Buying any type of product or service, regardless of the cost, can be unnerving for some folks. Whether it is finding a reliable plumber, electrician, handyman or finding a great new restaurant, we often look to our family and friends for advice. Doing this takes the stress and research time involved in doing business with someone new. We know our family and friends will steer us in the right direction 99% of the time. That’s why we go to them first before we even try other sources such as using the internet to search companies.
Customer reviews can be good, but you are still taking advice from strangers. In today’s internet world, many online reviews are often created by bots which creates even more confusion. If you think about it, how many times has someone asked you to recommend a specialty home contractor, restaurant or shopping venue? Referrals are literally the go-to method of finding out what we want and need to know about a product or service provider. Referrals have been around as long as business itself and it trusted by more people than any other method of identifying goods and service providers.
There are many companies out there that provide software to companies to add referral programs onto their existing website, if they even have one. Less than 64% of small businesses have a website. 70-80% of people research a company online before visiting it or making a purchase. Centrality of research resources is the key to creating a one stop shop to finding honest and dependable referral resources. We are always glad to give and receive referrals and its always nice to save a little money as well. Small business consistently needs our help in recommending new customers and there is nothing more reliable than customer referrals. Ninety-two percent of small businesses rely on referrals so you know its important to their success.
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