Brand Champions: Referral Strategies to Help Your Company Grow

I'd like to begin with a few stats to put the need for Brand Champions in perspective for you:

• According to LinkedIn, 84% of B2B purchases started with a referral. That means that more than eight out of every 10 purchasing decisions began with someone who was a brand champion.
• Research has also proven that the probability of selling into a current client is 60-70%; and the probability of selling into a new client is 5-20%. That means you're at least 200% more likely to get a sale from a current client than you are from a new one.
• And, it is six to seven times more expensive to sell a new client than to sell more stuff into an existing client. if your efforts are focused on bringing in new clients just to stay ahead of the ones you lose, you are seriously impacting your margin in a negative way.

A few more facts include:

• Brand Champions drive referrals and they are the best and most underutilized client acquisition and expansion channel.
• They result in faster close rates from taking a prospect to client.
• And Clients that you gain as a result of a referral, remain more loyal, longer.

Given all of this information, shouldn’t your growth strategy begin with a focused effort on driving referrals?

Your Loyal customers are your greatest brand champions, particularly in your social media strategy. They provide word of mouth advertising that has really unique credibility — they are a third party with first-hand experience as your customer! You see, you get paid to say how great your company is — your brand champions do it because they are passionate about what you offer.

So, how can you use Brand Champions to help you grow?

Here are the four simple steps:

1. Identify and draft them: First you must specifically Find your loyal and satisfied customers who fully understand and appreciate your brand and draft them
2. Interact with them: Thank your brand champions for their purchases, their loyalty, comments, etc. and build closer relationships with them by introducing multiple people from your organization to multiple people in their organization. Focus on helping their customers through the service you offer.
3. Give them perks: Offer brand champions VIP treatment, loyalty rewards or special perks for providing testimonials or sharing your brand with others.
4. Listen to them: Champions provide excellent feedback and should be used as beta testers. Take their praise and criticism seriously. Make it a point to hear them. They will not only help you fix issues or gaps, but they will help you innovate!

Butler Street has developed a program that will provide you the ability to implement these four steps with ease and consistency. Our Net Promoter Score Survey — developed specifically for your company — will allow you to identify your brand champions and will also provide you with the actionable insights to interact with them, listen to them, exceed their expectations and turn them into your greatest referral sources. We’d love to show you how at www.aremyclientsloyal.com!