In the age of online marketing, we think getting to profitability and having a good business is a matter of buying cheap clicks and building an email list. Maybe.
But maybe not judging by the people on email lists who never buy a thing because they just want free stuff.
Here’s how one CPA firm prospered by going “referrals only”….
The most important thing that happened when we quit taking new clients off the street is we put all of our concentration on our existing clients. We told them we were not taking any new clients except those they referred to us. And we kept our word.
In addition, they “fire” their angry, nasty, nonpaying clients and tell them to hit the road and don’t come back!
And interestingly they say they believe their clients are more willing to actively refer people since because they know that without referrals, this accountant might not be around to help them.
I’ve heard of insurance professionals going “referral only” but they had a system for soliciting referrals that this article doesn’t really mention. It actually talks more about firing customers than generating referrals.
But please notice… they did this AFTER they had a client base built up. Many businesses can’t start this way or rather WON’T. But maybe more should try. Certainly people lose lots of money on failed advertising.
There’s another thing to notice… they are an accounting firm not an online marketing firm or retail store. They sell services. That means while they have overhead, they have no inventory per se. If you have a retail establishment, you’ll want to work on having referrals, but your business is different… you may even have suppliers offering to do co-op advertising that significantly reduces your advertising costs.
Do you think this would work for your business?
(This article referred by Becky!)
No comments yet.