Most of these services, however, especially those that supply non-exclusive leads, leave a lot to be desired. I’m sure that almost everyone has had the problem of buying a leads list that has already been called on by the competition four or five times already, leaving both those prospects and your sales force feeling both annoyed and let down. Which is why choosing the correct type and kind of referral services for your company is of paramount importance.

Putting money towards something eventually might pay off, but it works quicker if you have basic data about your prospective referral service before you start.

Where are these leads generated from? From their own marketing, or from an amalgamation service such as Monster, are the leads supplied? How many other companies have these already been sold to? Does this service have some sort of return or duplicate policy? When and how often will you be provided with new leads from them? (Not the best choice having a service that supplies 200 fresh leads once a month if you have 5 salesmen to support). Does this service give me thesupport I mahy need in other areas? (A client referral program etc..) Will their referral services be able to expand and grow to support more demand from me, as and when I need it? What are their current clients’ conversion ratio’s, for a similarly priced product or service as yours, when you are the referral services leads?

These questions may seem obvious, but too many people using a service seem to just fall asleep after they sign up. Decide on whether to use a service by applying the most basic form of business equation – will I make more by buying and using this, or not? The same basics apply to whether or not the service is right – Will I get what I pay for and need from them?

It is a known fact that if one person recommends you to another through word of mouth then the person referred is more likely to buy. A referral program similar, except a little more methodical. Basically, it’s a method that allows your clients to recommend numerous people to your services. Remember the Pareto Principal – you’ll get 80% of your business from 20% of your clients. It is impossible to know right off the bat which ones will give the most business.

If this is new to you, it’s worth running over the basics of a referral program. It’s important to make sure that your customers are overjoyed – an unhappy client is not going to refer you ever. When a client sends you a referral, make sure you thank them. That little bit of recognition will have great meaning to a person. Reward your clients for these – it doesn’t have to be something big, or related to your product listings, just a simple form of ‘Thank You” will always be appreciated by people.

Be sincere when you ask for referrals. People usually do not spend time on something other than their own needs, so making it as quick as possible is best. Taking an idea as simple as this and using it properly can have a tremendous effect on a business’s life and growth.

A referral program should ensure that you get quality, actionable contacts to follow up on. It is not written in stone that they must “buy now” but that at some point they will change to active customers, if followed up on well. With all programs, it’s necessary for you to make sure that it’s implemented correctly too. Referral programs offering whatever will work as well if most of your sales get done in person by your sales force, or in a retail store.

Keep things straightforward and simple until you have a great system, remember that what you do well may be specific to your company only. Run the program different ways until you get the desired results – if not, make some small changes until you reach a formula that works the best.

If you are confident in your website and the products that you offer, then there are many companies you could choose from. You can even take a free course or paid class and learn how to “do it yourself”. Take time to do your research and look around. Read about the company’s techniques and see if it is something that you could apply. Try to establish how many people are in the network. Research any available testimonials.

There is one company that operates very quietly, almost hard to notice. The techniques that they use may be ok, but sites like YouTube would not approve of them. Moreover, their services can not be customized. They recommend the same methodology for all of their customers.

If they are to effectively grow your business, a viral marketing agency should tailor their solutions to suit your products or services. They should offer ways to keep in touch with your current clients and turn your clients’ friends into your customers.

One of the effective techniques is a regular newsletter, sent to your client’s e-mail address. If you have no clients, you may need to purchase a list of quality email addresses. Some of these lists were compiled by other companies. They ask their customers if they would like to receive information from affiliates. If the customer says “yes”, they become part of the company database.

It is entirely possible to locate a viral marketing agency that provides this sort of list together with their other services. To be most effective, you want the list to be targeted to include people in your niche market. If you are selling a toy, parents would be your target market. It would be wasting everyone’s time to send thousands of emails to seniors.

Some of the easier methods that you can employ include “social networking”. Become a member of an online forum or group, whose members have interests that are similar with your target. If you have yet to identify your niche, you may need a little more help than a viral marketing agency can offer. Everyone has a unique niche. In some cases, it’s just hard to see it, no matter where you stand. Someone outside of your company may be able to help you find your niche and grow your business.

Today’s computing technology is advancing greatly in the automation of tasks. These days, maximizing labor, time and profits and reducing costs is needed to stay in business. Having any strength in this area would require a reliable tool. That is what referral software is all about.

One cost-effective way of promoting the service or product that you sell is via affiliate programs. Managing business affiliations is a tedious process which can take up many hours of your day or night. Using referral software assists with a more convenient solution to keeping track of referral leads. It is simple to sign up to sell and market your company’s products or services. It allows for the optimization of the commissions earned from affiliates.

Referral software provides a solution to referring customers to a merchant’s site. It capitalizes on viral marketing methods and has automated the process. Business associates, friends and family members can form a large list that will grow your site’s database. Your website will be able to achieve a greater level of referral traffic all day long. Incentive delivery is simple and allows for multiple customer lists for different incentives at any given time, who are generating referrals.

STEPS ON HOW IT WORKS

Referral software is a web-based application program that works with set standard for customization and flexibility. The system can conform to whatever type of client of visitor you have. In terms of customization, it makes use of a subject line, email messaging, branding, and advanced referral software features that will make you brand appear everywhere. It works similar to a virus; it will display you ads from every form of page and email messages since it allows multiple referral systems. While it optimizes the number of people that will be led to your website, it still gives your website a uniform professional appearance. The affiliate program includes all the required tools that will help you generate sound e-commerce marketing strategies.

Aside from optimizing the number of people joining your website, the referral software makes the task of affiliate member maintenance an easy task. With that, keeping track of the member’s viewing stats, commissions, reports and configurations will be easier. Highly versatile, this web-based application makes it a great choice over conventional methods of human service delivery.

ADVANTAGES

The referral software allows a business owner to work anywhere since it is web-based. Due to the fact it can be logged in to any hosting facility, you will not have to worry about constant backups. IT costs are greatly reduced and the expenses for the equipment needed is non-existant. It might be about to get in touch with thousands of affiliate websites at flat fees. Even its self replicating page features are proven highly effective in improving a website’s URL search engine ranking. Referral software is wil increase you website’s traffic and using the affiliate members it works with will also increase the popularity of your site. You website’s increased popularity and increased number of clients or customers visiting will mean more profitability at the end of the day.

Why should you bother to get referrals? Referrals are free leads. Each referral you get costs you very little in either money or time, because they are actually part of your compensation for giving your existing clients excellent products and/or excellent service. So, the cost of all of your referrals is actually just the money and time you spend selling to your existing clients. If you have a spectacular product and your service is second to none, they will give you referrals.

Every referral saves you from cold-calling, they are pre-sold on your brand and they were not brought in by paid advertising. Every referral you get has been given, in a way, a testimonial about your company at no cost to you and no effort to you.

It is not hard to figure out that by getting referrals, you are virally growing your business. It works just like that old TV commercial about the great hair shampoo that impressed a woman so much that she told two friendsand they told two friendsand so on, and so on

A referral is someone who wants to talk to you. It is someone who wants to buy specifically from you. It is not an individual who finds your approaching them disturbing. Its not someone you have to spend a lot of precious time trying to qualify.

So, what are some of the ways that you can use to start getting referrals?

1. Ask for them. Make it a habit to ask your clients for referrals every time you have a good reason to contact them either about a new product or to give them customer service. If you compose e-newsletters, have a section in there every time where you always ask them to show anyone they know who could use what you offer.

2. Always give incredible customer service to your existing clients, and always send a thank you notice every time they buy from you.

3. Keep personal relationships with your clients if possible. Remember their birthdays; think of ways to reward them for remaining clients such as by giving them special client discounts off newly released products; and other things that you think of to show that you care.

4. Exchange website links with any of your clients who also run businesses.

Keep in mind that getting lots of referrals is the best method to get your business booming and make tons of cash.

A recent study exemplified that two thirds of online marketing is expected to be done this way next year, which when coupled with the advent in leaps of Web 2.0.0 social networking and social marketing sites point towards promoting your product by word of mouth may be both more cost effective, and have an increasingly better ROI than more “traditional” online advertising media.

Think about the business model of the current social networking sites. There has yet to be a successful site of this type that charges, instead relying as they do on advertising income to turn a profit. While there is not in a real sense a metric that can be used to measure the effectiveness of marketing by word of mouth, it should be noted that there is one method of knowing if your campaign is succeeding – sales.

A company or client should know from their output volume exactly what the difference between before a campaign, during a campaign and after it’s stopped. This gives businesses a measurable statistic to show effectiveness of this type of marketing. It is true that not all businesses need or desire this form of sales technique, but is also through that not one business turns away prospects garnered from the by word of mouth method either.

Whatever your area of expertise, a study completed by Hill and Knowlton this year showed that decision makers are highly influenced by personal experience’s (58%), with recommendations tied at 51%. Coming in lower than expected was direct marketing at 21% with internet advertising lat 17%. These figures may only reflect the purchasing habits of key decision makers, but a young lady in Oregon deciding to buy one car insurance or another IS the key decision maker for that purchase, and her buddy Becky telling her to go with this company over that company will have a greater influence than any gravel-voiced actor pushing the product in a TV advert.

Essentially, this statistic can reflect any industry, any segment, if each purchaser is the key decision maker. This makes the resurgence of the world’s oldest sales tool a given – so get talking or tweeting, but tell everyone!

Reports, trials, tests and getting leads are many of the things they offer. Of course, if you want lots more, you must pay. That’s how this method of advertising campaign works. It is what you decide to do with your company, too.

It doesn't matter what you offer for sale, you need to think of something that you can give away. You might be an expert at carpentry. You might provide do it yourself tips and publish the information on your website or online magazine or even create a newsletter specifically for people that are interested in carpentry. Then find a way to let people know that you offer this information.

The only way to do free viral marketing is to do it on your own. You would need to create or buy a list of e-mail addresses. Join social networks, follow blogs, get on twitter. Post on all relevant forums. You can purchase a list of e-mail addresses and as well, some companies offer a “trial” for free. We know for certain that giving something away free often generates customers and gains interest.

Success of any campaign depends on reaching a big group of people and offering a free item. But, your success depends on the quality of the item or service that you have to offer. Any product only reaches virus levels if people really love it or they think that that it is a "must have" item. The cool aspect wears off. Valuable items usually always stay around.

Actually, I’m giving you free viral marketing advice right now. Do some companies charge for this kind of advice? There are actually classes that you have to pay for and what they teach is what I have just told you. Of course, they go into great detail to make you feel that the seminar was valuable. But, there really is not a lot to learn.

Do businesses charge to do the marketing for you? Yes. You can attempt these kinds of advertising campaigns , but they take up alot of time and effort. Your website might not even possibly be ready for the amount of business that a viral campaign might generate. If you read some more about free viral marketing, you’ll see what I mean.

It is in the nature of a person’s tendency to “tell their friends”. It is really just the terminology that is new. Surveys tell us that the average individual online has at least six close friends they communicate with on a regular basis. If they have a good experience with a product or a service provider, they will tell those six people about it.

Those same surveys tell us that when an internet user finds something valuable, informative, funny, interesting or free on the internet, they will share that with 12 of their “online friends”. Thus the internet is the stage for most viral marketing business models that are successful.

We have also been told by the pros that in order to sell something, you need to give something away. I recently read a free e-book about dieting. It made perfect sense. It was written by the marketing department of a supplement manufacturer. He suggested that you share the book with all of your friends. His main motivation was to sell supplements.

He could have sold the book. It contained just as much information as some of the diet books out on the market, but he realized the value of giving something away, what he would get in return would be far greater. Not only do people love give aways, they have a tendency to put trust in people or companies that give them something of perceived value with no strings attached.

You will see countless software programs on the web that offer a free versions and a “ultimate” version. This is another example of a viral marketing business model. If a person sees any free software program, they usually share it with up to 12 people they know would like to try it as well.

Social networking is becoming increasingly popular. People on MySpace and Facebook literally have hundreds of online friends and they “share” things with them on a daily basis. If you can provide something that they want to share, then you may have struck it rich.

There are other elements of a successful viral marketing business model. Coming up with something free that allows individuals to share it with others is the most important.

1. Family and friend recommendations are more infuential when giving out word of mouth information (AdAge).

2. Traffic to a site that posts reviews will typically return to that site nine times, and are twice as likely to purchase from that website than others (source: McKinsey and Co.Jupiter Media Metrix).

3. Consumers trust close friends more than experts or even celebrity endorsements (65%, 27% and 8%, respectively; Yankelovich).

4. A Nielsen worldwide study of some 26,000 users in over 40 markets reported that consumer recommendations were the most credible form of word of mouth information advertising within the 70% plus of respondents.

5. The figure is enourmous, 116 million user generated content was made in the U.S. alone in 2008, with an additional 82 million content creators. With the extended reach and influence of Web 2.0 and social networking, these figures are sure to climb (source: eMarketer.com).

6. Social network users are three times more likely to purchase a product or service on the strength of a recommendation from an associate or friend rather than any other form of advertising. (the source: Jupiter Research).

7. 86% of people asked said they trust a friend’s recommendation over the experts, with 83% saying they trust user generated comments over a critic’s (Marketing Sherpa).

8. 66% of social networkers are more inclined to purchase due to a recommendation, compared to 52% that aren’t social networkers (Royal Mail home shipping tracker).

9. 81% of holiday shoppers read through user reviews prior to purchasing (Nielsen Online).

10. Consumers totaling 86% read reviews on businesses before buying, with over 90% saying that they trust those reviews (Kudzu.com).

11. 49% of shoppers stated that they have made many of their purchases based solely on the strength of consumer reviews. Of this total 53% bought on the strength of user reviews;48% by comparison charts;41% due to editorial reviews and comments;58% due to shared shopping lists.

12. Nearly two thirds (62%) of home-based consumers browsed on line user generated product reviews before making a purchase (Deloitte and Touche) with 62% stating that they would also browse sites with user reviews in order to make entertainment purchases (Marketing Sherpa).

13. 7 out of 10 people who read consumer generated news and reviews are highly likely to share those opinions, which amplifies the impact (Deloitte and Touche).

14. 74% of surveyed consumers state they base purchasing on user generated reviews of their customer rating for a product or company (Society of New Communication Research).

As you can see, word of mouth information coming from trusted sources such as friends, consumers, etc. is the most powerful form of advertising.

There are essentially two methods of using the Internet to generate endless referrals: viral marketing and affiliate marketing. Viral marketing is essentially exclusive to the Internet. Affiliate marketing has been around for a long time, but is made easier and more powerful by the Internet.

Affiliate marketing might be difficult to make work for you if you are offering a product in a niche market. However, if you are offering a product or service that has broad appeal, such as teaching everyday people how to make serious money with minimal risk by investing in e-mini futures contracts on the stock market, then affiliate marketing will work wonders for you.

With affiliate marketing, some of your customers will turn into individuals who send business to you. Once you have great affiliate marketers, they send you most of your new business while you sit back and reap the benefits of the knowledge and training you gave out. They could be paying you a tiny amount of all the new revenues; or, you could set it up so that you pay them a huge commission for every sale they get for you, the balance is yours. So, for instance, every time they sell one of your products for you at $100, they get $40 and you keep $60.

The most important thing with affiliate marketing is that you make it possible for the affiliates to duplicate your own business model exactly, even if they are not the entrepreneurial kind by their nature. You want to have literally thousands of ?offices? open that all run like your original one. A way to get affiliates working for you is to set up the opportunity and list it as a link on your site when starting your business.

With viral marketing, you will use the power of social networking on the Internet. This will work if you sell to a niche or not, and may work better in a niche. Viral marketing works on the premise that associates of people who become your customers will listen to their recommendations and want to deal with you. This is an effective assumption.

Viral marketing operations by your making use of sites like Digg, Facebook, Twitter, Stumble Upon, Yahoo?s Buzz Up, and the ever growing array of other social bookmarking and networking sites to make yourself known in a relate-to-you oriented way rather than a sales and marketing way. People who understand your product offering and find it of interest will become a new customer. Then, they start blabbing to their friends about you, and send them to your website. After a time, your new sales (and repeat business) become effortless?for you are getting endless referrals.

If a customer is pleased with your product or service and tells you so, then is the time to say thanks, if you know of anyone else who might also benefit from what I have to offer, then please give them my contact information. A tiny variation of this is I'm pleased you are happy, perhaps you know someone else who would like to pay off their second mortage.

The above is a perfect scenario, very often people are most happy with what they get, but because we don’t act straight away and ask them, the time has come and gone.Another great way of developing a referral system is with the thank you letter where you thank a person for their business and then end saying that you have enclosed two of your business cards for them to pass on to others.

There are occasions however, when the above methods of developing a referral system do not work, especially in the financial sector. The fact of the matter is that people vary rarely discuss their finances with others, and so wouldn't be sure who might be interested in the services that you have to offer. Keep in mind, there are a couple of approaches to compiling a referral system that are far more likely to work.

Successful business people have realized that it is a must to stay in touch with your clients by asking them if they would like to receive your monthly news letter. This will give them helpful financial tips and at the end you could ask if they know anyone else who might be interested in the information.

You should network with other companies in your area and send out a letter now to try and get people together on the same referral page. When people meet this way, they are far more likely to make referrals to your business. These things are proven methods of building a referral system, but it won’t happen in a day.

If you are going to build a great referral system that will still work in the future, then you need to not rush.

To build a great referral network takes some work in getting people you know well already to understand what you have to offer as far as products and services, then they can refer others to you. Once you have a good network there will be no more cold sales calls because a network will refer people to you. Once you have educated individuals close by, like clients, colleagues and professional friends. When these people know enough about your product then they will be able to direct others towards you.

As you start building a network, you may want to decide what you could offer as an incentive for people to refer friends and family to you. To begin, you should offer new individuals to the network a small referral fee for bringing in new people to your business. What motivates many sales people is the commission check that they receive at the end of the month, offering a referral fee will motivate people to refer more business onto you. A powerful referral network will do almost all of your marketing for you.

Don’t be afraid to ask. If a customer is really happy with your service, they are going to be pleased to assist you with referrals. If there is a discount or a referral fee at the end of it, then they will be even more delighted to help you out. If you want to increase your business and create a powerful network then you must be proactive. nstead of waiting for a referral to you, just get out there and ask for them, most people will lend a hand, especially when that help is reciprocated in some way.

I have found that whenever I face a strange situation, such as asking for referrals, it helps if I write out what I want to say and then practice saying it aloud until it sits comfortably with me. When people see that you are comfortable in asking for their help then they are often more than willing to give it and this is a good way of building up a powerful referral network.

If a client compliments you on your product or service then this is the time to ask them if there is anyone else they know who would benefit from what you have to offer. They will probably be more than happy to refer someone to you when they know that your product or service is what they are looking for. If you stick with it in this way, you will quickly have a powerful referral network that will increase your sales exponentially.

If you tell me something that I think is interesting, I will tell my friends about it. They will tell their friends as well if they like it. They probably know people that I do not. So, growth can literally become exponential. It traditionally was called word of mouth advertising.

The biggest difference between word of mouth advertising and online viral marketing is the potential number of people that anyone at any given time communicates with daily. I can give you a personal example. I speak to my family every day in my personal life. I may speak to my family and friends once per week.

Some of them I haven’t talked to in years, “live”. I communicate to everyone at least once every day or so via e-mail and social networking sites. If something really grabs me that I think my friends will love too, I will share it with at least 30 people.

Surveys indicate that the average person shares this type of thing with 12 people max. So, I may be a little outside of the loop. The point is that the 30 people that I know will share with others. Effortless, this information ripples through this wave of people. Will the wave eventually crash?

If you have an effective online viral marketing strategy, you may be able to generate numerous waves; when one crashes, another forms. There are a number of different strategies, but all of the effective ones include one element. There is something “free” of value for people to share.

In some cases, it is just a well-done, simple commercial. Sony had one some time ago. It was posted on YouTube and people got it out there to people they knew. To date, it has been seen by thousands of people. How many people bought something? Who would possibly know?

The point is this. To reach hundreds of thousands or millions of people in the not so distant past, TV advertising would have been the only option. And, of course, you would have had to buy space on the most popular shows and the costs are prohibitive. With online viral marketing, you can reach that many people for next to nothing.

Offer something of value for no charge. What you choose to give might be simply information, an ebook or even software. One idea is that you might give a free download of a limited function software program. But, in order to get the “premium” version, the customer would have to pay.

Video game providers use this technique to the full extent. You can play their games free on the web, but to get certain features, you must buy their “complete” version. People that enjoy playing the game will usually pay for the full version or upgrade to the extended version. Viral marketing software cannot tell you what to give away. Only you yourself, or a specialized company that offers personalized service could determine that.

Another element is to create a methodology that would enable your free offer to be accepted if others were to receive it. Typically, this is done via e-mail. Surveys show that when a person finds something interesting on the web, they share it with an average of six friends. You can see how the number of people that you can contact grows exponentially, which makes the next element very important.

You must be able handle the increased business generated effectively. You may need to have an auto-responder set up or other virtual “assistants” in place. You might need to increase your stock, if you are selling an item or even overhaul your site to handle massive traffic. If you are providing a service, you will need to figure out what your ability is to handle new clients. Is is possible that viral marketing software do that? No.

The fourth element is to use common reactions to your advantage. Think of it this way, a common reaction to a picture of food is to stimulate hunger. If you sell food, you want every photo on your site and in any email communication that appears so tasty looking, it will create a feeling of hunger. Another example is the “what can it do for me” mentality. People don’t care to know every detail showing that a car has reinforced side beams. People just want to know that their family is protected in the automobile in the event of an accident. Show and tell a potential client what your product will do for them and you will have a new customer.

The last element, is to take full advantage of existing communication networks available. That’s the one thing that viral marketing software might be able to do for you. But, it cannot offer everything that you need for your campaign to be a success.

When you get a referral, it means that someone who has worked with you before, and who knows you, is telling others that you are the person that they should go with. This may come from an existing customer, or from someone who has been dealing with you previously. Wherever it comes from, it is your opportunity to excel, and to show others what you are made of. When you get an endorsement, it means that you are getting the opportunity to shine and prove someone else’s vision of who you are.

There are many ways to make ensure that people recommend your brand. Take the time to think this through – so that you know you are going to be the one who benefits from the referrals. When you get a glowing testimonial, you want to be sure that you have earned it. There are several ways that you can be sure you are the one getting referrals.

First of all, recognize that each and every customer you deal with has a chance of becoming someone who can give you an endorsement. This is very important because it is the one way that you have to make sure that you can bring in customers. Treat your customers as if you value them each individually, and be sure that you show them how much they mean to you. This shows you what you can do with them, it will enhance your popularity, which increases the chances of referrals. When you are dealing with all customers, be energetic, positive, and always exceed expectations – even if things don’t go perfectly. This is certainly an easy way to prove that you deserve their business, and is also a great way to get more word of mouth!

Humans, by nature, crave to get rewarded for their actions. If there is an incentive that is immediate, it motivates people to act. So, naturally, when customers get rewarded for sending new business to you, they feel elated. This increases your response rate enormously.

The advantages of a customer referral program include:

1.The cost is little. Friends and clients bring you new business – remember, all you need to do is reward them by giving service credits.

2.It will attract high lifetime value customers. Customers who are referred by your satisfied clients are likely to do a lot of business with you, as they already know that you are trustworthy and dependable.

3.It will assist in building brand awareness. When many of people talk very highly about your business, it has a very positive effect and your brand’s popularity explodes.

4.    It creates a channel to launch your new products and services. This is most likely the biggest advantage of a referral program.

5.    It creates a platform to maintain the excellent relationship you have with your existing clients and to build rapport with new clients.

To get great results, you should inform your existing clients about your referral programs. You can do this by making a phone call, text message or by sending an email to all your clients. You may gradually build a mailing list and send a short message to your inactive clients now and again. In effect, you keep reminding them that you appreciate what they do and would love to reward them.

When you are a business owner, your should understand an important thing about a good customer referral program. Any incentive you wish to give need not be overtly extravagant. Mostly, service credits would be sufficient. A box of chocolates will show your appreciation for your customers, or even a donation to a local charity in the name of your customer will go a long way.

The only thing that matters is your intention. Avoid worrying about spending a lot of money on your incentive program. Set up a referral marketing program today and get the results you want.