The power of referrals

Every business feels the pressure to bring in net new customers.

Sometimes this pressure causes people to take shortcuts and create breakdowns. There is a short term lift when a lot of new business is coming in through the doors, but breakdowns emerge very quickly to hurt the customer, the insurance company and the broker. No one benefits when the focus is on volume instead of quality.

One workaround to reduce this pressure is to leverage your existing network. Start by asking all your customers for referrals from their networks. Referrals are powerful because you are deepening a relationship with someone who already trusts you. Not to mention that customers may have unmet needs that you could address. Get present to these needs and create more value for customers.

On their own, referrals are not enough on their own to sustain your business. Nevertheless, they can contribute a great deal. Referrals bring a different sort of people to you. They already have a connection with your organization because someone they trust is doing business with you. Besides, the referrals present an opportunity too big to lose.

Let’s say you have 1000 customers. Each one of them will have multiple friends and family members. That is thousands of potential referrals. The cost of not taking advantage of that opportunity is enormous. The cost for not doing referrals is too high for you and your potential customers. So what are you waiting for?