The No Fuss Recipe for Hot Referral Leads Get your revenue cooking with the ultimate B2B referral program The Secret Ingredients Collection
Table of contents Introduction 3 Getting started 5 Step 1: Take stock of your ingredients 7 Joanne Black s Secret Ingredient 9 Matt Heinz s Secret Ingredient 14 Step 2: Equip yourself with the right tools 15 Jill Rowley s Secret Ingredient 18 Step 3: Get some cooks into the kitchen 19 Trish Bertuzzi s Secret Ingredient 21 Step 4: Prep your most important ingredient - your advocates 22 Jim Keenan s Secret Ingredient 23 Now you re cooking 24
Introduction Referrals shorten sales cycles, reduce customer acquisition costs, increase deal sizes and attract more loyal customers. What is a referral? Simply put, a referral is a lead passed to your company through an existing relationship. It s more than contact information. The signature of a solid referral is that someone is willing to put their reputation on the line for the warm introduction or hot lead they ve provided. Referrals come in many forms, but the most valuable are those passed to you from happy customers, partners and employees. This is why it s so surprising that the vast majority of B2B companies don t have a good system in place to consistently generate qualified referral leads from their customers, partners, investors and other fans. You can grow a business without a referral program in place, but like bread without yeast, your organization won t rise to same heights as companies that have made referrals a critical component of their sales, marketing and customer success strategies. Not all referral programs are created equal, however. Without the right ingredients, or if you don t pay enough attention to how they re mixed together and served to your customers, you may risk leaving an awful taste in their mouths -- one they re not likely to forget. This recipe book is designed to help B2B sales, marketing and customer success 3
professionals work together to whip up a referral program that results in happier, more engaged customers and a surge in revenue influenced by your company s biggest fans. After all, whether you call them happy customers, promoters, referrers, or advocates, like we do, these people are the key ingredient in this referral recipe. Did you know? 83 percent 29 percent 2x MORE RESPONSIVE 16% HIGHER 83% of satisfied customers are willing to refer services to friends, colleagues and industry peers. Yet, on average, only 29% do. Advisor Impact Peer-recommended leads are 2.5x more responsive than leads generated by any other marketing channel. American Marketing Association A referred customer has a 16% higher customer lifetime value. Journal of Marketing You can follow this recipe book to the letter, or add in a dash of your own ingredients here and there along the way to spice things up. Either way, your company s bottom line will benefit from these best practices as well as the secret ingredients shared by Jill Rowley, Joanne Black, Matt Heinz, Trish Bertuzzi, Jim Keenan and more. 4
Getting started Most referral programs at B2B companies today don t amount to much more than keeping your fingers crossed and wishing, hoping and praying that one of your customers will recommend you, out of the blue, to someone in their network. (In fact, the term bluebird in sales refers to an opportunity, or actual sale, that presents itself to a salesperson without any direct sales effort.) Influitive s referral program You wouldn t treat any other critical area of your business this way, so why take such a passive stance on referrals? 5
If you have the sudden urge to email every last one of your customers to ask them to refer you to everyone in their contact list, just take a few deep breaths and hold on. That s not the way to go about it. Your customers are used to asking you for favors, not the other way around, and requesting a referral is a big one. You ll have to do a bit of preparation to build toward an ask like this. 6
Step 1: Take stock of your ingredients As with any recipe, if you don t have the the right ingredients from the outset, your referrals program will come out all wrong. Some are more important than others (you ll notice that strong relationships are #1 on the list and raving fans are a key ingredient ), but when you have all five, you know you re cooking. Ingredients - Strong relationships - Simple, easy and fun advocate experience - Clear communication that sets expectations - Recognition and rewards KEY INGREDIENT: - Raving fans, evangelists and advocates 7
INGREDIENT Strong relationships Referrals are all about relationships. People give us referrals because they like and trust us. According to referral sales expert Joanne Black, the most successful referral programs are based on strong relationships, particularly with our current and former clients, who know first-hand the value we can provide. Some companies don t even touch their clients except through technology, she says. Start by reaching out to current clients, especially if you haven t talked to them in a while. It s amazing what happens when you start to have those conversations. Some companies don t even touch their clients except through technology. Joanne Black, Founder of No More Cold Calling When that relationship is established, your customer can be confident that everything is up-to-date and you re providing value to them. Then, all you have to do is: ask! Simple as pie. All we had to do to get customer referrals was (1) ask customers and (2) make it easy for them, says Bo Bandy, Marketing Communications Manager at ReadyTalk. They want to share the awesome experience that they ve had with ReadyTalk. In the first 10 weeks of ReadyTalk s advocate marketing program, Bo was able to generate 183 referrals from the company s advocates. Five of those become salesqualified opportunities and two actually closed in record time compared to most of ReadyTalk s sales opportunities. 8
Joanne Black Founder of No More Cold Calling Author of Pick Up the Damn Phone! How People, Not Technology, Seal the Deal SECRET INGREDIENT: Relationships seal the deal SECRET INGREDIENT: Relationships seal the deal It s easy to get enamored with and distracted by technology. But the personal touch is the best deal maker that exists. The digital world, as great as it is, threatens personal connections. Email, texting, social networking these certainly have a place in business today, but none of them replaces the power of a personal connection! It s not technology, but rather the person using the technology, that sets you apart from your competitors. Your customers want to do business with you, not with your keyboard. TWEET THIS: We need to tweet less and talk more to the customers and contacts who really matter. When you see TWEET THIS, click the Twitter icon to share the quote with your followers.
INGREDIENT Simple, easy and fun advocate experience Getting your advocates to refer new business to you should not be an arduous process for you or your customers. Jill Rowley, Social Selling Evangelist at Oracle, says the first step she recommends for building a great referral program is to make it easy, fun and collaborative to participate. Look at where you may have other potential customers in the groups and associations that your current customers belong to, and then make it easy for customers to invite people in their network to learn about your solution, she says. Make it easy for customers to invite people in their network to learn about your solution. Jill Rowley, Social Selling Evangelist at Oracle When you do that, you make it easy, fun and collaborative - meaning that you do it together rather than sending them off to do it on their own without any input or help from you. A positive advocate experience means that your customers will actually be happy to refer you because they re not only helping you, but also someone they know with a challenge they have in their business. 10
INGREDIENT Clear communication that sets expectations Don t scare off your advocates before they refer a single lead to you by leaving too much to their imagination. At the outset, make it clear to your customers and other potential referrers: - Who they should refer - How your referral process works - The status of their previous referrals and next steps - What they can expect in terms of recognition or rewards When you do this, they will be confident that they are sending you the right people. You ll help them look smart while ensuring only high-quality leads are referred to you. Tell your advocates who your ideal customer is Invest some time in educating your advocates about what an ideal customer looks like and why. The best thing you can do is share with people what you re looking for, says Jim Keenan, President and CEO of A Sales Guy Inc. Let them know the type of person or company you want them to refer you to you have to do the work for them. 11
INGREDIENT Recognition and rewards Should you or shouldn t you reward customers, partners and other fans for referrals? It s a hotly debated issue. On the one hand, why would anyone refer a customer to you if there s nothing in it for them? At the same time, however, you don t want people dumping a bunch of bad leads into your funnel just to cash in on the rewards. There are certain people who will start referring their aunts, cousins, uncles and the guy next door to you if they want something badly enough and it s easy enough to attain, says Liz Richardson, Social Media Marketing Manager at Bomgar, who manages the company s advocate marketing program. We want to reward long-term interaction with us much more than a three-day sprint. There s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all rewards model for B2B referral programs your best bet is to provide rewards that resonate with the customer or other advocate who provided the referral. This means you ll have to be flexible in terms of the rewards, perks or prizes that you offer. 12
KEY INGREDIENT Raving fans, evangelists and advocates Ask anyone, including the sales and marketing experts featured in this recipe book, why their customers refer new business to them, and chances are they ll tell you it s because they provide exceptional products, services and customer support. These are the three primary ways B2B companies typically create promoters, evangelists and advocates who are willing to contribute to content, present at an event, speak to analysts or media, provide customer references and, of course, give referrals. In fact, Jill Rowley says she treats everyone that she works with as a potential future advocate. I have eliminated the word prospect from my vocabulary, she says. I m always thinking about how I can make them so successful that they become an advocate of my product, of my company, and of me, Jill Rowley. Don t overlook non-customer referrals Referrals from delighted customers are often the highestconverting leads (at Influitive, they convert at a rate 854% higher than all other leads), but solid referrals can come from many other sources as well. Employees, partners and investors are also passionate and knowledgeable about your company, and have a strong interest in helping your company succeed. 13
Matt Heinz President of Heinz Marketing SECRET INGREDIENT: Adding value When I get a referral, my job is to establish rapport, provide value and build business with the person who s been referred by sharing as much insight as I can right away. People should know that, if they bring their referrals to us, they re going to get value no matter what. Matt s referrals rockstar: Oracle Eloqua People like Jill Rowley and others in the Oracle sales organization do a nice job of building value. Before they ask for introductions, they tell me how to make a referral, what they re looking for and what problems we can solve. Once I make the referral, I know there s value there. TWEET THIS: Make your customers look good by providing immediate value to the person they referred you to.
Step 2: Equip yourself with the right tools While strong one-on-one relationships with customers are undoubtedly a key ingredient to a successful referrals program, they don t scale very well and that s often where B2B companies struggle to take their referral programs from a trickle to a landslide. The following tools provide a better, more productive experience for both you and your customers, which will encourage them to refer you business more than once. Tools - Email nurturing - Referral page - Social media integration - CRM integration (e.g., Salesforce) 15
Referral page The easier you make it for your customers to provide referrals, the better. They shouldn t have to wonder who to send their referrals to, what you ll do with their contact s information, and what happens next after they ve submitted a referral. Create a simple but informative referrals page that describes the process, step by step, and answers any frequently asked questions your customers may have about submitting referrals. Some advocate marketing or referral management platforms already have this, so all you have to do is customize the text. Social integration Your next customer is likely hiding in the professional network of a current customer, so there s no better place to look than LinkedIn. Allowing people to connect to their LinkedIn accounts on your referrals page can remind them who in their network might be a good fit to work with you, increase the likelihood that they ll submit a referral, and also boost the volume of referrals they submit overall. 16
CRM integration Use your customer relationship management software, such as Salesforce or Sugar CRM, to track the progress of your referrals through your sales pipeline, and eventually attribute revenue to each referral (or even each advocate). Ideally, your CRM should integrate with your referral or advocate marketing platform so your advocates can: - Send referrals directly to you and into the CRM at the same time - Get recognized or rewarded for their referrals - See the progress of their referrals on the referrals page Email nurturing Keeping your advocates continually engaged with easily digestible bits and bites of information industry resources and best practices, success stories, the status of the referrals they ve sent you, company news, or other ways they can help you achieve your goals, for example will keep you top of mind (even when you and your customers are too busy to meet for lunch). 17
Jill Rowley Social Selling Evangelist at Oracle SECRET INGREDIENT: Content I share content that helps my customers get smarter, improve their teams, or understand how other customers have tackled certain issues. Not only do I use content as my currency before, during and after a customer signs, but I use my network extensively to connect my customers to other customers and partners who could add value. Jill s referrals rockstar: DocuSign DocuSign does a great job encouraging their customers and employees to submit referral business. The whole company works together to focus on their customers and make them successful, resulting in more referrals. TWEET THIS: My secret ingredient to referral success is to always be providing my customers with useful, quality content.
Step 3: Get some cooks into the kitchen Too often at B2B companies, everybody owns referrals. In reality, that means nobody owns them and no one is motivated to set goals, work to meet them, and develop cross-functional strategies and processes to generate more referral leads. To make your referral program work, you ll need three types of cooks in the kitchen: an executive chef, a sous-chef and a handful of line cooks. Cooks - Executive chef (CMO) - Sous-chef (program manager) - Line cooks (departmental allies) 19
Executive chef (CMO) In an age of social connectivity when so much of the B2B buying process is conducted as recommendations, reviews and references between trusted peers well before buyers engage with sales it s more critical than ever that CMOs and other marketing leaders develop scalable advocacy programs, including referral programs. That s why the directive for your referral program has to come directly from the C-suite (usually the CMO), and trickle across, down and throughout the organization to be successful. Sous-chef (program manager) Taking direction from the executive chef, the program manager handles the day-today strategy and execution of the program, and acts as a central point of contact for departmental allies. The referral program manager will most often be a customer marketer, community manager or advocate marketer, but they can also come from outside the marketing department, working in sales or customer success, for example. Line cooks (departmental allies) A referral program is more like a seven-course meal than a batch of cookies, which means it needs more than one cook in the kitchen to be successful. Departmental allies from sales, customer success and product management are key to connecting your referral program manager to customers and other advocates as they come into contact and have relationships with your company. Ideally, one member from each relevant department will act as a referral program liaison, collaborating with the program manager on a regular basis to generate referrals and track them as they move through the sales funnel. 20
Trish Bertuzzi President and Chief Strategist of The Bridge Group SECRET INGREDIENT: The ask Most businesses don t have referral programs because everyone s uncomfortable asking for referrals. That makes the remedy simple if you don t ask, you don t get, so step up and ask. Trish s advice for sales leaders: Reward for referrals It would be interesting if a sales leader said to his or her team, We re going to have a six-month contest and the person who brings in the most qualified leads from referrals wins! TWEET THIS: If you want more referrals, the remedy is simple: step up and ask.
Step 4: Prep your most important ingredient your advocates For most recipes, the order in which you prepare, mix and then cook the ingredients can affect both the taste and texture of the food. When you choose the highest quality ingredients, prepare them carefully and in the right order, your dish should be delicious. The same goes for referral programs and, in particular, the customers, partners and other fans that you choose to ask for referrals. You can t just throw your most important ingredients in some flames and hope they ll cook to perfection. It doesn t work that way. Timing is important if you want to get a positive response, says Matt Heinz, President of Heinz Marketing. Look for indicators suggesting that someone is having a positive experience with your product or company. Timing is important if you want to get a positive response. Matt Heinz, President of Heinz Marketing From there, you ll want to start with smaller asks, such as sharing content on social networks like Twitter and LinkedIn, reading and commenting on a recent blog post, or providing feedback on your product. These relatively easy activities effectively tenderize your fans, developing advocacy behavior and habits along the way, and warming them up for larger favors, such as product reviews, reference calls and, of course, referrals. 22
Jim Keenan President and CEO of A Sales Guy Inc. SECRET INGREDIENT: Emotions There s a psychological underpinning to the whole idea of referrals. The one company that I ve ever seen be successful at generating referrals also did everything they could to delight their customers, not only on projects but also on a personal level. When you delight your customers, you re creating an attachment that increases the possibility they ll want to give you a referral. Keenan s recommended reading on referrals: Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success by Adam M. Grant TWEET THIS: Giving referrals is a very personal thing that s steeped in emotion.
Now you re cooking Like any other critical business process, building a world-class customer referral program requires careful thought, planning and organization the right mix of ingredients, so to speak. But that doesn t mean it s hard to do or that it should take very long to implement. Take this recipe book and the ideas presented here to get started today. Make it a priority to generate more high-quality leads from your existing customers they convert faster, cost less and have a much higher customer lifetime value than any other type of lead. As a result, your sales team will never go hungry again and your business will be nourished with the most delicious dish of all: revenue. 24
SHARE THIS Your customers love you Help them share it with the world Influitive s AdvocateHub is a complete advocate management platform that helps B2B marketers capture customer enthusiasm, and use it to turbocharge marketing and sales efforts. With AdvocateHub, B2B marketers build advocate communities where customers, fans and evangelists can complete challenges like referrals, reference calls or product reviews. Visit influitive.com to learn more. Influitive Referrals See Demo Copyright 2014 Influitive Corporation