An effective referral program holds a great significance for The Global Associates B2B lead generation services as it can help them create better opportunities. Referrals have a built-in trust component and thus usually have a shorter sales cycle; B2B lead generation services can use them to generate quality leads in large quantities.
One of the great advantages of referrals is that prospects are more receptive and agree more easily to an appointment. There is also a different point of view though, some sales experts opine that developing and maintaining a referral program is a costly affair and may not be worth the effort.
According to them, the traditional methods like cold calling etc are still better suited for the purpose and it’s not worth investing your time, effort and money in such programs.
Effective Referral Program For B2B Lead Generation Services
Basic fundamentals for developing an effective referral program:
The above-mentioned view that developing a referral program is far too costly is not necessarily true. One must know the fundamentals well and create their referral program based on certain principles for them to be effective and inexpensive. B2B lead generation services should consider these fundamentals before starting their referral programs.
Keep your customer satisfied:
If you want to remain the industry leader, you should always remember the basic principle that you can keep your top position only till your customer is satisfied and happy. If you can keep your customers happy, you get great referrals automatically. They will go ahead and refer you to their friends, industry peers and colleagues even if you don’t make any formal request.
Give them suitable incentives:
It’s essential to compensate the people who are taking out time to refer you to someone. They are busy people with limited time at their disposal and are still making an effort to forward your cause. It’s your duty to plan incentives to compensate them for their time and effort. Your incentive may be in the form of a discount or a cash reward; alternatively, you could offer your services or useful industry information.
Make it convenient for them:
B2B lead generation company should respect a decision maker’s time. They have tight schedules, calling them at just any time of the day to ask them for referrals would not be courteous. One must try to make it as convenient as possible for them. Some good ways of doing this is to add a tag line in your email or a prominent button on your website. You should request for a referral only when you are having an informal chat with them during leisure hours. Remember expressing your gratitude after you get a referral; they have taken out time from their tight schedule in giving you a new business opportunity.
An effective referral program is a very powerful tool for B2B lead generation services to shorten the sales cycle. It doesn’t mean, however, that you don’t need to do the basic hard work once you get a referral. Doing your research, preparing effective scripts, building relationships and taking a sales lead to its logical end are still your responsibilities.
