Of course, you want more referrals because it’s true, referrals can lead to a ton of new business. And for an auto dealership, that’s huge. They key is, it all starts with your individual salespeople.

Can you count how many times word of mouth brought your sales team a new lead? You may or may not realize, but these are referrals, and there is a proven way to get more of them. Fun fact, 84% of people trust recommendations from people they know. Making referrals the most influential form of advertising.

This sounds amazing, right? So, how can you educate your salespeople to increase their referrals?

Create a reason for referrals to happen

Before diving in, you need to realize that becoming a referable business doesn’t happen overnight (Rome wasn’t built in a day, you know). You also need to know that referrals aren’t a quick fix and should instead be seen as a long-term game plan. With that being said, here are some ways a salesperson can make themselves more referable.

1. Get personable, and be someone your customers can trust

A huge tip for a salesperson is to be personable and let customers get to know you. This helps you get a sense of trust established. The easiest way to do this is to make yourself interesting. However, the relationship isn’t just about you. In order to be interesting, show interest in them too. Ask them questions that allow you to get to know them, while you’re sharing who you are.

Obviously, you don’t want to overshare. Sharing too much can make you and the dealership seem unprofessional. Not to mention, it can make the conversation uncomfortable.

Sometimes meeting a new customer can be awkward. Especially for one on one meetings, were long pauses of silence can occur. This is the perfect opportunity for you to get to know them before you start discussing the meat of the meeting. It’s also a good time for you to get a feeling of what the customer might be looking for. Taking this little bit of time makes it easier to build a bridge of trust.

2. Provide outstanding customer service

You probably already know this, but customer service skills matter. It actually helps you, as a salesperson, to establish the foundation for referrals to happen. Of course, you know everything there is about your market and what’s going on with your dealership. But, by adding your best customer service on top of your expertise, you will keep customers happy.

Here are some quick customer service tips.

• Always be professional - Professionalism can carry you a long way.  So even if you’re dealing with an irate customer, keep your cool and remain courteous and sincere. The way you handle yourself doesn’t go unnoticed.

• Be respectful - We know some interactions can be stressful and frustrating. But, remember to show them respect, it could lead to a referral.

• Don’t leave them hanging - Being responsive is an easy way to build a good rapport. Make sure you are replying to customer inquiries, or at least make sure you’re providing them with the tools they need. No one wants to wait forever for an answer. 

• Show consistency - Try your best to provide all customers with the same experience. By making repeatable processes, you lower your chance of forgetting the important stuff and each customer is more likely to have a good experience.

• Don’t lose track of time - You’re busy, and your customers are busy. Try your best to stick to your set meetings. If you have to reschedule, try to do so in advance. Some car sales take longer than others - schedule meetings with this in mind.

Here’s an example of great customer service

Let’s say you have a customer calling you about a specific car on your lot. The customer leaves you a message asking if they can take the car for a spin within the hour. You are actually in the middle of a sale with another customer, and you’re not sure if you will be able to go on a test drive with them, within the hour. You, however, make sure you respond to them quickly and let them know you won't be able to meet with them right away. You follow up with some other suggestions of time and even close the message by saying if they want you can have someone else at the dealership bring them on a test drive.

By responding promptly and giving them options you put the ball back in their court. This type of customer service will help set you apart and will help you keep happy customers - thus resulting in a referable business.

3. Go above and beyond

You know it’s important to stay true to your promises, and you pride yourself on doing just that. But, unfortunately, that isn’t always enough. The market is full of businesses similar or just like yours.

So, you have to find ways to make yourself top-notch. Think about all the money your customers are spending at your dealership. This should make you realize, that when you have the option or opportunity, you should go above and beyond the call of duty. This is what gets people talking about you. You are the reason people are using word of mouth marketing to spread the word about your dealership.

The more insight and help you can give to your customer, the better off you are. Don’t shy away from offering little extras, and don’t forget to remind them of what steps they need to do next. Sometimes, a sale on a car doesn’t mean the customer is in and out. Therefore, you need to let them know what to expect, and what is going to happen next.

4. Coming full circle

Many salespeople ask new customers how they found them. Some of them may mention they were sent in by a friend. If this is the case, try to drop some references to show that you remember their friend. This should be easy if you were referred by name, chances are you spent a good amount of time working with the referrer. By showing that you remember, even if it’s just the type of car, you are making yourself more personable. Which only helps you nail down your story. Remember, a friend of theirs is a friend of yours.

Time to get more referrals

By now, you know how to get referrals. But let’s look at ways to kick it up a notch. What are ways you can get even more referrals?

1. Show appreciation

This is one of the easiest things you can do, and it sets you apart. If you receive a referral, reach out to the referrer to say thanks. Whether it be a quick call, email, or even on social media. This small act of appreciation helps build your relationship. Plus, it keeps you connected to your target market. People may refer again and again if they have a good reason to do so.

Here are a few examples of how to show appreciation to top referrers.

Send thanks: send them a postcard, letter, or even an email with a discount off a service for their car. Some good ones are a discounted or free oil change or a free month of Sirius Radio (if available), free car detailing.  

If you want to send something a little bigger than a coupon, send them a gas gift card. Even if it’s a small amount like $5 or $10, the referrer will feel appreciated.

Remember you don’t always have to send a gift, sometimes a shout out on social sites or dropping a thank you in an email/newsletter is good enough. Note that public recognition can prime future referrals.

2. Know who your top referrers are

Track your referrals with either a spreadsheet or invest in some referral software. This will help you look for patterns in referrals as well as get information on trends in demographics.

You may find that single women make up the most referrals. Whatever your most referred person may be, tracking this information allows you to understand what type of people refer you and what type of people are likely to be referred. By tracking patterns you will be able to narrow down who you should really be pulling out all the stops for, as well as who to ask for referrals.

3. Run a referral program.

Choosing to run referral program can be beneficial to you and your dealership for many reasons. One is that it can help make it easy for people to refer you.  It also allows referrers to track their own results. There are many referral software solutions out there that can help you and your referrers track and manage referrals. Referral software can even help with distributing rewards.

With software, you can design a referral program to be incentive or non-incentive based. Whatever route you choose, it’s important to set up a system that is user-friendly and straightforward. A helpful hint, referral programs aren’t strictly for customers. They are awesome for referral partners, and bird-dogging sales as well.  

To  Sum it Up

The easiest way to become referable is to make yourself a key player in the story people want to share with their friends and family. This way people come in looking specifically for you by name.

There really isn’t a better way to find new customers than to have someone recommend you. Take the time to get to know your customers, and they will return the favor with a referral. Remember work smarter, not harder.

A typical auto repair often has a tough time coming up with marketing ideas.  Most auto repair shops are too busy running their business and servicing customers and coming up with complete customization repairs that they forget to think about marketing.  Marketing is one of those things that you don’t realize you need until your well begins to run dry.  The best time to think about marketing is when you don’t need it.  Here are our best ways for auto repair shops to start some marketing in ways they haven’t thought much about before.

1.  Foster Reviews

Customers don’t typically make it a point to go and give you a review online. In extreme cases (extremely good and extremely bad) customers will go out of their way to give you a review, it’s the run of the mill happy customers you want to try to have them review you. Good reviews also mean new leads – those who leave reviews (especially really positive ones) are like a referrer for your business.

Here are some tips to help separate you from other auto repair shops:

• Ask customers for a review. Make sure you're professional about it. 
• Remind customers you are on social media and or review sites
• Encourage a review on Google Plus because it will show up in your Google search listings and create a great first impression for prospects looking for opinions.

2.  Local Community Involvement

Getting involved in the local community is a great way to get your name and face out there.  Not everyone is looking for your services today, but by being involved you can be in their context once they are looking.  Here are some ideas:

• Meetup – Is a great way to find local communities for auto repair shops.  All of the meetups happen offline and locally, so get involved.
• Local associations and citizen groups – help out
• Schools, PTAs – show your support for your community

3.  Auto Repair Shop Online Community Involvement

Online communities can help drive business to your website.

• Helps potential customers get to know you and your style
• Find a place to showcase your expertise, where people are looking for it. Car blogs, forums, etc.
• Linkedin
• QA sites – Quora, Yahoo Answers
• Find forums and discussions.  Reddit (subreddits for auto repair shops)

4.  Local Business Card Shares and Local Partners

Many local businesses with waiting areas have places other local businesses can place business cards.  For example, non-competitive auto shops. So if you do mechanical work, seek out cards for a body shop or a tire shop. Other alternative cards include gyms, salons,  daycares, as they all typically have a business cards share.  Have your employees be on the lookout for these types of cards when they are out and about. Your business and their business can then exchange cards and promote each other. It works out for everyone!

5.  Give Aways and Contests

Giveaways are a great auto repair marketing tactic because they take a low amount of capital and have a high ROI (return on investment). You could do a raffle for a free tune-up, or store credit. Good rewards could also include inexpensive car parts like wiper blades or a free tank of gas.  Here’s our guide on giveaways.

6.  Customer Referral Program

Customer referral programs leverage your existing customers to get new customers.  Referral programs could help you bring in a ton of new customers. Since most auto shops have a steady flow of returning customers, it’s easy to establish some sort of relationship. It also means you’re providing good customer service. These are elements of a great referral program. Here are some resources to help you get started:

• Here are some Awesome Referral Program Ideas.
• Plenty of Referral Program Incentive Ideas to use.
• Of course, you need to see these Referral Program Promotion Techniques.

7.  Social Media

I’m sure you’ve heard about it before… but yes social media is something you should be involved in. It does take work but the ROI is there for all types of businesses. Everyone is on social media, people of all age ranges, so you can tap into a huge market. Plus, if you are on social media, it makes sharing your business page a lot easier for customers. Facebook does this thing called recommendations. Let’s say someone is looking for an auto shop, they simply ask their friends who they recommend. If you’re on Facebook as soon as someone tags you, your business information is added to the reply. This allows for excellent, not to mention free, advertisement.

• It’s great for products that have mass consumer appeal
• Facebook makes sense if your appeal is to the consumer

8.  Email Marketing

Email marketing is a great way to keep in touch with your existing customers.  It’s one of the best ways you stay in a customer’s context.  Here are some of our best tips:

• Think before you email – Is the content right for my audience?  Is it compelling?  Do they care?  Once you start sending irrelevant content, you could lose your audience.
• Be Contextual – Send content that touches on some relevance to your customers.  Close to the holidays?  Send something related…
• Don’t send for the sake of sending – If you don’t have something relevant to say, don’t say anything at all.
• Combine some other marketing ideas in this article like adding your contests and customer referral program links to the footer of your emails

9.  Customer Service

Last but not least.  Customer Service is your most important way to get more business.  Whether your business depends on recurring customers or new customers coming in the door, one of the best things you can do is provide consistent customer service to everyone. Even if you yourself are not the most personable or can provide the best customer experience, you can surround yourself with people that are.  Your front office staff, your billing people… Automation is great but it can’t beat a personal touch.

• Turn customers into repeat buyers
• Provide great customer service – it can be your secret weapon