By showing them what they stand to gain from giving you the referral!

I would suggest that you have a conversation with your customer, when you have just confirmed that they are happy with your product, along the following lines:

• What specifically did you like about our products?
• Why did you choose us in the end?
• What did our solution enable you to really achieve?
• How do you believe you would put a value on that?
• And what precisely would that value be?
• How long did it take you to get that value?
• Who are the first three friends that come to your mind when you think about people who could benefit from this service in the same way as you did?
• Would they be happy if you told them about us?

Even though partnerships are even less predictable than advertising or direct mail, try to outline your expectations beforehand.

Remember, although you probably won’t spend much money on sourcing profitable partners, it will definitely cost you a lot of your time and effort. That’s why it’s important to put down what you expect to achieve from it.

Now make sure you start building your list and let the whole magic of profitable partnerships happen.

Partners can be one of the most effective ways of getting new business. You can exchange customer lists, refer each other to your contacts or simply brainstorm strategies that would get new business for both of you.

Customers referred to you by partners tend to turn into sales much more easily and will stay with your company much longer.

Similar to sending personalized letters, you need to build a contact list first.

To begin with, think of all contacts you know already – who targets customers but is not a competitor of yours?

Here are a few ideas:

• Go through your mobile phone address book
• Consider all your suppliers
• Think of which of your customers would actually have contacts to their friends who would also like to benefit from your products
• Talk to members of your associations and various organizations
• Look at your customers’ “watering holes” and list those you’ve dealt with personally before

So this is the list to start off with. However, as you approach people you know already, always ask for introductions to their friends in similar industry or with similar interests who could also benefit from cooperation with you.

Are you struggling with your your business on your own or do you work in conjunction with a group of partners where you support each other?

Were you aware that once a customer gets referred to you, they turn into a paying customer much easier, and tend to stay with you much longer?

So what do you need if you want to benefit from successful referral marketing?

• Know how to have your business cards designed effectively
• Understand the benefits of working with partners and how to make it all happen
• Break into the world of networking and get some business out of it
• See how exhibitions don’t need to be just a waste of money