Expanding Your IT Business - Making the Most of Referrals

Referrals are the basis of word of mouth advertising. They are a good solid resource, thanks to the internet and the ability to market to massive numbers of potential clients. At the same time, many people started to move away from referral based marketing strategies. However, even on the internet, word of mouth marketing is a powerful tool to help promote your business.

Expanding your business means increasing your marketing but it also means increasing the customer experience. You do not have to do anything fancy to create an excellent customer experience, but it is the highlight of what customers are going to remember and what they are going to remark upon.

The question now becomes how to provide customers with a better experience so that your business can grow through the praises of those customers. The first step is to streamline your business. The less time you spend on routine tasks, the more time you have to spend focusing on your customers. One of the biggest areas that take a chunk out of a business owner or manager's time is all the administrative tasks necessary to run a business.

Administrative tasks might include lead generation, asset management, help desk features, as well as ordering and invoicing. Having an integrated service management software application such as EzPSA can go a long way to streamlining these processes and giving you more time to spend with your customers, ensuring their satisfaction.

Having a streamlined system is not just about freeing up time. It also helps ensure that there are fewer errors and that customer invoicing, information and history are kept organized. Customers return to businesses that can fix their problems, know who they are and give them the least number of hassles.

Another note on obtaining referrals and making the most of this type of marketing is money. Everyone wants to make a profit, but it is also important to offer customers the best possible deal. Customers are looking for value, not just great customer service. The product should provide them with exactly what they need and be reasonably priced. In the case of an IT business, the product is the services the company provides.

It is important to be competitive. Offering a great customer experience will only go so far if pricing is not competitive. To make the most of referral marketing, you need your customers to have your name as the name that first comes to mind when someone they are working with or talking to has IT concerns that fit within the parameters of what your business offers.

People have been making use of referral based marketing for generations. Everyone has their favorite store, clerk, technician, doctor or hospital, or restaurant which provides them with great value and a great customer experience. The internet has made things easier but it does not eliminate the uses of old fashioned marketing techniques. Referral marketing has reached new heights and services have become increasingly digital, and customers can request services from all over the world.