Hey, I get it. You know all of the powerful statistics as to why it makes sense to build a referral-based business. You may know that companies with formal referral programs experience 83% more revenue. You may also know that referrals are 400% more likely to convert to business and that 83% of consumers would prefer if asked, etc., etc. You don’t have a “not-knowing” problem – you likely instead have a “not-doing” problem.
How do you get yourself to consistently ask for referrals, in ways that consumers prefer, that are genuine and authentic (not awkward)? Then how do you get your referral source to recommend you in the way you want and then get the referral so interested in your business that they chase you? Wow – that’s a lot for any human to do, right? It takes high skill, high emotional competence, and courage, and it usually requires making changes and building new habits. That’s a tough ask when:
– Attention spans are at an all-time low
– Information and sensory overload are at an all-time high
– Change is always hard (try wearing your watch on a different hand for a week). We seek pleasure in doing what is comfortable (current world) and avoid what we perceive will bring pain and/or uncertainty (future world).
The answer is to either recondition ourselves to think and act differently (not necessarily in that order) or to bypass human nature entirely and figure out how to replicate the necessary behaviors in some other way.
I am talking about leveraging technology and automation, of course! We use automation in other areas of our lives to bypass human nature- why not with referral marketing? If we can’t get ourselves to eat right, we can go to an app and get prepackaged meals sent to us consistently and automatically. Your daily alarm clock setting gets you out of bed at the same time every day. You get the idea.
Automating the end-to-end process that results in targeted referrals chasing you used to be a pipedream. But, like the evolution of smartphones, apps, automobile functions, and the like – it is now available to all businesses of all types.
You can now focus on doing what you do best in your business – and take an autopilot complete referral system off the shelf that does the asking and a whole lot more for you.
No matter what you decide to do – having a simple system that does the things that you know you should do, but can’t get yourself to do consistently and automatically – is always a winning strategy.
Post author: Peter Velardi
