How to Create an Endless Pipeline of New Customers

Do You Know HOW to create an Endless pipeline of new customers ?

One of the main functions of a business is to maintain a constant stream of leads to attempt to sell to.

As a business coach, one of the most frequent strategies clients ask me to work with them on is getting new customers. Which means they are often unclear what should they do first, and how much will they have to spend ?

So, to begin, there are a hundred different ways to generate  leads and many of them can be costly. Also, remember an average of 80% of marketing / lead generation fails!

Your goal is to build a business that builds itself. Like a  self generating, self creator which means it provides to  you, the business owner, shareholders and employees.

SO how do you do this ?!
The answer is “Ask for Referrals, build a referral based model”

A referral based business is one that uses referrals to grow the business to creates the pipeline of future customers. Like the sound of that? Seems simple enough, right?

Now, how to create a successful referral strategy?

So if you are going to rely on your customers to bring in MOST your new business, make sure you have nailed the 2 most important aspects of the sales process.

1. Your service must be AMAZING.

OK, this is not something that should be taken lightly. You can’t afford to provide excellence only 70% of the time. You must be able to confidently guarantee that your service will be 100% perfect every single time a prospect/ customer/ family member walks through the door. Not good enough to simply meet expectations, you must DELIGHT and over perform.

2. HARD WIRE Your Proposition / Offer (“What’s in it for me?”)

Ask yourself, if you were being asked to refer your colleague, friend, partner or family member to a business, what would be the reason for you to pass over their contact details?

Your customer is asking themselves the same question. Be sure you are giving your customers a great reason to ask their network to buy from you. Remember, giving a recommendation also means that the person giving it puts THEIR reputation and professionalism on the line. Like most people, they want to feel 100% certain that recommending you enhances their status and reconfirms that they are great judges of quality and excellence.

So how to start ……

Beginning your referral campaign:

1st Step: Be CLEAR about what customers you want to recruit. Decide, SPECIFICALLY who your ideal customer is and who you actually want referred to your business. Take note,  step must not be under estimated. Getting really clear about who you want to work with and what a perfect customer means to you are vital for business success.

2nd Step: Now, it’s time to go through your current customer list with your “ideal” customer criteria in mind.

Get really picky here. Who among your customer base would you want to find many more of?  What makes them the best? Some criteria of A GRADE customers are probably some of these :

1. They buy frequently and are loyal 

2. They are good “on time” payers

3. Good communicators

4. Purchase across multiple products and services.

And yes, there will likely be others that are unique to your sector, but once you start “rating” your customer base against a criteria you will become more focused and aware about which new customers you want to work with you.

3rd Step: Work out how much each and every one of your customers has cost you . By this, I mean, what cost did you incur to “buy” the customer and retain them ( this is the “acquisition cost” of the customer )

4th Step: With the acquisition cost in mind, decide how much you are willing to invest to “buy” your new customers.

5th Step: You must “WOW” your customers. Re communicate your Amazing service and quality. Your customers should be “delighted advocates” instead of JUST satisfied customers.

6th Step: Position your intention to expect referrals right at the start. Teach your customers why it’s good for them to give you referrals, ask them to tell their friends, colleagues, industry partners about you. Let them know you’ll be asking for referrals later on once they become your delighted advocates.

7th Step: Make giving you a few referrals a normal part of doing business with you.

8th Step: When you receive a referral follow it up quickly and professionally and remember to THANK and REWARD the referrer

Referral Strategies

Here are a few ideas for you to go away and try to implement today:

1. Reward your customers with a special offer if they give you a certain number of “qualified” referrals
2. Offer your customers a gift, gift card, or even a free service for each referral
3. Mail out a referral card with all your orders, invoices, or just drop one in each shopping bag
4. Present a seminar, training or information night for your existing customers and have them bring their friends, colleagues, other businesses along.
5. Introduce yourself to a whole new market with a “bring-a-friend” style sale or promotion
6. Refer business /customers to them !

Why aren’t my customers referring me?

Well first of all make sure you ASK THEM FOR REFERRAL, so don’t be shy, ask !

If you’ve tried the above strategies and it doesn’t seem to be working, there are 3 reasons why your customer hasn’t referred you already:

1. They haven’t met anyone they think would benefit from your service and maybe they aren’t sure who to refer to.

2. They don’t believe you can deliver and so they fear they might bring their relationship in jeopardy

3. They don’t feel comfortable when they refer

Here are 3 ways to combat these reasons immediately:

1. After you have defined who your ideal customer is, let your customer know. Tell them who you want to do business with and then they can find people in their network who match that description for you.
2. Provide extraordinary service at every interaction with your customer. Never let it cross their mind that you would let them down and lose their trust.
3. Give them such a good reason to refer that they cannot feel uncomfortable.

There is some great reading to support this STRATEGY: Instant Referrals and Buying Customers by Brad Sugars, if you do nothing else after reading this article, get the books, read them and get focused.

Get in touch with one of our business coaches today by calling 02392 454111, or fill out the form below, to discuss how we can help you get back on track, and achieve those goals that led you to start the business in the first place.