How to Make Your Business More Referrable

Chris Lollini:	Hey, Chris Lollini, founder and CEO of Reputation Igniter, here again, and I want to talk to you about becoming more referable and how using Reputation Igniter makes you more referable. I want you to be excited literally every time you or your admin staff is putting in a new customer into the system. I want you to get excited because what you’re doing is you are making yourself more referable.
[00:01:00]	And, and how that works, I want to show you exactly, is, first, just a simple ask of, act of asking your customer for feedback already sets you above and beyond any business out there. Most businesses, they complete the transaction, they say thank you, and they’re done with the customer, right? They feel like, that customer feels like they’re just another number. they don’t feel like they’re a real person. And by you stopping, taking the time, simply shooting them an e-mail, shooting them a text, ask him “hey, can you give me some feedback on the process?” They feel engaged, they feel honored that their opinion obviously matters inside your business.
	So, just asking them in and of itself is going to set you apart from your competitors. Now, let’s be honest, though, most people are pretty, pretty busy, right? And they’re not necessarily going to get to the feedback, which is why, on average, you know, a business will see anywhere between 40 and 60%, feedback conversion, okay? That’s normal. It’s just because people are busy; it’s not that they don’t like you, it’s not that they hate you, it’s not that they’re not going to come back. It’s just that they’re busy, right? And right now they don’t feel motivated enough or, you know, something wasn’t so engaging that they felt the need or desire to comment on on how the service was.
	But, you’re already sending a message to them that you care and you’re that engaged. So, just simply by asking them, you’re making yourself more referable, because when they talk to their friends about it, in their mind, you actually took the time and energy to actually engage with them, after the transaction happened, okay?
[00:02:00]	Now, let’s go beyond that. Let’s say that they don’t, they do actually get that e-mail, they do respond, they provide you feedback. Well, now you have become even more referable in their mind, because now, they’ve actually taken the time to engage with you and they’ve provided you feedback, right? That makes them even more likely to actually refer you business, because they actually engaged with you and provided you feedback. So, now, instead of just being kind of warm to you, they’re actually pretty hot, because they’re that type that actually knows the situation that they had or the experience they had with your business was so engaging that they’re more likely to actually share that experience with others and therefore, you become more referable.
[00:03:00]	Let’s, and let’s say that they stop there, they don’t actually leave you a review, it’s still very warm, in their mind, that you were the kind of business that actually engaged with them. So, very, very, important, and again, sets you apart. Especially since the system automatically generates a thank you e-mail to them, they even feel more engaged by you because of the thank you. And you haven’t even done anything yet, because all you did was enter their information in the beginning, in the system.
	So, let’s go the whole nine yards. Let’s say that you ask, they gave you feedback, and they went and they gave you a review. Well, now you’re even more referable, because literally, that customer in your business is now giving a testimonial to your business, 24-hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year because their feedback, their testimonial is in the form of a review on a third-party review site. They’re up on Yelp, they’re on Facebook, they’re on Google, and [inaudible 00:03:38], whatever the platform is that they went and posted their testimonial is now out there, capturing, collecting, encouraging, giving social proof to you, in the eyes of a prospective customer.
[00:04:00]	And so, as a result, you create this virtuous cycle inside your business where a customer connects with you, you connect with them, you give them the opportunity to provide you feedback and get a review, and that review is now online. So that customer reviews you, and now, as a result, you become more visible in the search engines, because reviews help your SEO; they also help your ranking on sites like Yelp and Facebook when people are looking for local businesses. So, now, more people, you’re visible to more people, you have an even better reputation, you’re even more likely to get new business. Those people come in, you connect with them, you give the opportunity to review, they give you more reviews, and it’s just this virtuous cycle that gains momentum. But the problem is, is you got to start.
	So, once you start, and once you continue and consistently do this, you will see this virtuous cycle in your business and the growth just come as a result of the world-of-mouth that you’re sparking and generating digitally. I mean, this is the old form of word-of-mouth, but now it’s done digitally to help you grow your business.
[00:05:00]	So, make sure that you’re doing this consistently, every single day. you know, engage with your staff if you have them, make sure that this is something that you’re following up. Make sure you’re hit, striking while the iron is hot. It’s important that you reach out within the first 12 to 24 hours, because that’s when your customer’s going to be the most excited about exactly what they, what you’ve done for them. And so, you want to hit them when it’s fresh in their mind. You hit them a week out, they’re going to forget, all right? There’s too much that happens in their life between then and a week from now. So, you want to make sure that you’re, you’re getting to them within 12 to 24 hours to get the best feedback, get the highest engagement, and get them to review you.

Become More Referrable