A Rarely Considered Way to Gather New Customers

A small business constantly struggles with building up their customer base. Gathering new clients is very difficult to do no matter what kinds of methods are employed. One method can be an array of different marketing techniques. Another one would be cold calling your target client. You can even use direct mailings to potential client’s homes. Yet there is an untapped resource for many businesses. They fail to recognize the potential of the current customer referral.

If they are used in the right way customer referrals can become the main portion of your businesses plan to develop. Current customers who are pleased with your business can be your best form of advertising. You can drastically grow the amount of new customers your business generates if you are able to start getting referrals through you current customer base. The difficulty is in finding a efficient method for you to do so.

By using your head you can really think of some great ways to generate referrals from your good customers. If a current customer of yours refers a new customer, you can offer a bonus or special offer to them as a reward. Both ends of this referral can receive the perk. You can offer your existing customer a $10 bonus, for example, while offering the same bonus to the person they are referring. They only drawback to this type of method is the added cost involved.

However you must weight what the normal cost of a new customer is to you. How much time did you spend gathering this new customer? How much money to you spend on the marketing developed? Both the time you spend and the marketing you develop cost you money. Offering a referral bonus often ends up being equal to the amount of money you spend on these other methods. A happy new customer is one benefit of a referral bonus and so is the fact that you are making your current customer happy as well.