I'm interested in ideas on what businesses are doing to reward/incent existing clients to refer new, qualified leads.

We are a small software company that caters mainly to govts, universities & the medical field. Any ideas are appreciated!

Thanks.

There are many different things you can do, but i find that it is difficult to go to a business and say hey if you refer cliets to me i am going to give you this, i find it works better as a they refer somone and you send thema voucher or somthing and they are like wow i wasnt expecting this and that is what gets them refering more people.

some ideas i have had in this way is, of course depending on the business is a free one for the person making the purchase for the business. A gift voucher for a local department store, or A restaurant. Free petrol Voucher or somthing along that line.

Or if the product generates a relatively good profit margin even as far a Weekend holiday somewhere (value depending on profit of course).

The one thing you have to be sure is that you can afford to give away the item that you decide on, if you are giving someone a holiday worth $300, the referal they make needs to probably make that back for to 3 -4 times over. So just try and be conscious of what you are giving and what you are getting. I know you are trying to reward but at the same time you have to make yourself a profit.

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Joel Brown - Orion Networks
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Funny you should ask ... I recently wrote an article about this. I'll try to post it later today in the articles section here.

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Eileen Coale, Copywriter
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You could try attaching notes to your customers' invoices with a coupon or unique code, offering new customers a discount, along with a discount for the referer's next order. If most of your customers are one-time or infrequent orderers (because your product is so long lasting), then you might try some of the other incentives that Joel discussed.

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Brian Darrow
R-Design
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You could find real troubled waters here. Most government associated purchasing organizations have strict gifting rules and could cause you more pain than you would want, so checkout the rules before you gift them with anything.

Kent Capener

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Actually yes Kent i have seen this even in Private Enterprise, mainly in the wholesale type of businesses though where manufactuers give away free product to the salespeople that sell a lot of there product. This has been an issue at a couple of computer wholesalers and resellers i have worked at where they get a free product and a war has broken out over the salesperson accepting it without the companies authority and the company demanding it be turned over. I think this is probably the extreme though, and as long as the gift is not of huge financial value and it is directed towards the company rather then a specific person you should not be in to much issue.

Although i would recommend doing as Kent has said and checking on the gifting Guidelines for the government departments before doing anything.

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Joel Brown - Orion Networks
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I used to do a lot of business with the Defense Supply Agency and their policy restricted gifting to a value of less than $10. Now that's extreme! But it serves a purpose, otherwise the big boys would totally dominate the market through their sales promotions programs.

Kent

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I call this a Referral Rewards Program. I do this with both my side businesses and it has worked incredibly well in getting clients and even prospects WANTING to refer business my way.

One of the main points I can make that most people often forget about a referral rewards program is this:

ALWAYS REWARD FOLKS EVEN IF THE REFERRAL THEY GIVE TO YOU DOES NOT LAND IN ANY SALE OR DIRECT SERVICE TO YOU!!

Reward them any ways. The idea is that if you reward them, they will want to refer more work to you. It encourages them to want to be an agent for you and to send referrals your direction.

Now referral rward gifts do NOT have to break your bank at all. Infact 2 simple ideas have worked great for me for any service or business. I will share these with you.

1) Gas cards: It may sound weird to you, but with the price of gas going up these days, anyone and everyuone can appreciate receiving a gas card in the mail and they will use it.

2) Gift cards to a store or food place of their choosing.

Now when I do the second, I always send out an e-mail or letter simply stating that I appreciate their referral and I would like to reward them and say thank you by giving them a simply gift. I ask them what store or food place is their favorite and that I will be sending their gift out in the next few days.

The gifts work great because the prospect or referral person is thinking of you in seberal key moments:

1) When they receive the e-mail or letter.
2) When they receive your gift in the mail
3) when they go out and use your gift

These are 3 critical moments when they will remember you and your generosity towards them. This will encourage them to want to refer more to you.

IT WORKS!!!!

Kyle

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Kyle Peron[b]
Graphic Designer / Illustrator
(Logo and design for small businesses)
Magician and Illusionist
E-mail: Magic4u02@aol.com

One approach you might use is to have a referral price. No, not a commission on the referrals you receive.

You are negotiating a deal with a prospect that you know has links with many other prospective customers (government departments are a prime example). You are stuck on price (need to produce a BAFO (Best and Final Offer) here in the UK. Offer them a lower price if they commit to giving you a number of qualified referrals over the next 12 months. Your contract needs to stipulate that the balance of the original price is payable should you not receive the agreed referrals.

Note, the deal is to give you referrals - there is no guarantee of getting additional customers.

It works. You probably won't lower your price more than you would have had to do to get the business anyway. And you get the concept of referrals in your prospect's mind.

If you don't offer a free trial or full version free trial. Send a thank you letter to your existing clients and then tell them that you are offering a full free trial to one of their colleagues or partners. You can a dd a special code and say its only for someone they designate blah blah blah.