Customer referrals are the backbone for many salespeople and can boost the clientele of any small business. Whether you’re a one-person operation or a business with many employees, encouraging your current customers and employees for referrals (and providing incentives for them) is a smart marketing move. The truth is this. In order to grow your business, you constantly have to search for innovative ways to get more customers on board. This is the biggest struggle many online businesses have is finding ways to get new customers and the answer to that is simple. By starting a ‘Customer Referral Program’ for cultivating potential new customers.

We all know that by just having a great product or service that you’re sure many people will need isn’t good enough. No one will find you or your web site just because it’s submitted in the search engines. You need to really take a look at what already have and expand the reach of what’s available to gain new customers. Let’s look at some simple marketing tactics you can use today to get new customers flocking to your site.

First of all, your current customers can help you in a great way if you ask them if they have any friends or acquaintances that may benefit from your business product or service. Start a referral system for every customer who refers a person to your site gets an incentive. Many online websites have varying titles for their own referral programs, which may include, ‘tell-a-friend, refer-a-friend, or pass the word’. These are some examples where companies offer some neat incentives if their customers refer new people and offer an extended bonus if the new referral actually purchases something. Incentives can range from something very simple as a free product to an extravagant prize. If your pricing structure allows you a little more flexibility to provide some good incentives, then go for it. Many companies are offering a ‘finders fee’, an x amount of money ($5 bucks or more) if the referrals end up being customers. (For example, WebHostingRebates  pays you $5 for every valid signup they receive from your referral.) Or even give you credit towards your next order. Either way, it adds up and everyone loves to have a few extra greenbacks in their pocket. A word to the wise when engaging in these referral programs, make sure that your incentives change frequently, since you may get one customer who refers many new ones to you may not want 5 of the same ‘free’ product. Change the product or the incentive often especially for those customers who are bringing new prospects to your website.

Another area that many businesses seem to neglect or acknowledge how their own employees can help get new customers to the business. How could you not use your own employees to help you in this area? Use them to get new customers to your business by allowing them to participate in the referral program. Think about it. These people work for you and hopefully stand behind your product are the best people to market your product to their own friends. Then those friends will pass it on to others. Of course, let’s not forget to reward our employees with different incentives than what you offer to your customers. For so many referrals, an employee can gain a paid day off. Or better yet, start an employee ‘referral’ competition for the employee that gets the most referrals will win a paid weekend trip to a nearby Ski Lodge or Spa. This would include accommodations, dinner, a bottle of champagne, etc. What a great motivator to get your employees to draw new customers to the business!