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1-Page Summary of The Referral Engine

Overview

To identify common themes for your own company, brainstorm with salespeople or customers. Once you’ve identified them, use these phrases in your marketing material to attract new prospects and increase the chances of their referral leading to new business.

If you want your business to grow, you need more customers. You can get more customers by having other people recommend your products and services to them. This is called referrals or word-of-mouth marketing. It’s essential for any successful company that wants to expand.

To make your company successful, it’s important to have a referral engine. A referral engine is composed of six parts: the sharing economy, gamification, storytelling and content marketing, community building and online reviews/social media interaction. These components are all essential for building a strong company that will succeed in today’s business world.

You will learn that getting more customers isn’t always a good idea, as you can get too big to manage. You’ll also see why you shouldn’t be afraid of giving away your products or services for free and how collaborating with other businesses can benefit both parties.

Big Idea #1: Humans are wired to share information, and that’s something you can use in business.

If you want people to recommend your company, you should tap into the psychological impulse that compels humans to make recommendations.

Humans are social creatures, and they want to be recognized for their work. In the past, that was a matter of life or death. It made sense for people to refer others so that they would gain recognition from the community and stay alive.

Because of this, we’re driven by a deep desire to be validated by others. This is so powerful that it’s even controlled by the same part of our brain that controls basic functions like hunger and sex drive.

To gain credibility, your business should be able to provide solutions that are useful and relevant. For example, telling another tribe member about a good fishing spot during a time of famine would earn you respect. However, it’s important to show people that they can trust the solution you’re referring them to in order for them to buy into what you’re saying. Otherwise, if the solution isn’t helpful or relevant, then your credibility will be lost when others realize this fact.

Building trust is a long-term process that requires commitment and consistency. Scott Ginsberg, an author and speaker on the art of approachability, wears a name tag every day for over eight years to build trust with his audience.

The author’s commitment to standing out has earned him the trust of others.

Big Idea #2: If you want referrals, then stand out and be true to your purpose.

Why would a customer refer you? It’s important to know the answer to that question.

To find your answer, you have to offer something that’s different from what people are used to. You can do this by identifying a way that you already do things and making it easier for customers to want or need that.

To differentiate yourself from the competition, you need to do things differently or simplify your product. A great example of this is Cheeseboard Pizza Collective in Berkeley, California. It only has a single kind of pizza each day and uses higher quality ingredients than normal pizzerias. This approach has made it popular with customers and given it a long lineup every day.

Businesses need to be willing to change in order for them to maximize their difference.

So, the way to stand out is by creating a unique offering. However, it’ll be even more effective if you infuse that uniqueness with authenticity. People want to connect with and talk about businesses driven by a powerful purpose, which can be achieved through differentiation strategies. The great thing about this strategy is that you don’t need to communicate your higher purpose; if it’s genuine, people will see it in everything you do.