Referrals are the lifeline of small business! Are you one of the 2.1 million Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Australia? Then you’ll know that when you lack the reach and budget of a bigger business, referrals from customers are crucial – regardless of the industry your business is in, or its business model. Referrals are a great way to get leads that convert to sales faster, result in bigger purchases, and remain viable for longer. It is another way of growing your business aside from lead generation.

However, it is rare to get referrals without asking and for some people, it’s challenging to do so. Journey Point understands this, which is why we’d like to show you how to conquer this fear and use referrals to increase your business revenue…

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Getting referrals is another way to get sales without working super hard.It’s normal to balk at directly asking for referrals. You might fear rejection, or that you’ll learn something you’d rather not know about your business. You also don’t want to come across as being too pushy or salesy. We understand these concerns, but want to remind you that the idea of referring your business to others might not have occurred to your customers; so it’s up to you to plant the idea in their mind. Your business is part of an ecosystem of connections, and every touchpoint could provide an opportunity to spread your message to hundreds of other people who could connect you to even more potential customers.

This exciting, however, before you ask for referrals you need to know you offer a seamless end-to-end sales experience that will make referral success possible. In other words, you will only get referrals from satisfied customers! With this in mind, here’s how you can integrate your ‘ask’ in simple and easy-to-execute ways:

• Promote your referral program at the bottom of your email
• Include a call-to-action in your transactional emails
• Send a post-sale email to customers asking them to share their purchases on social media
• Place signs and forms at your receptionist desk
• Become systematic by creating a referral request email campaign that strategically asks for referrals when you identify a happy customer

These are just some of the ways you can ask for a referral in your communications with customers. There are many other ways that you can get ask for referrals and you are only limited by your imagination (and the technology you use)! If you aren’t sure where to begin, reach out and contact us today.

Rohan James is Creative Director at Journey Point. He is a master at using words to create desired outcomes, but when it comes to surfing his favourite breaks, the word “master” is nowhere to be found!

Marketing Automation follow up is one of the best ways to build closer relationships with your prospects and customers.

You see with marketing automation (even if at first glance it doesn’t seem so), you are able to provide more personalised attention to prospects and customers, for example:

When your marketing automation follow up is set up correctly you will segment your leads and customers into specific buying or behavior types.

This means you can follow up based on a person’s specific interests, which shows them that you have a deeper understanding of their needs and what is important to them.

With this in mind, let’s now look at the top 6 benefits of marketing automation follow up with prospects and customers…

1. Build Better Relationships

If you automate the repetitive follow-up processes that your business has, prospects will not slip through the cracks, they will never receive an irrelevant or untimely message or feel ignored by your business.

Those who complain that marketing automation follow up removes the human element from your business is clearly not doing it correctly.

2. Capture and Nurture Leads 24/7

If someone requests a Lead Magnet in the middle of the night, your delivery sequence ensures it’s delivered to that person’s inbox within minutes.

In other words, marketing automation doesn’t sleep, forget or take “smoko” breaks.

Having a system that works around the clock means your customers are getting the consistent and timely information they need when they want it.

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3. Give People What They Desire

The ability to automatically segment and target groups based on actions they take (or don’t take) allows you to personalize your follow up specifically to that person’s needs. Doing this makes them feel special and understood or in marketing tech language, “you give them lot’s of love and cuddles”.

4. Convert More Leads Into Customers

Without marketing automation follow up, it’s easy to get behind in your follow-up and let warm and hot leads slip through the cracks.

Having consistent fail-safe follow up ensures that no one ever slips through the cracks; the cracks that often occur due to human error.

5. More Sales

By converting more leads into customers, you make more money… simple!

And once a lead becomes a customer, it will be easier to sell to them again with (automated) new offers or new bundles. It becomes easier because you don’t have to build that initial trust from scratch all over again, you already have it.

Enjoy more sales with Marketing Automation follow up.

6. Scale Up

As your employ more marketing automation follow up in your customer lifecycle, you are able to spend more time on growing your business by working on The 7 Levers of Business that directly affect your profitability.

Using Marketing Automation follow up for repetitive tasks gives you your time back!

In addition, using a marketing automation platform gives you all your important data at your fingertips. With this data on hand, you can easily determine what works and what doesn’t.

And by doing more of what works, your business success is assured.

Start here…

Rohan James is a Director at Journey Point. He is a Marketing Wizard, but when it comes to surfing his favourite breaks, the word “master” is nowhere to be found!

Whatever you do:

Upselling is a great way of making your sales go further, but always make sure that you are upselling a product or service that adds value to the current purchase, or you might start seeing a lot of abandoned carts.

We’re almost at the end of our series on the 7 “Must Do’s” Before Advertising, so be sure to visit us again for the next post, titled [BLOG TITLE].

Oh, and one last thing. If you are struggling to find upselling opportunities for your product or service, contact us. We’ll be more than happy to brainstorm some great ideas with you!

Rohan James is Creative Director at Success Wizards. He is a master at using words to create desired outcomes, but when it comes to surfing his favourite breaks, the word “master” is nowhere to be found!

Enter your best details below:

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Whatever you do:

Upselling is a great way of making your sales go further, but always make sure that you are upselling a product or service that adds value to the current purchase, or you might start seeing a lot of abandoned carts.

We’re almost at the end of our series on the 7 “Must Do’s” Before Advertising, so be sure to visit us again for the next post, titled [BLOG TITLE].

Oh, and one last thing. If you are struggling to find upselling opportunities for your product or service, contact us. We’ll be more than happy to brainstorm some great ideas with you!

Rohan James is Creative Director at Success Wizards. He is a master at using words to create desired outcomes, but when it comes to surfing his favourite breaks, the word “master” is nowhere to be found!

Customer Experience Step 4 of 7.

If you’ve followed our previous blogs, you should by now have started seeing an increase in your lead generation, and better activity in your sales pipeline as well.

Now that these prospects are starting to pay off and culminating into sales, there is another step in this series to keep in mind: Providing excellent service and customer experience, every time.

Keep this in mind: Not only do returning customers have a bigger impact on your bottom line, as they don’t need to be advertised to in order to return to your business, they also create a positive feedback loop, where they start recommending your services to others.

So, how do you encourage this brilliant customer experience?

To maximise the value of each lead, you have to place a focus on solving your customers’ problems, and not stop there. You have to go above and beyond their expectations too.

It sounds much easier than it is, we know. Considering the daily requirements of keeping your business running smoothly, providing a stellar customer experience can be overlooked.

This begs the question; how do you start to overcome these issues to provide the best possible customer experience?

You Start At The Basics

If you want to provide a WOW customer experience, the first thing you need to focus on is the reason your customers are getting to you in the first place: Your service or product.

In short, you have to make sure – completely sure – that the product or service that your customers pay for is delivered to them in a timely fashion. In other words, ensure they have no complaints about the foundational offering and you’re cleared to get to the next step.

GOING ABOVE AND BEYOND

In the step above, we met the basic expectations your clients had, the product or service you promised them. Now it’s time to exceed that expectation, by going above and beyond, and you do this by giving them additional value with their purchase.

You can do this by looking at how you can apply the following:

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Providing Additional Service At No Charge

Look at how you can add a service related to your product. For example, if you’re selling TVs, see if you can’t offer free installation with each new purchase.

Promptly Responding To Complaints

It is a fact that you will get a complaint at one time or another. How you respond to each one will differentiate you from your competition. Take time to listen to your customer’s complaint, acknowledge their problem, then make sure you get the facts. Once that is done, offer the best possible solution you can.

Continue To Provide Valuable Information

After a purchase, your sales cycle hasn’t closed. In fact, the customer experience has only just started. Offer your customers after-sale information, like tips and trick, or notify them of additional products or services that will make their first purchase’s value that much better. Stay front of mind, and they’ll come back for more.

Answer Questions In Online Forums

If someone is asking about your product or service, it means that they’re interested in it. So be sure that you’re the one giving the correct information, which also makes you look involved to potential customers.

Authentically Caring

If you really care, customers will respond. Be sure to take their problems or queries seriously, and respond in kind. Never be dismissive or distant. In today’s hyper-connected world, a flippant comment can mean the difference between success and failure; due to a poor customer experience.

Welcoming Them

Make your potential customers feel welcomed. Don’t start selling right off the bat. Rather provide them first with everything they need to make the right decision. In terms of online marketing, it means a well-developed site, that educates your visitors, and provides an effective method of customers getting in touch with you.

Saying Thank You

Thank your customers for supporting you. This can be as simple as a thank you email or developing a loyalty programme that rewards them for purchasing from you again.

This should give you a couple of great ideas to give your customers the best customer experience possible.

Look out for our next post, on how you can upsell during your sales process.

PS: We know you might be too busy to implement the above steps, so why not contact us, and let us help you get started?

Rohan James is Creative Director at Success Wizards. He is a master at using words to create desired outcomes, but when it comes to surfing his favourite breaks, the word “master” is nowhere to be found!