Do you know how much marketing money our tax business spent this year? I bet you would be surprised if I told you $50.00. Yet we grew our business exponentially this year.
How is this possible? Like most small businesses our new business comes from referrals. Yet, like most small business owners, I bet you’re just like us, probably not doing everything you can to get more referrals.
Here are a few useful tips from smallbizcontent.net on how to use referrals to increase your growth .
Ask for referrals. Many entrepreneurs fail to benefit from referrals because they’re simply too shy to ask.
Most satisfied customers are happy to give you referrals–but they won’t think of it if you don’t ask them.
Know the right time to ask. Aim to gather referrals at the completion of a project or upon delivery of a product. The goal is to approach the customer when they are happy with the purchase and the transaction is still fresh in their minds.
Create a system. Set up a procedure for capturing referrals. This can vary depending on your industry. A business-to-business company might ask for referrals during a post-sale phone call or email. A retailer could enclose a card with each purchase that customers can fill out to refer a friend.
Offer a reward. Encourage customers to give referrals by offering incentives, such as a discount on their next purchase, a free month of service or a small gift. Making rewards contingent on whether the referral makes a purchase can encourage higher-quality referrals who are more likely to buy. We do that, thus the $50.00. However we have found that most clients don’t even want the finder’s fee. They are glad to pass on our name to their friends, relatives, and colleagues.
Build trust. Customers don’t want their friends bombarded with marketing messages. Make them comfortable providing referrals by explaining how you will use the contact information they provide. Will you send direct mail? Will you contact the person by phone?
Follow up in a timely fashion. If you let referrals languish for months, their value can fade as the relationship between your customer and the prospect changes or your customer becomes less enthusiastic about your business. Set up a system to contact referrals within two weeks of obtaining them.
Mention the connection, but don’t rely on it. When you contact a referral, be sure to let them know who referred them to you. However, don’t assume that this connection alone will spur the prospect to buy. You need to put forth as much effort as you would with any sale.
Get to know them. Don’t give a “hard sell.” Lay the groundwork for a relationship by offering the referral something useful as an introduction to your business. This could be a whitepaper related to their industry, a free consultation, or a discount on their first purchase.
Provide outstanding service. When you win business from a referral, always provide outstanding service to the new customer. Otherwise, you will make the referring customer look bad for having recommended you, and you might lose not only the new customer’s business, but the old one’s as well.
We spent the Memorial Day weekend in the Detroit, Michigan, suburbs helping my son and his wife move. Much in the news that weekend was the size of the State of Michigan’s budget surplus. Whether it was a $100 million or $1 billion surplus seemed to be the center of discussion. In either case, it sure beats the alternative we find here in our home State of Illinois. The recent Illinois legislative session ended yet again putting off all the tough decisions, deciding that the best course was to kick the can down the road. How is it that a state like Michigan, with the problems of Detroit worst then you can possibly imagine...they can’t even afford to light or replace their street lights….very eerie at night...manage to generate a surplus, while Illinois seems to just be stagnant?
In our opinion and others in the know it is all about the poor business climate in Illinois.
A couple of months ago we wrote about the poor economic report card for Illinois’ economy. Chief Executive Magazine has published in May, an updated ranking of the 2014 best and worst states to do business in. Guess where Illinois landed? 48. We did beat New York and California if that is some consolation.
Comments from chiefexecutive.net concerning Illinois’ poor ranking include:
“Corruption and union pensions have made Illinois a poor alternative for business. Continually avoiding to address and fix the problems have only exacerbated the situation. More conservative states are easier to work in and with.”
“Illinois is rated in the worst category; their taxing scheme is deleterious toward small business.The Illinois Dept of Revenue seems most adversarial with respect to small business support and promotion. The Illinois House assembly is inept in addressing the hard issues associated with putting the state’s financial condition in order; they are a taxing and spending machine with little regard to the consequences and impacts to its citizens and businesses.”
“Illinois is a horrendous state in which to do business. It is governed by a class of incompetent, corrupt politicians. It’s like doing business in a third-world country.”
It is the one CEO comment concerning the Illinois Department of Revenue that really caught our attention. We have daily contact with the Illinois Department of Revenue. Talk about an unhappy place. Short staffed, computer systems that aren’t exactly working the way they are suppose to, and a mandate to collect back taxes that that places a priority on collection and not on common sense. Remember the recent publicity over the closing of the Springfield school supply store Ergadoo? The audit of their business by the Illinois Department of Revenue over their failure to identify the source of cash sales by non profit customers is the definition of deleterious. Rather than fight, they closed their store.
Currently the only way to get any type of response in any of the sticky situations our clients find themselves involved with the Department is by filing a what is called a Board of Appeals Petition. At a hearing last week, the Board of Appeals administrative law judge lamented that the backlog to hear a case is at least a year, maybe two, phone calls are not returned and their staff of nine is “overwhelmed.” The problem is and remains to be the fact that it is not going to get any better any sooner.
Later this month we plan on sending to all tax clients our annual summary that we call “things really smart people, our clients, do such stupid things to their taxes.” You won’t believe what some of our six figure income clients are telling us about why they can’t pay their taxes. Stay tuned.
We can help you save money on your credit card processing. At no charge and for no obligation we will analyze your credit card processing fees. In some cases, including ourselves, we have discovered that you can save hundreds of dollars from what you are paying now. We live in a debit card world. If you have considered accepting credit/debit cards for you business the rates are now extremely competitive. And if you are currently accepting not credit cards you are not married to your current processor. Call our office for details.
No comments:
Post a Comment