliers, and friends refer their family, friends and work associates to us for advice on buying or selling real estate. We're interested in building strong life long relationships one person at a time.

You see, its not enough to send a thank you note. People need to know that you want and appreciate their referrals. The phrase, in essence, answersrepparttar 135070 question, "What can you do for me in return for this nice thank you card?" Immediately, I had this phrase printed onrepparttar 135071 bottom of my thank you notes and my referrals took off.

Conclusion

Each of these referral tactics that I have shared with you are s-y-s-t-e-m-s. They motivate others to generate referrals for you without you having to playrepparttar 135072 role ofrepparttar 135073 beggar and asking for referrals face-to-face.

The best thing you can do to excite your referral partners is to get them to experience your product or services themselves. Then they can talk about it with first-hand knowledge. It will not only make them more credible to others but once they've experiencedrepparttar 135074 benefits of what you have to offer, they will be more excited to tell others about it.

Inrepparttar 135075 referral systems that require you to pay referral fees, make sure you pay quickly, honestly, and with gratitude. Always give your referral partnerrepparttar 135076 benefit ofrepparttar 135077 doubt. If you treat them right, you will berepparttar 135078 benefactor.

David Frey is the author of the best-selling manual, "The Small Business Marketing Bible" and the Senior Editor of the "Small Business Marketing Best Practices Newsletter." To get your free lifetime subscription visit http://www.MarketingBestPractices.com


Increase Your Website Sales Instantly

Written by Alvin Poh


Continued from page 1

Utiliserepparttar KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle when you are preparing your copy. Also, write your copy as if you are speaking with a friend. Nothing killsrepparttar 134976 sale faster than a dry and run-of-the-mill sales pitch.

Use "you" and "your" words liberally and "I", "me" and "us" words infrequently. Everyone likes to hear, or read about themselves. They like to feel like they arerepparttar 134977 centre of attention.

Using "you" and "your" will help them feel thatrepparttar 134978 product may address their needs. Always remember,repparttar 134979 focus ofrepparttar 134980 copy should berepparttar 134981 prospective customer, and notrepparttar 134982 person sellingrepparttar 134983 product.

9. Write a list of five to ten benefits of your service.

Forget about lengthy descriptions of you and your mission. Nobody reads them, so shift your focus torepparttar 134984 more important aspects of your website.

Concentrate more onrepparttar 134985 benefits you can give your visitors. They came to learn about how they can benefit from your service, so make sure they will be convinced enough to say, "This is amazing. I want this!"

Tellrepparttar 134986 reader howrepparttar 134987 product or service will benefit them. Throwrepparttar 134988 technical details aside. They don't belong in your sales copy, they belong in an appendix on a linked page for those who are interested.

Sales are made by appealing torepparttar 134989 reader's basic needs of comfort, security and acceptance. Your copy should explain how your product can address one or more of these needs.

So try using benefit-focused statements such as "Reduce your monthly bills by $200 with our product" or "Be able to function inrepparttar 134990 dark" to market your product or service, and you should start to see an immediate increase in interest!

10. Get rid ofrepparttar 134991 hype.

Your visitors are intelligent people and they are not going to believe in hype. Onrepparttar 134992 contrary, hyped up copy will just turn them away. Don't make ridiculous claims and while your offer may be really too good to true, don't state it that way.

11. Publish customer testimonials.

If you don't have any, you should solicit some immediately. Your current customers will be more than happy to support you if you provide good service and a solid product. Ask them for their opinions and comments regarding your product. Get permission to use their words and publish them on your web site. Testimonials are a very powerful selling tool that you can not afford to ignore.

12. Offer a solid, no questions asked, money back guarantee.

Go on, offer such a money back guarantee, and stick by it. Why? Because what better way to get someone to buy your product than knowing that they can do so risk-free?

Besides, you will be surprised at how few people will be unsatisfied enough to make use of your guarantee. Sure, some customers may take advantage of it, but I thinkrepparttar 134993 increase in your sales should be more than enough to offsetrepparttar 134994 few unscrupulous characters you may meet.

12. Ask forrepparttar 134995 sale!

You've gotrepparttar 134996 killer benefits stated down, and you've got a solid money back guarantee. Now don't stop there. Many web sites neglect to askrepparttar 134997 customer to buy. So lead your customer throughrepparttar 134998 purchase process. Be sure to thank customers for their purchase and inform them how and when they will be receivingrepparttar 134999 product that they have just purchased.



Alvin Poh has been specialising in web development, content distribution, advertising and marketing strategies since 1995. More of his articles can be found at http://www.xodes.com/.


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