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How to get more referrals

image Word of mouth may be luck … but word of mouth marketing is a set of things you can do to make it happen.

Take referrals. “Hope” isn’t a good strategy to get your happy customer to tell a friend. You need to ask for referrals, to cultivate them, and to put a plan in place.

I recommend John Jantsch’s new book The Referral Engine. It’ll give you the roadmap you need and the tools to start getting more people telling their friends about you.

Here’s one big idea from the book that I agree with:

People make referrals because they need to.

  • We rate and refer as a form of survival. Instinctively, we know we are going to need a good tip someday, so we pass on what we know to others to build credit in the community.
  • We refer to connect with other people. Being recognized as a source of good information, including referrals, is a great way to connect with others. We all do it. Making referrals is a deeply satisfying way to connect with others—asking for referrals is just the other side of the same phenomenon.
  • We refer to build our own form of social currency. Providing a referral is a little like making a deposit. There is a natural law most humans ascribe to: If you do something for me, I am implicitly obligated to do
    something for you.

You can download Chapter 1 for free here.

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