Be a Master Closer

How to improve your closing rate?

Prospective clients or business partners that find you through an introduction from a trusted person or business are usually ready to trust your advice.

Because of this, the process may progress more quickly as the referred prospect may come predisposed to doing business with you.

Referred businesses typically experience a much higher closing rate (sometimes closing rates as high as 50-80%!)

So do you start the referral process?

A thoughtful ask with the right determination will earn you relevant referrals. Below you will find 5 highly great ways to get your customers talking about you and the services your business offers to your friends, family, and colleagues.

1. Nurture customer loyalty.?Referrals usually come in when you earn your customer’s loyalty. If you want to increase the number of referrals, exceed your customers’ expectations and deliver a superior customer experience.
2. Create a structure.?We all know that referrals are an important part of growing your career and business, and cannot be left to chance. Develop a structure to continuously generate referrals, target referral sources, communication channels, incentives, track and manage the process and measure results.
3. Make the process simple.?The most successful referrals come in when the 'call to action' is clear and precise. From asking for them in person to your website to point of sales system to email, make it easy for customers to recommend you to others. Some customers won’t want to give you a referral, make it easy for them to endorse you through online reviews, Facebook star ratings, testimonials, LinkedIn recommendations, etc.
4. Be grateful.?Make your customers feel valued and appreciated. This can be as simple as a handwritten thank you card, phone call, email. You can use incentives as an added bonus for referring. The 2016 Harris survey found that 88% of Americans would like some sort of incentive (money, product or service, loyalty points, early access or swag) for sharing a product via social media or email.
5. Continuously optimize.?Evaluate what is working and what is not. Look at who is referring you and who is not. Analyze the purchase cycle to determine when you get the most referrals. Identify what products or services get the most and the least referrals. Evaluate your incentives to determine if they are structured based on the consumer’s motivations and are communicated effectively.