The Importance of an Effective Referral Program

Referral Programs have become an increasingly popular vehicle for companies to generate revenue or to streamline sales processes through existing relationships. While these programs may be used in any industry, they are especially crucial in service industries, where vendors execute the transaction or initiate the service, such as security integration and monitoring companies. 

Effective referral programs typically generate higher close ratios at a lower cost of acquisition than other marketing programs, making them particularly powerful in subscription services or recurring revenue models.

How?

A properly executed program will leverage pre-existing relationships to identify potential customers at the point in time where they can most benefit from your solution. Once these prospects are identified, companies can focus their efforts on initiatives required to close the deal and deliver a solution, rather than dedicate time to acquiring and developing the lead, as would typically be the case with other types of marketing programs.

Lastly, there are no (or lower) costs associated with lead generation because incentive is typically reserved for closed sales. As a result, referral programs can deliver higher ROI than most other types of marketing programs.

Interested in learning what other security dealers are doing to take their referral programs to the highest levels of performance?  Join us at the ESA Sales & Marketing Professionals (SMP) for the Referral Program Best Practice Awards, sponsored by Revenew and Netsertive, at ESX in Nashville on June 27^th at 2 p.m. (ESXperience stage booth #809). 

SMP will recognize dealers who are poised to reap the benefits of their dynamic personal referral and client-to-prospect marketing efforts.

Do you have a successful referral program? Call for entries are still open! Don’t wait to submit your entry as the deadline is approaching quickly.

Interested parties should submit a summary in 500 words or less describing your company’s efforts. Upon review, you may be contacted by the SMP Chair or Co-Chair for additional information and supporting materials. The deadline for submissions is June 1^st!

The entry form, as well as additional details, can be found online at www.ESAweb.org/SMPreferral.

Entrants will be divided into three categories of dealers and installers: Small, with $2.5 million or less in annual sales; Medium, with more than $2.5 million up to $5 million in sales; and Large, with more than $5 million. Winners will receive a cash prize and will also be featured in ESA publications. 

For more information, please contact ESA Marketing Manager Jaclyn Sion at (888) 447-1689, ext. 6818 or Jaclyn.Sion@ESAweb.org.