Employee referrals programs are important for many reasons. These programs give your employees a strong sense of community, inclusion, and they let your staff know their opinion is valued. Finding quality talent quickly and efficiently is top of mind in most, if not all organizations. Referrals can be the driving force behind new, more qualified employee acquisitions.  But, do you really know how valuable employee referrals are to your company? Below are 23 statistics about employee referrals that you can’t afford to ignore!

1. The #1 way people discover a new job is through a referral.  - LinkedIn
2. The top channels people use to look for new jobs are online job boards (60%), social professional networks (56%), and word of mouth (50%).  - LinkedIn
3. 35 % of employees refer to help their friends. 32% do it to help their company. 26% do it to be seen as a valuable colleague. Only 6% do it for money and recognition. - LinkedIn
4. Larger companies tend to recruit more of their new hires from employee referrals (27 percent) than mid-sized (24 percent] or smaller companies (14 percent]. - iCims
5. Almost 70% of companies offer between $1,000 and $5,000 in cash incentives for staff members who are able to refer qualified candidates. -Meritage
6. About 33% of companies use third-party software systems to manage their employee referral programs. - Meritage
7. 69 percent of large companies have a documented referral process, compared to 46 percent of smaller companies. - iCims
8. Referrals were are listed #1 as the “most productive” source for diversity hires, well ahead of major job boards, company affinity groups, and diversity career fairs. - Careerxroads
9. The chances of a referred candidate getting fired decrease by an average of 350%. - Achievers
10. Employee referrals can save organizations $3,000 or more per hire. - Recruier
11. New hires sourced via referral programs produce 25% more profit for their companies than new hires sourced via other means. - Alexander Group
12. 75% of companies prefer to use employee referral program systems that allow for automated or semi-automated processes.  - Zalp
13. 28% of organizations trying to fill a typical exempt position will offer a $1000 referral bonus. - Careerxroads
14. Employers who pay out employees in real time see an 83% uptick in engagement in their employee referral program.
15. Referrals stay at their jobs more than twice the rate of job board candidates - Recruiting Intelligence
16. Referrals are the best hires according to 88% of employers - SHRM
17. Salespeople are the most hired position from employee referrals - LinkedIn
18. 67% of employers and recruiters said the recruiting process was shorter, and 51% said it was less expensive to recruit via referrals - Social Talent
19. Companies using incentive programs reported a 79% success rate in achieving established goals when the true reward was offered. - DCR Strategies
20. Employees hired through referrals on average, onboard 10-26 days faster than those hired via job boards and career sites. - First Bird
21. 82% of employers rated employee referrals above all other sources for generating the best return on investment (ROI). - HR Tech Weekly
22. Referred candidates are more likely to accept your job offer by a statistically significant 2.6-6.6 percent. - Glassdoor

• Offering incentives for employee referrals will increase program participation. - Digital HR Tech

Interested in learning how you can start generating more employee referrals? Request a demo or message me here!

Today’s dealers consistently rank customer retention as their top priority, yet they still spend the majority of their marketing budget acquiring new customers. Customers want ease and efficiency during the buying and servicing processes now more than ever. With the access they have to endless amou nts of information, they are always looking for the best deal. Customers expect quick and receptive communication, competitive pricing and stellar customer service at a minimum. Loyalty programs boost overall revenue by 5 to 10 percent, with members of these programs spending between 5 to 20 percent more than non-members. The case for reward programs is clear-cut, and it’s important to choose the right loyalty program for your dealership and your customers.

Loyalty Members vs. Non-Members

1. Review your Budget and Goals

Dealerships today spend most of their marketing budget on acquiring new customers (conquest business) despite the fact that attracting a new customer can cost 6-7 times more than keeping an existing one (Kissmetrics)*. Taking action by identifying marketing costs that are unused and effectively produce less than stellar results or are duplicate services is a good place to start. Furthermore, if you have multiple suppliers that offer the same services, you may be missing out on valuable discounts. After you reevaluate your supplier and partnership list, you can make decisions based on ROI.

2. Create an Actionable Plan

Create a team of knowledgeable and engaged employees who will lead the program and take on specific “action items” to ensure your program’s success through daily implementation. Discussing and developing the efforts below will help you cover some common loyalty program pitfalls.

1. Understand your ideal customer, their needs, behaviors and what will motivate their interaction and spend.

2. Define the loyalty reward structure and how the reward will be delivered.

3. Create a communication calendar that highlights the path for each type of customer and what type of communication they prefer: email, text, phone.

4. Generate the loyalty program marketing content and images.

5. Detail the loyalty program marketing promotion channel calendar that will detail how often will you promote the program, and through which channels.

6. Create an internal workflow to show which employee is responsible for each task and the timeframe in which it must happen and the “how.”

7. Finally, begin your loyalty program by aiming (and tracking) for modest, yet scalable increases in customer retention, frequency and lift.

3. Select Motivating Loyalty Rewards

According to a DME Automotive study, 79% of customers expressed interest in joining an automotive loyalty program! Awesome! Customers want loyalty programs… just not meaningless loyalty programs.

It’s not enough to create an obscure point-based program that hardly makes sense to your team, let alone your customers. Your loyalty program should be easy to understand and provide immediate gratification.

Service customers often believe that the “mom and pop” shop is cheaper and offers a more affordable service option. When you think about the thousands of dollars you forfeit each day you will see that allocating a small amount of funds back to the customer could translate into a top-generating revenue center for your dealership. Creating a program with rewards that truly motivate customers to return and gives them something to associate positively with the dealership is a worthy investment.

Once you find a motivating reward, be sure that you can accurately and easily DELIVER what you are promising and promoting. There is nothing worse than falling short of a valuable customer’s expectations. Have a clear fulfillment and delivery method for your loyalty rewards. You’ll save yourself, your team AND your customers a lot of headaches.

4. Develop Relative Touch Points

Creating a cohesive end-to-end customer communication plan to ally with your loyalty program is crucial. Each customer has different needs and the communication they receive should be based on those needs and sent at the right time. Your customers are busy. Offer peace of mind through relevant and engaging service reminders. You will be placing your dealership front and center. Then, go a step further and use your vast customer data to send birthday rewards, seasonal check-up offers or create a smartphone application where your customer can create a profile to track their service rewards, updates and schedule future visits.

Developing a customer loyalty program for your service department that drives real customer retention and turns your average customer into a brand advocate is no easy task and there is certainly no trick to it. However, it can be simplified if you leave it to the professionals. Utilizing the Incentivefox platform allows you to remain in control of your business and put the focus back on your customer while breathing new life into additional revenue streams. The Incentivefox Service Rewards Platform includes scheduled, targeted promotional campaigns, an experienced client success manager, integrations with your existing dealership systems, marketing automation, reward fulfillment, program tracking, quality customer communication and engagement, custom messaging and much more. Click here to learn more.

According to Dale Carnegie only 11% of salespeople ask for referrals. We all know how valuable referrals are but when it comes time to ask for a referral or dig back into the CRM for old customers, we sweat. Let’s explore the 4 reasons why 89% of salespeople fail to ask for referrals and how to change them.

1. Lack of Commitment

   1. ISSUE - Referrals are a passive process vs. a proactive process. We are delighted when we get them, but we do not invest too much energy into them as salespeople since they rarely pan out and we seldom see them as a real business practice.

   2. FIX - Make a weekly, monthly and quarterly goal for referrals with actionable steps to take each week. These steps can be as simple as reaching out to 3 previous customers each week or to a local charity or organization to show them how committed you are to community development and referrals.

2. Fear of Rejection

   1. ISSUE - No one wants to be turned down and asking for a referral runs the risk of rejection. Salespeople often feel they’re overstepping the relationship by asking for a referral but going in with that mentality only adds to the issue.

   2. FIX - According to Dale Carnegie, 91% of customers are willing to refer, yet only 23% do. This gap exists due to the failure to simply ask and follow up with your customers. When we begin to accept and understand that customers are happy to refer our services if they’ve had a positive experience, it allows salespeople to let go of the fear that they are “bothering” them.

3. Thinking Great Service is Enough

   1. ISSUE - Most salespeople are under the illusion that “If I offer my best service and go above and beyond, I’ll get referrals.” Which would be lovely but we live in a world where our customers are busier than ever with their own lives, so our service oftentimes isn't enough.

   2. FIX -  Consistent communication and customer “upkeep” will have you in the forefront of your customer’s mind the next time their neighbor asks them “How do you like that new car?  I’m thinking about getting a new one…but I’m not sure where.” Furthermore, knowing and understanding your customer’s preferred contact methods will help you stay off their don not call list. Would they prefer a text, email or phone call? Maybe a big chunk of your audience follows your Facebook page? Make a commitment to email or post at least 2 times a month and tag a few friends or loyal customers in each post.

4. There is No Systematic Approach

   1. ISSUE - Asking for a referral can often feel like a shot in the dark. We’ve all been in a place where someone referred a friend and never received their reward. Unfortunately, this leads to a very angry customer, often more upset than if their product was damaged. That alone can make the process seem daunting, overwhelming and not worth it.

   2. FIX - When there’s an expected procedure in place that streamlines the process, this ensures both the referred customer and referrer are managed properly, it allows the salesperson to feel confident in their ability to ask for referrals and fulfills the promotion promises. Additionally, you never lose focus on giving their referral a best in class experience. According to Wharton School of Business, only 30% of companies have a formalized referral program, despite the fact that referral business experienced 86% more revenue growth over a two-year period. A homegrown referral program can be enough, but it’s a big commitment for a dealership's marketing and IT team to manage without help. Incentivefox’s Referral Rewards Solution allows dealerships to bring their often out-of-date referral programs into the digital era and formalize a process that is easy-to-use!

Are you ready to improve your sales strategy and turn 2018 into a referral generating machine, check out our blog and follow me on twitter for best practices, hints, and tips on driving more referrals and customer loyalty in 2018!

RELATED: Help: Confused/Weak Referrals

CHICAGO, Aug. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Incentivefox, which offers a revolutionary offer-and-reward platform where dealerships can easily collect referrals, re-engage with their customer base and improve employee retention, has announced the full U.S. release of their Dealership Automated Referral Rewards Solution. Dealerships today are missing out on as much as 80% of new business that loyal customer referrals can generate due to:

1. Lack of sales team initiative to ask for referrals.
2. No time to create an actionable plan to approach and promote to their customer base.
3. No way to easily collect and track referrals from customers in today’s digital age.
4. Lack of an incentivizing offer to motivate customers to refer their friends and family.

According to Nielsen, referred customers are 4x more likely to purchase than any other leads but with the ever-growing focus on SEO, PPC, social media and other digital marketing efforts, referrals have been put on the back burner. The out-dated methods for promoting and capturing referrals in most dealerships have hindered referral optimization…until now.  Incentivefox’s Automated Referral Rewards Program is the solution to driving more quality leads to every dealer’s showroom.

As a leading provider of incentive-driven solutions, the Incentivefox team collectively brings more than 35 years of automotive and incentive industry experience. Their comprehensive and easy to use referral solution helps dealerships collect more referrals by nurturing their current audiences' word of mouth and then streamlining the entire referral and rewarding process for customers and employees alike. As well as supercharging each dealer's program with complete on-brand customization and quantifiable reporting and analytics through their lead-to-sale matching technology.

“Our focus is to generate quality leads by leveraging their already loyal customer base. Even the most loyal customers need an enticing reminder to refer,” said Rick Partyka, President of Incentivefox. “The big thing that we want dealers to know is that not only is this solution going to save them a lot of time and headaches, it’s going to foster more frequent, engaging and powerful interactions with their customer base, while simultaneously turning their customers into another revenue generating sales channel.”

The Incentivefox platform is backed by a powerful incentive that entices and motivates customers to continually engage. A dealer branded Reward Card that is reloadable and can be used across any and all of the dealer’s incentive offers from test drives to employee rewards and goodwill.

Johnny Martinez1, a Larry H. Miller GM, was able to streamline his referral process and create a community of loyal brand champions. “We had high expectations at Larry H. Miller and Incentivefox has helped us achieve all of them. Based on our experience with the team and product, I would recommend Incentivefox to all dealerships who are looking for a way to drive more quality showroom traffic and improve their current customer/employee retention and relationships.”

Auto dealers can learn more about Incentivefox by visiting www.incentivefox.com where they can find more success stories and download free eBooks with referral hints and tips.

1 Transferred Larry H. Miller locations and is currently implementing the referral rewards solution at his new store.

About Incentivefox
Incentivefox (www.incentivefox.com), offer/incentive, engagement and solution platform provider. Boosting referrals, retention and revenue by creating and delivering enticing offers and experiences to your customers, partners and employees. Founded in 2014, Incentivefox solutions are used by dealerships, OEMS and small businesses all over the country.

I previously wrote an article with 30 Referral Stats to Blow Your Mind. Now I'm back with 17 more! Why, you may ask?

Because only 30% of companies have a formalized referral program, despite the fact that those that did experienced 86% more revenue growth over a two-year period. With the ever-growing focus on SEO, PPC, social media and other digital marketing efforts, referrals have been put on the back burner. The out-dated methods for promoting and capturing referrals in most dealerships have hindered referral optimization…until now.

“The purpose of a business is to create a customer who creates customers." - Shiv Singh - Visa Senior Vice President Innovation & Strategic Partnerships

Dealerships can start driving more revenue when they take some time to really refocus on their referral marketing strategies. Here are some facts that will get you ready to start re-working on your referral strategy today!

1. Referrals have a 25% higher lifetime value (LTV). - DMA and Forrester
    
2.  Referral marketing channels are helpful for facilitating at least four of Dr. Robert Cialdini’s six “weapons of influence” from his seminal marketing book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion,” including reciprocation, social proof, liking, and authority. This makes referral marketing a powerfully influential way to promote your business.
    
3. Referrals have a 20% higher average order value (AOV) each year. - DMA and Forrester
    
4. Referrals between four and five times more likely to refer additional new customers.  - DMA and Forrester
    
5. Customers are on-the-go. 80% of Incentivefox referral leads are submitted through the dealer's mobile app.  - Incentivefox Referral Rewards Program
    
6. 82% of Americans seek recommendations from friends and family when considering a purchase. - Nielsen
    
7. 88% of Americans say they would like some sort of incentive for sharing a product. That number jumps to 95% among 18-to-34-year-olds. - Harris Poll
    
8. Employee referrals rock too - Referral programs can save organizations $3,000 or more per hire.
    
9. The survey goes on to reveal that 77% of Americans identify money as their reward of choice. - Harris Poll
    
10. New hires sourced via referral programs produce 25 percent more profit for their companies than new hires sourced via other means.
     
11. Word of mouth drives $6 trillion of annual consumer spending. - CMO
     
12.  83% of consumers are willing to refer after a positive experience but only 29% do. Why? No clear and simple process for submitting referrals.  - Nielsen
     
13. 84% of B2B decision makers start the buying process with a referral. - Heinz Marketing
     
14. Referrals are 18% less likely to churn - DMA and Forrester
     
15. Referrals have a 15 point–higher average net promoter score (NPS) -  DMA and Forrester
     
16. Of companies surveyed with referral programs, 75% say referrals are their lowest-cost method of acquiring new customers. That number jumps to 82% among those who are using a SaaS-based referral marketing system like Incentivefox. - Web Profits Survey
     
17. Of the same survey, 78% of respondents with an established referral program say that customers acquired through the program are more loyal than other customers - Web Profits Survey

What did you think? Are you surprised by any of these stats? If you're unsure where to start on building your own referral program you can download free eBooks with referral hints, tips, and best practices and to start you off right... and here are the top 4 most important aspects of a successful referral program:

1. Easy-to-understand rules 
2. Appropriate benefits and rewards for both the referrer and the referee
3. Simple sign-up/submit methods
4. Fast reward payout

"In many businesses today, referrals are viewed as an organic byproduct of the company successfully doing its job. If you exceed customer expectations, it’s natural to assume they’ll return the favor by singing your praises to their networks. If you blow them away with world-class customer service, you can expect a flood of social-media goodwill.

But here’s the problem with those assumptions.... while referrals do happen organically, they’re never a given -- even from your most loyal and satisfied customers. A Texas Tech University study found that while 83% of customers say they’re willing to provide referrals after a positive brand experience, only 29% actually do. That chasm exists for many reasons, but it’s often exacerbated by a failure to properly prioritize and manage a referral program." 

Here are 5 Do's and Don'ts of a GREAT referral rewards program!

1. DON'T EXPECT YOUR SALESPEOPLE TO ASK

I know this seems ridiculous but we live in the 80/20 world. Where 20% will do what you ask and maybe more and the rest will get by with doing as little as possible. So, what can you do to combat this?

1. DO - Give your salespeople the tools that make asking less awkward like an enticing incentive that they'll want to tell their customers about. Someone's friend, relative or family member could use the extra cash and benefit from this opportunity. 
2. DO - Give them tools like promotional material or an app that makes sharing information about the program easy and fun. 
3. DO - Create an automated email campaign that asks your customers for referrals directly.

2. DON'T EXPECT YOUR CUSTOMERS TO GIVE YOU REFERRALS

This is always a hard pill to swallow. We do great work, we give great service, shouldn't referrals just be rolling in? unfortunately, no. Our customers are busy people. They've got kids and bills and work to deal with. They aren't always thinking about how great your dealership is. But what can you do to remind them?

1. DO - Entice them to refer with an incentive offer that shows you appreciate their referrals.
2. DO - Give customers the tools to make referring easy and quick for them, such as a submission page. 
3. DO - Follow up with a thank you and reminder for them to keep referring!

3. DON'T "SET IT & FORGET IT"

Referral programs are not a switch that a marketer and company can just turn on and watch the magic happen. Referral programs are similar to a garden, the more we take care of them the more they grow and then they flourish. It must be started from management and lead down to the whole team for a referral program to be a true success.

1. DO - Mention your referral program every week at your sales meeting
2. DO - Remember to tell your office, service and other team members about the program and their chance to earn.
3. DO - Hold your team accountable for driving in referral business.
4. DO - Incorporate referral marketing into all of your sales and marketing aspects. Email signatures, direct mail, TV commercials, and billboards. 
5. DO - Monitor your program, which reward amounts garner the most response? Who are my top referring customers? Who's my top salesperson? You should be able to track all of these valuable analytics within your referral program. 

4. DON'T FORGET TO REWARD!

Seems simple right? But how many times can you recall a customer calling up about a friend they referred 3 months ago and they never got their reward? YIKES! 

1. DO - Put a plan in place to thank your customer for their referral within 10 days of closing a deal.
2. DO - Follow up with customers to ensure they received their reward
3. DO - Track your sales safely to ensure a referral really did take place. You never want to shell out money unwarranted, keeping an organized list of customers and their referrals will help you combat that. 

5. DON'T TREAT REFERRALS LIKE "ANY OLE' CUSTOMER"

Referred customers are 4x more likely to purchase and have a 16x higher lifetime value than a fresh up. Treating a referral like any old web lead can diminish your chances of not only this sale but future revenue!

1. DO - Follow up with a referral lead ASAP
2. DO - Remind them that their friend referred him
3. DO - Inform your management that you've received a referral and follow it from start to finish. 

Do any of these Do's and Don't surprise you? Are you already implementing some of these today? And how many referrals is that helping your store generate?

Employee engagement and recognition aren’t just “marketing fads”. They are must-haves for companies who hope to retain their top employees.

A company’s recognition strategy speaks volume to a company’s culture and showing appreciation for your employees directly correlates to driving your financial returns through the roof.  Employees who feel appreciated are proven to be more productive, positive and innovative in their day-to-day efforts. But in the hustle and bustle of focusing on driving more sales and excelling in customer service we often forget to nurture and appreciate our employees. Even in today’s tech savvy market there are significant discrepancies in what employees what and what management provides. Having a properly implemented recognition and rewards strategy is a low cost, high impact way to create a positive company culture.  Here are 10 employee recognition and reward facts to help you gauge the value of a rewards and recognition program as well as understand your employees a bit better!

1. “Only 14% of organizations provide managers with the necessary tools for rewards and recognition.” (Aberdeen Group, The Power of Employee Recognition, 2013)
2. When asked what leaders could do more of to improve engagement, 58% of respondents replied “Give recognition.” (Psychometrics, A Study of Employee Engagement in the Canadian Workplace 2010)
3. “69% of employees would work harder if they felt their efforts were better appreciated.” (socialcast)
4. “The number-one reason most Americans leave their jobs is that they don’t feel appreciated. In fact, 65% of people surveyed said they got no recognition for good work last year” (Gallup, Tom Rath and Donald Clifton, How Full Is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work and Life, 2001)
5. 41% of companies that use peer-to-peer recognition have seen marked positive increases in customer satisfaction. (SHRM/Globoforce Employee Recognition Survey, 2012)
6. “Being able to track the effectiveness of engagement and recognition efforts can help organizations better align engagement with business objectives and improve performance.” “43% of Best-in-Class organizations have access to metrics on recognition efforts, compared to 18% of All Others.” (Aberdeen Group, The Power of Employee Recognition, 2013)
7. 50% of employees believe being thanked by managers not only improved their relationship but also built trust with their higher-ups. (Cicero Group)
8. “Organizations with recognition programs which are highly effective at enabling employee engagement had 31% lower voluntary turnover than organizations with ineffective recognition programs.” (Bersin by Deloitte, The State of Employee Recognition, 2012)
9. Companies with strategic recognition reported a mean employee turnover rate that is 23.4% lower than retention at companies without any recognition program. (SHRM/Globoforce Employee Recognition Survey, 2012)
10. Organizations with strategic recognition programs in place exhibit 28.6% lower frustration levels than companies without recognition programs. (SHRM/Globoforce Employee Recognition Survey, 2012)
11. In these environments, [where opportunity and well-being are part of the culture) strong manager performance in recognizing employee performance increases engagement by almost 60%. (Towers Watson, Turbocharging Employee Engagement: The Power of Recognition From Managers, 2009)
12. Organizations with the most sophisticated recognition practices are 12 times more likely to have strong business outcomes. (Bersin by Deloitte, The State of Employee Recognition, 2012)
13. When companies spend 1% or more of payroll on recognition, 85% see a positive impact on engagement.  (SHRM/Globoforce Employee Recognition Survey, 2012)

What do you think? Did any of these surprise you? What are you currently doing to improve employee retention and company culture? 

Myth 1:
Referral Marketing Programs are less cost effective than other marketing channels.

FALSE! 92% of people trust recommendations from friends over any other form of advertising and a referred customer is 4x more likely to purchase. Referral Marketing allows you to generate high quality leads for your store that already look like your ideal customer! With your own referral marketing program you can leverage and optimize on the trust of your already loyal customers, employees, friends and family! And it not only makes for an easier sell and close, according to marketshare, Word of Mouth has been shown to improve marketing effectiveness by up to 54%.

Myth 2:
Happy Customers Will ALWAYS refer your product or services as long as you're doing a good job.

Unfortunately FALSE... a Texas Tech study found that 83% of happy customers said they would be more than happy to refer, yet only 29% actually end up referring! Why? Because they forget. We are all busy people with 3 million things to do in our own lives and a company’s referral program can slip out of mind unless frequently promoted, a motivating offer and easy to use tools! The tools to make referring a breeze are so crucial, if your customer heads to your site to refer a friend but doesn’t understand how, they will abandon ship faster than you can say SHIP!

Myth 3:
Affiliate Programs are the same as referral programs.

False, referral programs are focused on generating new leads through your customers, employees, friends and family while simultaneously growing stronger relationships with them, these people love your services, products and employees and they’re happy to share with their friends because they know their friend will be well taken care of and happy with the end product or service.

Affiliate programs on the other hand have a strong self interest factor and these affiliates are often motivated by the financial gain and are often referring and sharing with people they are not closely related to or have strong ties to.

Myth 4:
Incentivizing for referrals does not work.
TRUTH:
Incentivizing works, how do we know this? Just to look Paypal, Airbnb or uber to see how they explain their tremendous growth rates. This is not an exclusive bonus for e-commerce stores or hip trendy new services and products. Dealerships can digitize and optimize their referral programs in a similar fashion, and while the frequency of shares/referrals for a dealership may not be as high, but considering referred customers have a 51% Service Usage, Fresh-Ups have just 29% service usage. (NADA). And since the lifetime value of a new referral customer is 16% higher than your average customer (Wharton School of Business) the effort to put together a program and incentivize for a referral makes perfect sense. More than 50% of people are likely to give a referral if offered a direct incentive, social recognition or access to an exclusive loyalty program. –  Software Advice

Myth 5: Referral Programs are EXPENSIVE to develop and implement.
This is a technically a half truth…. yes, if you’re trying to create and run your own in-house referral program similar to Airbnb or Uber then you could be looking to hire 2+ engineers and spending about $20,000+ to create it! But that’s why referral platforms exist today.  A referral platform should allow you to market your referral program, track and optimize it. Discover brand advocates and track employees who are utilizing the program to the fullest. 

What do you guys think? Did you already know these truths or did something surprise you?!
 

Monday’s are tough but here’s a few motivational quotes to get you going this Monday!

1. “Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” – Dale Carnegie
    
2. "Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions." – Albert Einstein
    
3. “Don’t raise your voice; improve your argument.” – Desmond Tutu
    
4. "You’ll never have a product or price advantage again. They can be easily duplicated, but a strong customer service culture can’t be copied." ~ Jerry Fritz 
    
5. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” — Nelson Mandela
    
6. “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” — Henry Ford
    
7. “I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse.” –Florence Nightingale
    
8. "One customer, well taken care of, could be more valuable than $10,000 worth of advertising.”  – Jim Rohn  
    
9. "Always forgive your enemies. Nothing annoys them more." – Oscar Wilde
    
10. "Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games." – Babe Ruth
     
11. “I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” —Thomas Jefferson
     
12. "Being on par in terms of price and quality only gets you into the game. Service wins the game." ~ Tony Allesandra 
           
13. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas A. Edison
     
14. “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” – Martin Luther King Junior
     
15. “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot
     
16. “Your website isn’t the center of your universe. Your Facebook page isn’t the center of your universe. Your mobile app isn’t the center of your universe. The customer is the center of your universe.” – Bruce Ernst
     
17. “It is our choices, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” – J. K Rowling
     
18. “Life is about making an impact, not making an income.” –Kevin Kruse
     
19. “Live out your beliefs and you can turn the world around.” — Henry David Thoreau
     
20. “Opportunities don’t happen, you create them.” —Chris Grosser
     
21. “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” — Vince Lombardi
     
22. “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” –Albert Einstein
     
23. “The biggest risk is not taking any risk. In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” – Mark Zuckerberg
     
24. “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.” – Vince Lombardi
     
25. “The mind is everything. What you think you become.” –Buddha
     
26. “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” — C. S. Lewis
    
        
27. "Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning." - Bill Gates  
28. “You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.” – Albert Einstein
     
29. "Hire character. Train skill." – Peter Schutz
     
30. "Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out." – Robert Collier
     
31. "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”  –Chinese Proverb
     
32. "To some the glass is 1/2 full. To others its 1/2 empty. The opportunist takes it, drinks it & doesn’t engage in the argument.”
     
33. "Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” Henry Ford     
34. "Customer Satisfaction Is Worthless Customer Loyalty Is Priceless." - Jeffrey Gitomer  
     
35. “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work” – Thomas Edison

Happy Monday all, let’s kill it this week :D!

I recently added this into a forum post comment and realized that some more people might be wondering about this. Where is the best place to ask for a referral? It used to be simple, after they purchase - ask for a referral or maybe give them a call a few weeks later and ask. Definitely YES, those two options are prime time referral asking opportunities but now that we live in a digital era, there are A LOT more opportunities to connect and engage with your customer. Meaning there are a lot more opportunities to ask for a referral. 

I like to refer to all the best places to "ask for a referral" as touch points and I will preface this with my STRONG, STRONG opinion that a referral program is great, it's awesome, but without an offer of some kind.... some of these ideas can just fall flat... why? People are busy. The offer is the stickiness that you need to go above the competition and stay at the top of your customer's mind. PS: People prefer MOOLAH, according to a recent survey," 77% of Americans identify money as their reward of choice."

I know some dealers are hesitant/wary about the effective on ROI when combined with the reward amount but it's such an inaccurate/outdated way of thinking about it.  I love showing stats and blowing dealer's minds about ROI on referrals. Just look at PayPal: "By directly paying people to sign up and then paying them more to refer friends, we achieved extraordinary growth. This strategy cost us $20 per customer, but it also led to 7% daily growth, which meant that our base nearly doubled every 10 days." - Peter Thiel - Co-founder. And not only is it cost effective, it improves your overall branding and marketing efforts, according to MarketShare, "Word-of-mouth has been shown to improve marketing effectiveness by up to 54%."

My biggest tip to gain the most traction in the following scenarios is that you ensure your referral offer/request gets to your customers QUICKLY and it is EASY for them to refer. Below are a few top touch points for a dealership/salesperson, GM or really any employee to ask for a referral.

Top Touch Points:
The most common and effective touch is point is immediately after purchase, but as we all know, our salespeople are usually a little too stoked about closing the deal to handle this.. so here are some other just as effective and awesome places to ask for a referral or promote your referral program:

1. In-Store Marketing - while they wait for F&I create some flyers that highlight the referral program + $OFFER, your customer is at their most elated point right now, they just bought a car but now they're stuck waiting. They also know they've just spent a pretty penny and the option to help a friend and earn is extremely appealing at this point. We've had some customers submit 4+ referral leads while they've waited for F&I!
    
2. F&I - your F&I manager is an ideal candidate to quickly explain the benefits of your referral program AKA earning money, while they are also discussing added benefits of new features AKA customer's spending money. a nice ying and yang for the customer to think about.
    
3. Automated Emails - if you have a follow up email to thank your customer for their purchase - add a referral button or banner that leads to a form to submit referrals. It's easy and efficient.  Your salesperson should also be following up with an email or call (mentioned below) but if they forget or won't, these automated emails and inclusive offers will ensure it gets to your customer!
    
4. Salesperson Follow up - 1-2 weeks after purchase. A simple check in to see how the car is doing can lead to a LOT of useful information, like if anything is wrong and the salesperson can help remedy this -- Major brownie points and once resolved, it's the perfect time to ask.
    
5. REVIEWS! If you get a good review, comment back and give them a link to a landing page/form where they can submit referrals!  The lack of action on positive reviews sometimes saddens me, they are a GOLD MINE for referrals... and even the bad one's offer up so much learning experience --- a goodwill offer can help a ton here too.
    
6. Social Media - It's where you have a lot of loyal fans (as long as you didn't pay for them J ) You can post about referral offers a TON here, it's something that actually won’t get old because you're offering up a reward. You can also tag your most loyal customers and invite them to join. Gamifying this is also really cool, whoever submits the most referrals this month gets 3 free oil changes. (it doesn't always have to be money offers, it's just what the people prefer.)
    
7. Your Website - PLEASE!!! do not stuff it into one of your million and billions of tabs and sub tabs. Nobody really looks in those. Make it a nice attractive button that highlights the offer amount "$100 Referral Credit" $100 Reward Credit". Something to catch their eye. 

What do you think? Is one of these spots surprising to you or currently ineffective and not receiving enough traction? Do you have an easy way for your customers to submit referrals? Do you have a motivating incentive in place? Do you have a lot of success in another place, let us know!