Get Referrals Through Promotional Products published 14.07.2007

Research shows that customers or potential customers who received a promotional product are 14% more likely to refer someone to a product/service than those who did not. Not surprisingly, of course.

Why shouldn't we be surprised?

After all, isn't it logical to assume that a customer who received a gift from you is more likely to remember you?

But the surprising thing is that not a lot of people are doing it correctly or not giving away the right TYPE of products in order to maximize the effect that promotional products have the potential of leaving.

Let's take a gym as an example. This gym is new and it has a different concept that aims to capture the older target market but it lacks referrals. So, the marketing department of this gym came up with a special flask that is to be given away to its existing members….in exchange for 10 email addresses or phone numbers of their friends, family, relatives or co-workers! Not only will the existing member get the promotional product, so will the friend. And amazingly, it worked out handsomely for the gym and business boomed within a few months! You see, Baylor University conducted research in 1993 and found that customers are more willing to share such information with a business if they got something back in return.

And to prove this point, we'll illustrate it with a finding that Mary Kay consultants did. A group of consultants persuaded their customers for leads without giving anything away while another group of consultants DID give something away. It could be something as simple as eye make-up remover or a box of tissue, but the fact remains that the customers were more willing to share their contacts with the consultants who DID give promotional products away!

Sales and marketing people will be 22% more successful if they gave a promotional product away to their customers and bear in mind that most promotional items are not expensive. Most of them are not even unique (the more unique it is, the better it is, of course).

It's not the price that is the main issue here; it's the relevancy of the promotional product to the interest and lifestyle of the customer. That's why we need to do some research and find out the personal preferences of our customers before we decide what promotional products we should give away.

Giving away promotional products should be used as a consistent marketing tool although it's possible for it to be worked into a certain one-off campaign. But it would be most effective if a company allocates a certain amount of money to be spent on providing their customers with small gifts that could leave a permanent impression in the minds of the customers. In fact, if done over a certain period of time, not only will salespeople have an easier time closing sales, but leads and referrals will soon slowly trickle in without effort! This will provide for a continuous growth of the business. You might already know this for a fact but let this serve as a simple and not-so-pushy reminder that all promotional items are 100% deductible and attract up to 36% refund.

Start investing in your business by giving away promotional products in exchange for referrals and leads today. There is no specific time for you to run your campaigns because your campaign is every single day of the year! For ideas, please look around this site.