Feature Article: How to Use Information Products to Get More Referrals

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Judy Murdoch


A couple weeks ago, my good friend and colleague, Mary Walewski sent me an email that contained a link and the short message, "thought this might interest you."

The link was to download a promotions planning calendar; a calendar that included specific steps to take each month around setting up online promotions.

The calendar was f'ree and simple to download. All in all a useful little tool.

And throughout the calendar are promotions for paid webinars the calendar's author is offering. Now I'm not interested in the webinars... at least not right now. But now I know they are available and I'll be looking at the calendar at least once a week and getting reminders.

This is a great example of how a small business can use information products as a way to generate referrals that lead to new customers.

This is something you can do in your own business. If you aren't you are missing an opportunity to help people send you referrals.

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How Information Products Make It Easier for Customers to Refer Business to You
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Small business owners love customer referrals and for good reason. Customer referrals are incredibly powerful because they are sincere, personal endorsements made because the person making the referral wants to look good to their peers. If the referral works out it's a win for everyone.

The Downside of Referrals is They're Unpredictable. No matter how much your customers love you, sending you a referral is simply not their first priority. Not because they don't think you're awesome and would like to help. Because there are hundreds of other things, some urgent, that compete for their attention.

The good news is that there are things you as a business owner can do to increases the chances your customers will remember to refer you. One way to improve those chances is by using information products.

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How Information Products Improve the Chances of Getting Referrals
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To give you a referral, your customer must remember you in the context of the problem you solve. What does this mean?

Here's an example:

Dave is new to town and just bought a house. He moved in a couple days ago and finds his hot water heater has sprung a leak. He needs to take care the leak quickly so the small puddle around his water heater doesn't turn into a small lake.

Dave calls his neighbor, Pete who has lived in the neighborhood for ten years and asks Pete to recommend a good plumber. Pete tells Dave to call Main Street Plumbing because Steve is great at figuring out problems, his rates are reasonable, and he makes emergency house calls.

Now here's how memorability and context work.

If Dave and Pete met under most circumstances, would Pete have referred plumbing services to Dave? Very unlikely. Why? Context.

Let's say they walk by each other or see each other at a barbecue. Would Pete say, "Hey, Dave, just in case you're looking for a plumber, you should call Steve at Main Street Plumbing." No it would sound weird unless they were already talking about plumbing problems.

And even if Pete did tell Dave about Main Street Plumbing, it's unlikely Dave would remember because plumbing problems aren't top of mind at the moment the referral is given.

You can't predict when the situation will arise when the referral is needed. But you CAN improve the chances that when the situation DOES arise, someone will remember to refer you.

One way to increase the chance someone will remember you is using an information product that your referral source is likely to use regularly.

Like the calendar I mentioned at the beginning. And remember it wasn't just a calendar (because if it were it would be competing with the other six calendars vendors send me every year) it had useful information and tips so that I would use it regularly.

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Tips for Creating Products That Will Get You More Referrals
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1. Make sure your contact information is clear and easy to locate. This may seem obvious but I can't believe the number of times a business doesn't put its name and contact information on information products.

Always include your company name, your website address, your phone number, and a memory tag if you have one {"24-hour plumbing at your service")

2. Make sure you include useful, relevant information that your customers are likely to need at least once a month.

3. Make sure the information helps your customer solve a problem that you want referrals for.

Let's say every year Steve sends his customers a calendar with tips on simple maintenance tasks that will prevent plumbing disasters. Maybe two to three tips each month. Or he could do the same thing with a monthly newsletter.

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Bottom Line
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Don't hope customers will send you referrals. Create a simple, useful information product that will help customers remember you so that when your customer encounters someone who needs your help, they'll remember you and why they want to send you a referral.


About the Author:
Judy Murdoch helps small business owners create low-cost, effective marketing campaigns using word-of-mouth referrals, guerrilla marketing activities, and selected strategic alliances. To download a free copy of the workbook, "Where Does it Hurt? Marketing Solutions to the problems that Drive Your Customers Crazy!" go to http://www.judymurdoch.com/workbook.htm
You can contact Judy at 303-475-2015 or judy@judymurdoch.com