Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

Ask Yellow Dog: Customer Referrals

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Last week at a workshop I got a GREAT follow up email from someone asking:

How we can encourage and motivate current and past customers to recommend us to other potential customers?

GREAT question! I’m assuming you have a list of current and past customers (hopefully in email form) that you can reach out to. Here’s a few ideas:

1. Referral Campaign– Full Circle Farms does great referral campaigns, any time someone puts my name down when they setup their account, I get $10 off my next box of produce. They do bigger pushes throughout the year where if I refer someone my friend gets a discount AND I get a discount to get started. This could work to send an email to all your current/past customers and say you save 10% for anyone who puts your name in the referral field (which you’d have to add to your ordering page), OR give them a code (FRIEND or MEMORIALDAY), etc. Make sure there’s a limit to it- valid through Monday of Memorial Day or Fathers Day weekend only, etc.

2. Do you notice when you order something from Amazon that after you place your order it says “share with a friend” and you can tweet/FB/email your network and tell them what you just bought? Likewise, when I sign up for a contest sometimes there’s a landing page after I enter that says “share with friends” and asks for the email addresses of friends to send a note to.

3. Promo Cards– my husband bought really fancy Bose headphones and when they came, inside the case the headphones are in there were 5 business cards about the headphones. That way when he’s on a flight and someone asks him about his headphones he can just give them a card. BRILLIANT. Sure he might take out those cards and put his own business cards in there, but I know him well enough to know they’ll just stay right in that headphone case and he’s DREAMING of the day he can talk about his headphones. I’m okay with it as long as I don’t have to hear it! For you, throwing in 3 promo cards with each order, and maybe it has a 10% off code on it (or free shipping, etc.) would be an easy thing to do.

Another Successful Introduction Tips…

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Here’s the short of it: if YOU want something from ME, be on top of it.

I got an introduction the other day from a colleague introducing me to someone who thinks I’d be a good fit for their networking group. And 24 hours later I still hadn’t heard from the person who “wants me” evidently. I was polite and replied because of the colleague who took the time to make the intro, but it amazes me: if you ask someone for a referral, they give you that referral and you let it drop, why would I trust you with my business?

If you get slammed at work with a big project and know it’ll be a couple of days until you truly can get back to me, that’s OK, just say so. I”ve gotten emails before that say “happy to connect- have a crazy client project for the next 48 hours, will send you info by the end of the week.”

Whatever it is, don’t leave me hanging bro.

What NOT to Say on the News

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I was watching the news the other day, and KOMO 4’s 4 pm news often has some fun in studio interviews. On Friday they interviewed a local distillery that recently opened. As the interview was taking place, the distillers were asked “how’s the feedback so far?” GREAT question. And the correct response is:IMG_2485

1. It’s great, people are really liking what they’re tasting and consumers are giving us great cocktail ideas

2. Feedback is growing, we’re in 25 bars in the Puget Sound already!

3. People are really enjoying it, they’re returning to the tasting room and bringing new friends.

The WRONG answer WHILE on TV is:

“We’re working the PR machine right now.”

Well no kidding, and good news- the PR machine is WORKING FOR YOU because you’re ON TV. Also, ANSWER the question.

I get you might be nervous when you’re going to be on TV, and it is hard to keep everything straight, and no one puts their foot in their mouth more than I do. So I encourage you to talk to someone BEFORE you go on TV. Watch your interviewer with other people. If you want to be on the news, then start watching it. What are people saying? What kinds of questions might you be asked?

What kinds of questions have you been asked or wish you were asked when interviewed?