Sales Secrets: What Turns Your Customers Into Advocates?
Mark Organ
Word-of-mouth leads rock. They’re highly profitable, they close faster, and they have the highest win rate. They’re generally your best leads. So, how do you get more of them?
You’ve probably heard the myth that you can’t really generate word-of-mouth referrals. You just have to wow your customers and wait for those golden opportunities to fall into your lap.
The truth is that an awesome product and top-notch customer service are necessary, but for most companies they’re not enough.
Influitive CEO Mark Organ shared proven sales secrets to increase your revenue by mobilizing your advocates during his session at the 2013 Inside Sales Virtual Summit. You can watch his full presentation below.
What can advocates do for you?
Advocates can boost your sales and marketing efforts in many ways. The most obvious way is to give you a direct referral. But don’t overlook the other actions advocates can take to help you sell more.
Areas that advocates can influence include:
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Discovery: Retweets, likes, shares, blog comments
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Consideration: Product reviews
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Purchase Decision: References
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Product Development: Product road map, naming
Leads that come to you by way of advocacy are much more likely to become advocates themselves. Advocacy begets more advocacy. It’s up to you to get the ball rolling.
What motivates advocates?
Paying for referrals isn’t always that effective. People are more likely to become true advocates for intrinsic, rather than extrinsic, reasons.
3 things that motivate advocates:
1. Being part of a team. Brand your advocate community. Name it something cool. Give participants a sense of belonging. Ask for feedback, input and advice.
2. Having a measurable impact. Let advocates know what happens with their referrals. Send them a note when their referral advances to the demo stage or give them a call when it turns into a sale. Notify them when the guest blog post they wrote for you reaches 5,000 views.
3. Social currency. Some advocates want to meet other people and increase their own influence. Give them the ability to improve their own marketability. Put them in the spotlight.
How should you structure your advocacy program?
One of the sales secrets that can quickly distinguish you from your competitors is to create an advocate program.
An effective advocate program includes:
Tasks: Provide a testimonial, write a review, give a referral
Scores: Points received for each action
Recognition: Badges, achievements, leaderboards
If your advocate program is engaging and rewarding, you’re going to get a lot better participation. So, remember to tap into your advocates’ need for feedback and achievement.
Use these sales secrets to close bigger deals faster and leverage the power of your advocates.
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