<p>I am a home inspector who often relies on secondary sources for my referrals, such as realtors, mortgage brokers, attorneys and other business people. While this has been productive, I have ignored my customer base as as a prime referral base. There are always folks who will refer me, but I recently learned that only 15 percent will refer you if you do nothing, 5 percent will never refer you no matter what, and <b>80 percent will refer you if you simply ask them. </b>With this in mind I have set in place systems that will keep me in better touch with my customer base, and ask for more referrals. I take this one step further by surveying my customers to find out why they would refer me and also how I can improve my services.</p> <p> How do you get more customers to refer to you? The idea is to get customers to praise and refer you based on your service or product satisfaction. According to some research, a company’s promoters are responsible for 80 percent or more of new customer referrals, making this group a key to revenue growth. Most of us in small business are referral based and rely upon our customers for new or renewed business. Gleaning feedback from customers can be an effective way to improve your satisfaction number and get more business. Here are some tips on how to collect and use feedback from customers to boost business.</p> <p>Ask your customers to rate you on a scale of 0 to 10 based on a question, “<b>How likely is it that you would recommend this company to a friend or colleague?”</b> Then sort the responses into three groups: promoters (9’s and 10’s), passives (7’s and 8’s), and detractors (0’s through 6’s). Adding up the percentage of promoters and subtracting the percentage of detractors from this will give you a simple rating score to measure customer satisfaction. Use this number as a guide to improve service or product. </p> <p>Follow up with another question, <b>“ May I follow up with you at a later date?”</b> This allows you to get constructive criticism from willing customers.</p> <p>Contact those who agree to talk and ask one final question, <b>“Why did you give this rating?”</b></p> <p>Some of the most useful feedback comes from detractors who will give you an earful on shortcomings of your business. Cure what ails this crowd and drive up your satisfaction score. Using feedback from passives (the 7’s and 8’s who take you or leave you), can also reveal some areas for improvement that may save these folks from being lost through attrition. The promoters who will sing your praises may offer some of the best comments to use in describing your service or product. The idea though is not to focus so much on your score, but to focus on what improvements you can make in service to improve your score.</p> <p>We often get stuck in ruts and assume we know what is best for our customers, but we may be missing valuable information on what our customers really want. Learn what your customer wants and then give to them, it is that simple. You may be surprised at what your clients will say. Use these comments to upgrade and improve your customer satisfaction and watch your business grow.</p>
2008-06-02T19:59:54Z
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<p>How do you delight your customers? Learn effective ways to boost your business and increase your interactions with customers. Find out what your customers really want...</p>
Get Customers To Sell For You
0
2009-02-24T09:44:39Z