Turning Your Customer into Your Best Salesperson

The best advertising is word of mouth. This is one of the oldest laws in business. And while you can quantify how much you spend on print, radio, TV and online ads, word of mouth advertising is, as they say, priceless. The question is, how do you generate all those important personal recommendations? How do you turn a customer into a sales rep?

Make Your Customers Believers

We’ve all spread the word about great business experiences we’ve encountered. Why? Because we loved the company, the service, the people, the products, you name it. Well, that’s your task: Wow them!

• Dazzling Design. Make your e-commerce site the best in its field. Make it easy to shop, easy to order and easy for search engines to find.
• Super Service. Make every customer feel like your most important customer.
• Masterful Merchandising. Offer special deals. Make them good, and change them often to keep up with your customers’ interest.

Encourage Customers to Spread the Word

We all know that in business, the best interest is self-interest. If you want your customers to sing your praises, make it directly worth their while. Nothing works quite like money.

• Rebates. Give them a discount, commission or coupon for each customer they recommend to you.
• Discounts to Friends. Offer discounts to the customers your customers provide. This is a wonderful way to start a new customer relationship.
• Viral Marketing Features. Provide easy ways to send various pages to your customers’ friends.
• Product Reviews. Recommend products on a review page where the knowledge can help the prospect make an informed decision. That leads to sales which will help you!
• Include Offers. Give your customers special prices on products related to the products they already buy. Encourage them to expand their relationship with you.

Keep Your Word

The bottom line in turning your customers into sales people: deliver the goods. If you provide great service, your customers are doing their friends a favor by recommending you. If you make promises you don’t keep, your customers won’t want to put their reputations on the line for you. Hey—would you? Be the business you would proudly recommend. Be great!