With the current state of the global economy, referrals are more important than ever for businesses. As the global economy slows down, more and more companies are cutting jobs to save money. This might come as a surprise, but it can be great news for you. You see, companies are still hiring new staff which can lead to your previous champion to act as your ambassador in his or her new company.
Out of 20,000 contacts who are already in your CRM 4,000 have switched jobs and 4,000 more will switch jobs in the next 12 months. That’s 40% of your already existing data!

So why not use those relationships to open new opportunities?

Champions who have switched jobs can have a major impact on your business growth

With over 1 million job cuts in the United States alone in the last year and the ripple effect on other countries, there is a lot of movement between companies. When people lose their job, they continue onto a new place of work. Using that natural movement to bring new opportunities to the table can be cost effective and decrease your velocity time to close won. Using personal relationships, especially by those who know the product and services, can help you get your foot through the door and explain the value of your product by their own experience, building trust with the new company.

Think about this, sales reps currently spend 20% of their week searching for new prospects, that one day a week! A major part of that time goes into understanding how you can use your personal network to reach your ICP or keep up-to-date with your current champions. Any salesman can vouch that the usage of SalesNavigator or LinkedIn to get updates regarding recent job changes can be extremely time consuming; however, by a simple integration between Referral-AI to your CRM, you can get notified with each job change made by your customers.

How can champion left alerts help your business grow?

Champion left alerts enhance your data on former customers and by that saves on marketing and advertising expenses. Instead of spending money to attract new leads, you can leverage your business based on your previous customers. Not only is it cost effective, but the response rate of your email marketing can increase by 10X, just imagine the impact that can have on your sales and marketing strategy. I think by just understanding those numbers, we can agree that previous customers are your best type of referrals.

Managing your Referrals

There’s no doubt that referrals are precious leads for salespeople. However, simply getting referrals from previous customers is only half the battle. The real key is effective referral management – making sure that you follow up on those leads in a timely and professional manner.

That said, generating referrals from past customers can be challenging. Building personal relationships with your customers and establishing trust takes time and effort. So how do you build a personal relationship with a customer as they are moving jobs?

Here are a few tips on referral management: