From the past, customers who are satisfied with using a product or service, introduce it to others. Business owners use this potential of their satisfied customers and the word-of-mouth advertising tool for marketing, turning their customers into sellers of their products and making a profit for them by using modern tools. This process of attracting customers and making profit for the referrer is called “referral system” (referral/affiliate system). Having such a system is one of the best ways to develop the business. In this book, this concept and its function are described in simple language and with a smart view in order to use it in your business. This means looking at existing standards from new angles and using your business's best approach based on your unique circumstances.
3. Smart Referral System (Smart Marketing Book
Series)
Title
Master Steve
Author
Somayeh Amiri, Tara Kamangar
Colleagues
Keyvan
Layout
Designer
Silk Road Publishing (Toronto, Canada)
Publisher
Printed Book: 978-1-927060-95-7
EBook: 978-1-927060-96-4
ISBN
www.MasterSteve.com
Website
Attributions:
Images Credits: Pch.Vector / Freepik
Note: The author of this book gives the right to use
the present content, provided that the source is cited,
to professors, educators, teachers, lecturers, and
academic and non-academic educational centers, for
an indefinite period.
The copyright of this bookis internationallyregistered
for the author.
4. Contents
Introduction .........................................................................................................................4
Chapter 1: The Concept of Referral System.............................6
Referral System: the Differences Between Conventional and
Modern Methods .........................................................................................................7
The Customer Referral Rewards .....................................................................10
Collaborating with Brokers in Smart Referral System .......................11
The Difference Between Smart Referral System and Multi-level
Marketing ....................................................................................................................13
Pervasive Referral System ................................................................................16
Chapter 2: How to Define and Pay Referral Fees...............18
The Basis for Defining a Referral Fee ..........................................................19
Technical Function of a Smart Referral System ................................... 22
Affiliate System (Affiliate/Referral) .............................................................. 23
The Importance of Type of Customer in Paying Referral Fee ......25
An Example of the Function of a Smart Referral System ...............26
Chapter 3: Customer Referral Methods...................................28
Technical Referral Methods .............................................................................29
Customer referral Through Other Businesses ........................................31
Important Points in Convincing Brokers to Cooperate .................... 34
Chapter 4: How to Launch a Smart Referral System.....36
Trust Building: The First Condition for Having a Smart Referral
System .......................................................................................................................... 42
5. Smart Referral System 4
Introduction
Smart view toward business means that you should
evaluate and scrutinize the matters from different aspects
and angles while following the conventional rules. In the
modern world, where there are numerous competitors in
every trade guild, you should choose the most effective
method for your business.
If you own a small business and a low budget, use smart
methods so you can climb to the top of the career ladder
quickly and develop your business.
Development is essential for any business and it’s not
necessarily equal to growing a business but becoming
dependent of certain markets. You shouldn’t be
dependent on certain customers. In that case, when they
aren’t around, you will face numerous problems and you
may even have to get out of that business line.
Having a smart referral system is one of the best
methods for developing a business. This system uses
word-of-mouth advertising for marketing, i.d. it turns
6. 5
Introduction
our customers to salespersons of your products and it
brings them profit using modern tools.
Some companies such as Uber have been developed
using customer referrals both in the case of recruiting
drivers and bringing in passengers. A company will grow
significantly even if it only uses the referral method
without any marketing.
One of the appeals of using smart referral system is
that your customers will be loyal and at the same time,
they will refer you to new customers.
Therefore, while you design the marketing plan, it is
necessary for you to have incentive plans for sales and to
use methods for satisfying customers so your customers
stay loyal to you and introduce you to others. One of
such incentives is considering rewards in exchange for
referring a new customer.
8. 7
The Concept of Referral System
Referral System: the Differences Between
Conventional and Modern Methods
In the conventional method of sales, customerswho have
used your products and services and are satisfied with the
results are one of the groups who attract new customers
for you. These customers persuade others, including their
relatives, friends and acquaintances to use your products
and they, in fact, bring in new customers for you.
In the past, there was no such expectation of receiving
awards in exchange for referring customers, but some
business owners who were smarter than others considered
cashornon-cashgiftsforthisserviceprovidedbycustomers.
On the other hand, since these customers didn’t expect to
receive a gift and they were introducing a product to others
simply because they were satisfied with it, receiving a gift
made them surprised and pleased, therefore willing to
refer more people to the business or the seller who had just
rewarded them for their efforts. This is because this favor
of the business owner would forever stick in their mind,
prompting them to do more for the business owner.
9. Smart Referral System 8
In marketing, provide your services beyond the
customer’s expectation, don’t settle for making
a customer satisfied but try and make them
happy.
The conventional method still has the potential to
increase sales; as you still see, it’s written at the end of
business correspondences or bills that, “If you are happy
with our products and services, please recommend us to
your friends and others you may know.” It means they use
any opportunity to attract customers.
Professional brokers who earn their revenue through
referral are the second group who refer new customers to
you using the conventional method. Shop owner in Bazaar
always know people who would buy their products and
sell them to customers or who would introduce customers
to businesses and receive commission in exchange. Even
nowadays, there are still people who attract customers by
receiving a sales percentage and they do it as marketers.
As marketing methods developed, business owners have
offered plans based on which current customers receive
awards in case they refer a new customer. For example, an
owner of a travel agency will give you a free ticket to Dubai
if you refer them five customers for a Dubai tour. This is
one useful way to encourage people and clients to use a
product and also tell other people around them about the
business.
Note
10. 9
The Concept of Referral System
In comparison with the conventional method, this
method is a step forward and as indirect marketing, it
attempts to attract more people The difference between
this method and the conventional one is that in this
method, unlike the old method, the person who refers a
customer doesn’t get surprised and they already know that
for referring a new customer, they are going to gain profit
such as getting a discount in services or receiving a sales
commission.
11. Smart Referral System 10
The Customer Referral Rewards
In the new referral method, a customer doesn’t
voluntarily introduce a product or a service but they
do it for the sake of getting a reward. However, in the
conventional method, customers would introduce the
product or the services they have used in a completely
spontaneous way without any expectation.
According to different studies and research, considering
discounts for using services and products in exchange for
referring new customers is 25% more effective than paying
cash. This is because your customers’ job isn’t broking and
they all have their own career. Therefore, you shouldn’t
give them the impression that they are your marketers by
offering to give them cash when they offer more clients.
They are your customers and they just gain extra profit by
simply referring their friends and acquaintances to you.
Many customers consider it insulting and beneath their
dignity to receive cash, so they are never willing to do it.
So, it is better to consider other incentive plans such as
discount, gifts, and free samples in exchange for referring
new customers.
The modern methods allow you to plan some
tempting incentives for your present customers
so they refer you new ones.
Note
12. 11
The Concept of Referral System
Collaborating with Brokers in Smart Referral
System
Brokers are one of the most important groups that
attract customers for you. These people are professional at
getting leads and bringing in more customers for business.
It is easy for them to do because, attracting customer is
their job and they earn revenue through it, but there is an
obstacle in collaborating with brokers which is explained
through the following example.
Let’s say a guy called David refers his friend John to
a person called George. George works in stamp selling
business. John will be George’s customer from now
on. George gives David 200 dollars as commission
in exchange for referring John. So far so good.
However, the problem arises when George doesn’t pay
commission to David for John’s next purchases for two
reasons:
ƒ
Some companies intentionally avoid paying such
commission.
ƒ
Due to the complexities of such process, some
other companies are unable to calculate all of the
commissions in their referral chains.
Let’s say there are tens and hundreds of brokers and
each one of them refers one to five customers per day. It
will be an extremely complex process to calculate all of
these commissions. Therefore, brokers either refuse to
13. Smart Referral System 12
refer a customer or make secretive moves in the process
of customer referral. This issue is a huge drawback for the
referral system and it makes many brokers not to get into
this business.
We must be able to devise a smart way so David can
keep receiving commission for each purchase that John
makes from George. Implementing this method is
complicated and it requires detailed technical discussions.
14. 13
The Concept of Referral System
The Difference Between Smart Referral
System and Multi-level Marketing
You mayconfuse customerreferral systemwith pyramid
or multi-level marketing system, but they aren’t the same.
They are quite different.
In a customer referral system, you don’t pay
commission to two persons for referring one customer,
meaning if Jonh who has been refered to George through
David refers a new customer, then John is the only one
who gets commission and nothing will be paid to David.
If a commission is paid to more than one
person in exchange for referring a new
customer, then the process is classified as
multi-level marketing.
In multi-level marketing, it’s possible to pay
commission to more than one person according to
an exact mathematical formula without putting the
company through bankruptcy. Many cosmetic businesses
are operating their business through such method. This
process is different from pyramid marketing.
In multi-level marketing, there is no pyramid and
companies can work it through using proper methods, but
the whole thing is extremely complicated.
Note
15. Smart Referral System 14
There are two major problems regarding multi-level
marketing:
ƒ
First, it requires devising complicated mathematical
formulas.
ƒ
Second, there is a control issue over the whole
structure which allows some profiteers to defraud the
system and most times, this makes the whole system
fall apart.
In the US, companies sometimes hold sessions with 10
and 20 thousand people to brief them about multi-level
marketing. This is done so everybody can work in line and
avoid costly mistakes that could make the system crumble.
When all procedures are transparent, the system is not
likely to crumble.
Business which apply multi-level marketing
are in fact creating their entire business model
based on such method, and therefore, multi-
level marketing is not just a sales and marketing
tool.
Pyramid scheme was first applied in Italy many years
ago, and people on top of the pyramid would gain profit
and people on bottom of the pyramid would face losses.
InNorthAmerica,pyramidschemeisforbiddenbecause
it lacks a proper logic, and some get rich in exchange for
Note
16. 15
The Concept of Referral System
others’ loss. However, multi-level marketing is logically
correct and many people have gained prosperous revenue
through multi-level marketing.
In every customer referral system, commission
is paid to only one person and that is the person
referring a customer.
Note
17. Smart Referral System 16
Pervasive Referral System
A referral system works based on two methods:
ƒ
The first method is the conventional referral
method in which, in exchange for the first referral,
a commission is paid to the person who refers a
customer, or it’s possible that no commission is paid
because of the reasons mentioned before as obstacles
of working with brokers i.d. the commission is not
paid intentionally or the person who has referred a
customerisnottraceable;infact,asaproductorservice
provider, you are simply referred or introduced a new
customer.
Such system exists in Snapp! Snapp is a company where
you’ll get a free trip if you refer a new customer. It’s not
possible to get commission for all the trips a new customer
makes. In fact, for referring a customer, you only receive a
referral fee which only happens one time and it’s the same
for “conventional referral (affiliate) system”.
ƒ
In the second referral method, which I call “modern
referral”, in addition to a referral fee paid after the
first purchase, a commission is paid to the person
who refers a customer in exchange for every
purchase of that customer in the future. The number
of commissions for the future purchases of the new
customer depends on your policy as the business
owner, and this payment could be made in several
times or it could be a permanent thing, meaning as
18. 17
The Concept of Referral System
long as the new customer purchases your services
or products, you calculate and pay a commission to
the person who has referred the customer in the first
place.
This referral method is also called affiliate system but
it’s actually a branch of referral (affiliate) system which I
call “modern referral (affiliate)”. In the next section, this
method is discussed in more details.
20. 19
How to Define and Pay Referral Fee
The Basis for Defining a Referral Fee
Reducing the commission by increasing the number of
new customers a person refers is improper yet common
method in calculating the present customer’s profit.
Some companies define a limit for commission
and, no matter how much a customer increases
your sales through referring new customers, he/she
won’t receive a commission more than the defined
monthly amount. For example, they won’t get more
than 500 dollars per month. In this case, the broker
or the person who refers a customer eventually will
postpone referring other new customers to the next
month if the monthly limit of a commission is met. At
the long run, such method of referral will work to the
company’s disadvantage.
Don’t put a monthly limit for customer referral
commission.
Note
21. Smart Referral System 20
Instead of putting a limit on commission that can be
earned through referral, depending on your profit, define
different percentages of commission for selling each
product or service.
You may be able to pay a certain percentage of
commission for a certain type of product or service based
on the prime cost of those products and services, and
you can pay different percentages for other products and
services.
Based on the price and type of your services,
define a payable commission to the person who
refers a customer.
If you define the commission based on the sales
volume, you can increase the commission as the number
of customers who are referred increases because with
more customers and more sales, you have gained more
profit as well.
Let’s say your service price is 250 dollars. If you pay 10%
commission for any customer referral, but the customer
or the broker has referred you five customers instead of
one, then because they have increased your sales, increase
the commission percentage and don’t decrease it. That
way, the customer will be ready and happy to refer more
clients to you.
The way some companies work is that they pay for
Note
22. 21
How to Define and Pay Referral Fee
example, 10% commission for the first referral and then
they reduce it for the next referrals. This method is
completely wrong and it discourages the broker from
referring more customers to the business. You need to
improve the strength of your applications so you can
perform such calculations. In that case, the efficiency
will increase. Sometimes, modern tools are used for
implementing the same old-fashioned methods and as
long as applications, websites and several other sources are
in hand, such old methods aren’t effective anymore; while
this customer referral system can be the most pivotal tool
for development of a business.
23. Smart Referral System 22
Technical Function of a Smart Referral System
There are prepared applications for calculating the
amount of a referral commission. If these applications are
synced with your electronic business system, you can apply
them. These applications will connect to the accounting
sector of the company and update the accounts.
To facilitate the payment of commission in the customer
referral system, you need to provide software infrastructures
that can do that efficiently. Register each referrer in the
application when you register a customer. When a customer
who has been referred by a certain person makes a purchase,
thecommissionisautomaticallypaidtothereferrer’s(broker’s)
account. Such procedure is not possible in conventional
methods or when writing in a ledger because you can’t always
keep looking for people’s name in the ledgers. Even in case of
B2B (business to business) where you are dealing with some
enterprises, the whole process gets extremely complicated.
One way is to, first of all, announce on your website
that you have launched a customer referral system. Then,
design banners to inform people of your products. Link
each of these banners to the code of a broker (referrer)
who could be your previous customer. The referrer sends
the link of products or services to different people who are
your potential customers. For example, the broker shares
the link on his/her Facebook page; when someone clicks
on the link, it’s clear who has referred this new prospective
customer. After a purchase is made, a commission is
transferred to the broker’s/referrer’s account.
24. 23
How to Define and Pay Referral Fee
Affiliate System (Affiliate/Referral)
New applications are designed in a way that purchases are
traceable and if someone clicks on a referrer’s link with-
out making a purchase and makes the purchase after a few
months, the referrer is still identified and a commission is
paid to them. This method is also called affiliate system.
As mentioned before, an affiliate system is the same as a
“modernized referral (affiliate)”.
If you can promote this system in your business, your
success will be guaranteed to a great extent.
The proper way to pay the commission to a referrer is
that if the customer purchases other products from your
website, besides the first purchase, the commission of the
broker or the referrer must still be paid because this new
customer has been linked to you through a referrer.
The smart thing to do is to pay the new customer
referral commission to the referrer constantly,
meaning as long as the referred customer makes
purchases from you, you keep giving the right
percentage to the referrer.
While it rarely happens for the companies to pay
commission always without a time limit in exchange for
every purchase a customer makes, the smart and the right
Note
25. Smart Referral System 24
thing to do is to pay commission to a referrer as long as
the new customer keeps making purchases from you. I
always use this method in my business and I have seen
the results.
26. 25
How to Define and Pay Referral Fee
The Importance of Type of Customer in
Paying Referral Fee
One of the complexities of a referral system is that to cal-
culate commissions, you need to define formulas accord-
ing to your services and your customers.
If you have different categories of customers, the
system must be able to distinguish these differences and
calculate different commissions based on the amount of
profitability of a customer for a system.
Some companies had special customers or so-called
“golden customers” who make continuous and major
purchases. Obviously, the commission for referring a
golden customer must be more than the commission for
referring usual customers, and this is what should be
applied in the application which calculates the referral
commissions.
27. Smart Referral System 26
An Example of the Function of a Smart
Referral System
One of the important principles of this system is its
simplicity. When a program gets complicated, people
won’t follow it. You should be able to teach people the
following concepts in the simplest possible way:
“Refer a customer and get commission. At the same
time, don’t worry about the commission not being paid
because we use up-to-date applications and it’s not hard to
know that you refer a customer.”
In most of thewebsites of mycollection, there is a section
titled ‘Make money with us’. When someone clicks on the
link, a section comes up. This section explains the affiliate
system and tells the audience, “You can make money by
referring a customer”.
The audience would open an account. A reference link is
instantly created for them. After that, they see a text titled,
‘Introduce your friend’. One of the methods that can be
used for the introduction of referral system is writing the
customer’s email address. An email is sent to the customer
immediately after entering the email address. A person
doesn’t need to send the email by himself/herself; the
email is directly sent through the website. In the email,
it is written, “Your friend (the name of the person is also
written) has introduced you to us so you can use our
services.” Having known the introducer, the new person
28. 27
How to Define and Pay Referral Fee
opens the link. When the link receiver opens an account
in the website, the system notifies the introducer via a
message.
This is the best way to build trust. From that moment
on, a commission is calculated and registered in a
referrer’s account in exchange for every purchase a
customer makes.
30. 29
Customer Referral Methods
Technical Referral Methods
1)
1) Introducing the products and services via email is
one of the customer referral methods.
2)
2) The second method is to create a link that can be
used and shared by a broker for notifying others.
3)
3) The third method is advertising banners with
an exclusive link. The broker posts the banner in
different websites and blogs, and a commission
is transferred to the broker’s account after every
purchase made by the customers.
4)
4) QR is another method. You can define the link for
everyone as a QR code. When a customer scans the code,
it initiates a process thatis similar to clicking on a link.
5)
5) Creating a club of customers is another method in
which you can define special privilege. This method
is a combination of a loyalty rewards system and a
customer referral system.
31. Smart Referral System 30
When you define the tools and methods of a
customer referral more precise and in order,
you will earn more trust from referrers and the
possibility for your success will increase.
You need to earn people’s trust if you want to persuade
them to work with you. Presenting a modern and
transparent system to your customer is the best way to
earn trust.
Note
32. 31
Customer Referral Methods
Customer referral Through Other Businesses
To develop your business, you can involve several
groups in your business:
1)
1) Collaborate with every active online platform/
social media user. Online pages look for making
money. Find people who want to make money
in the virtual world and offer them commission
in exchange for customer referral. Tell them that
the profit for such advertisement is more than
the one with Google Ads. Explain to them certain
benefits such as being local and how there is high
demand for your products. After that, explain the
modernity of your system and describe the way a
commission is paid through putting out banners
in websites and through other various methods
you got.
Work with people who have more followers
online.
Note
33. Smart Referral System 32
2)
2) People with more resources can apply the
customer referral methods with higher quality
and quantity.
For example, you can convince the owner of a
grocery store in your neighborhood to refer you
customers. You can design a visiting card and write
down the code of the referring grocery store. The
grocer gives the visiting card to their customers
and the customers enter your system using the
grocer’s link; then, for each purchase they make, a
commission is transferred to the grocer’s account.
Take those businesses as brokers which have
common customers with you.
Another thing to do is to attach charity organiza-
tions, associations, unions and big organizations as
your affiliate systems. Show them that your system is
modern and up-to-date. These institutes have more
members and if they believe your system is perfect
and fair, they will refer your business to their mem-
bers and, in turn, refer their families and relatives.
This method will get you more clients.
For example, let’s assume your products are
suitable for hairdressers. You offer the union of
hairdressers to inform the members of the union
Note
34. 33
Customer Referral Methods
that people who are referred to buy your products
through the union will get a 10% discount. You can
also pay 10% of their total sales to the union. The
union will welcome the idea only if they make sure
that you are capable to pull this job.
These are some interesting ideas but it’s not easy to
implement them. You need to have both robust
applications and the knowledge and experience to run
them.
35. Smart Referral System 34
Important Points in Convincing Brokers to
Cooperate
First of all, it’s of great importance for you to understand
the concept. Then, you need to find appropriate implement-
ing methods. Finally, you must explain these concepts to oth-
ers convincingly to persuade them into collaborating with you.
For instance, how can you persuade the grocer or the
taxi drivers in the city that if they refer you customers,
you’ll definitely pay them a commission? Even people
close to you won’t trust you at the beginning and they may
make you a promise perfunctorily.
To earn their trust, you need exclusive affiliate
applications. These professional applications will help you
to manage the accounts of customers and commissions;
they also earn the referrers’ trust. When a referrer observes
your advanced and professional system and realizes that
all of the affairs are conducted systematically without any
error, they will trust you and refer you new customers.
Hold briefing sessions for all of these people and explain
each item clearly. These sessions can be held in groups or
you can hold a separate session for each of them if possible.
If the system isn’t clear and transparent, you will never be
able to earn people’s trust so they’d referyou newcustomers.
At the end of the job, you should always thank
people who have collaborated with you.
Note
36. 35
Customer Referral Methods
On the other hand, create an atmosphere for the
customers so they find a reason to refer to you through
brokers. For example, if the grocer in your neighborhood
is your customer referrer, you’ll give 10% discount to your
customers; i.e. if a customer makes purchases through the
reference link of the grocer, they’ll get 10% discount which,
per se, is a drive for your customer to use the link provided
by the grocer.
So, when you want to persuade the grocer to collaborate
with you in the affiliate system, you should tell them, “You
refer me a customer, I give you a special discount which
benefits me, you and the buyer.”
In order to get better and more results from the
customer referral system, you can combine it
with the royalty reward system.
In this manner, you give privilege to the broker when
a customer is referred. In that case, the amount you give
back to the broker is a part of those rewards or for example,
using a lottery, you can reward people who are referred
through brokers.
Note
38. 37
How to Launch a Smart Referral System
Just like launching any other program,
launching the customer referral system
requires doing research. Find out
whether there is such system in your
market and if it exists, identify the way
they work in great detail.
Define the specifications of your
business. What are your product and
services? How much profit do you make?
How much can you spend on marketing
and how much discount can you provide?
Answering these questions, you can
realize how much commission you can
give. In the case of a grocery store, the
matter is quite different from a restaurant,
a sport club and a hair salon. Let’s assume
you have 20% gross profit and you decide
to put aside 5% of it for a customer rewards
system and a customer referral system. At
this stage, your budget is defined.
39. Smart Referral System 38
Make a list of gifts you can provide
using this budget. Choose type of the gift
to be eithercash, coupon, orpromotional
gifts. You can spend the expenses on
services such as free transportation,
subway ticket or other in use services
such as food coupon of a restaurant or
the purchase coupon from a chain store.
Therefore, according to the amount
youcanspendasareferrer’scommission,
make a list of services you can provide
based on the amount such as restaurant
coupon, concert ticket, etc.
Cash is more appropriate for professional
brokers, but 99% of referrers in the customer
referral system are your present customers who
prefer [customers] to receive other products.
The amount of cash as the referrer commission
might seem low and it might not be
psychologically satisfying but in use services
are of great applications for the customer.
You can cooperate with other businesses and use
their services as incentives for your customers
and in return, the other business can give your
services to their customers as rewards1.
1. This method is explained in details in the writer’s other books “Smart Marketing” and
“Rewards Marketing”.
Note 1
Note 2
Note 3
40. 39
How to Launch a Smart Referral System
Based on the research you have
done specify which application you can
use. Online business applications are
different from shop applications. Some
cover both types of businesses.
In addition to all the points
mentioned in this regard, the first
feature of an application is that it should
be user-friendly and must support the
type of your business. It should also be
consistent with all the modern devices
such as mobiles, tablets, and computers.
The other important thing is the easy
applicability of that referral application
for the audience. It should not confuse
the audience with too many questions.
In that case, that person will regret
working with you.
Run a trial program among a small
circle of clients to identify the possible
drawbacks. This is necessary so you can
eventually establish the right functions
of that referral application.
41. Smart Referral System 40
Specify an appropriate strategy for
maximum referral in the system in
the marketing section. At the end, your
referral method must be clear and your
audience must exactly understand what
you want to say.
It is a fact that 99% of people have no
knowledge about the affiliate and the
loyalty awards system. Therefore, explain
to them in a simple and concise language
the type of a systemyou are launching and
what kind of benefits it brings for people.
Knowing the details is not important for
your audience. They simply want to know
what kind of benefits they will gain if they
refer a customer and how they can do it.
The task of a marketing section is
to provide a summarized presentation
of the customer referral system with a
unique structure and to present a plan for
advertising it.
Announce the system information on
your social media, website, and even in
the invoice both in the trial and running
stages. Use all the tools you can to inform
the customers and all the people to whom
you have access to refer you customers
and make a profit. For example, assign
a part of your website to notifications of
42. 41
How to Launch a Smart Referral System
the customer referral system. Write on
the product box or the bill that in case
of referring a customer, people would
get, say, 10% discount. Design methods to
bring people in and attract them.
In social media, provide and post
interesting contents about methods of
introducing products. By doing that, you
are explaining easy ways of marketing.
For instance, tell women how they can
introduce your business to other women
while they are shopping.
For example, they can say, “you already
have decided to buy a cell phone, now do
it through this link so we both can make
a profit.” In this way, your customer will
stay with you and other customers will be
attracted as well because this is a win-win
interaction.
After getting to know the target market,
you can design a marketing plan. Be aware
of the target market, their age, gender and
favorites, and introduce the system to
those who are in that circle.
Eventually, by attracting new
customers through referrers, you can
launch the system after introducing it in
the target market.
43. Smart Referral System 42
Trust Building: The First Condition for
Having a Smart Referral System
To enjoy the customer referral system, you need
to build trust. People who refer you customers must
trust in your capability in providing the services and in
the quality of your products. You should keep that in
mind that your customers aren’t professional brokers.
Therefore, they need to be sure of the quality of your
products for them to introduce them to others. Even
when a customer introduces your services to others
without any expectations, there’s still a concern about the
quality of these services.
Your customers won’t be able to make an effective
introduction if they don’t completely trust in the quality
of your work and they may simply notify a bunch of
people.
Trust-building in your performance is one of
the basic principles of any business, and you
need to assure a customer about the quality
of your work at the same time as offering the
customer referral.
Your customer may have used only one of your services,
but you should make them believe that all of your services
have the required standards. Back in the days, it wasn’t
easy to inform people about such a thing, but nowadays,
Note
44. 43
How to Launch a Smart Referral System
because of the social media, you can provide and post
different contents and show your knowledge and abilities
to the customers.
When the potential and actual customers are sure of
your abilities to deliver, they will introduce you to others
even if it doesn’t bring them any benefit. It’s even better to
consider some awards for them to guarantee your success.
In addition to building trust in your business
performance, you need to make this trust in you that you
have considered the benefit of customers for referring
a new customer. Such trust-building is possible through
designing a rule-governed system.
The new tools have made it easy for us to build trust
-regarding both the quality of the products and fulfilling
the promises you make to the customer’s referrer. When
you make promises to give a commission or provide a
certain discount for services in exchange for referring
a customer, your audiences must believe you. When
you show your customer a representative version of the
customer referral system, they get to know all of its aspects
and they see everything transparently.