3 Excuses B2B Marketers Make For Not Having A Referral Strategy

Great product, winning team and strong revenue growth. Your B2B company is crushing it, so you don’t need a referral strategy, right? Wrong.

Go ahead and gear up the list of reasons why referral marketing won’t work for your business - we’re here to debunk those excuses.

Referrals will happen on their own.

Word-of-mouth marketing is the oldest and sharpest tool in the marketing tool kit.  But how high-tech is your tool kit? Our research with Nielsen’s Harris Poll online showed that 82% of Americans look to recommendations from friends and family before they make a purchase. If you’re still relying on the idea that a good product and service will be referred organically, you’re selling yourself short. According to a study at Texas Tech, 83% of satisfied customers will refer a product or service organically - but less than 30% actually do. Because they’re never asked. So go ahead, and just ask.

Okay, but I don’t want to make my clients do something.

A major client just signed a 12-month license with your software. You might feel like it just isn’t worth the extra email in their inbox to ask them to be part of your referral marketing strategy. What you’re doing is locking the door to a flood of potential high-quality clients. Goethe University Frankfurt and the University of Pennsylvania performed a study where they analyzed referral programs and customer value associated with them. What they discovered is that the referred customers led to a 25% higher profit margin.

We’re a B2B product; a referral marketing strategy won’t work for us.

We might associate great referral marketing campaigns with viral moments and eCommerce brands -- but that’s hardly the truth. We discovered that B2B referral marketing programs not only stack up, but surpass the eCommerce and financial services industry. When we took a closer look, we saw that B2B software and services clients, including brands like Volusion and SendGrid, had average revenue three times higher than eCommerce. You can download the full two-page report here.

Still think your B2B company doesn't need referral marketing?

If your marketing goals include getting in front of as many responsive prospects as possible and increasing leads, then there’s no reason that referral marketing shouldn’t be a priority. You’ll be surprised at how many of your existing loyal clients are willing to be your ambassadors, and how many potential clients are waiting to find your product.