How to build a repeatable referral channel
Turn your referral program into a proactive way to generate high-quality pipeline
As the bots take over, humans will prefer to do business with other humans they already know, like, and trust.
This is why referrals are so hot right now.
But don’t use last year’s GTM playbook to activate referrals.
In the last week, your favorite LinkedIn minds have been discussing ways to create a repeatable referral channel that consistently generates high-quality pipeline.
Jeff Rosset recommends:
”Dedicate at least 1 hour a week to manage a referral pipeline and make it easy for people to refer you.”
Samantha McKenna recommends:
”Grab senior execs for a multi-hour strategy session and map their network to your top-tier accounts.”
Yes, and. . .
Here are four ways to maximize referrals:
1️⃣ Don’t rely solely on LinkedIn as a source for network building.
Most people have strong ties with less than 5% of their LinkedIn connections.
A better signal is work overlap and shared membership organizations (as long as the membership is invite-only, like YPO or a fancy country club).
If you're going to ask for referrals, prioritize people who used to work with the Connector or have a shared membership.
2️⃣ Prioritize who to ask for referrals.
Let's say you have a bunch of clients.
How do you know which clients are worth an extra investment of your time?
Referencing the graph below, you’d take Mauricio out to lunch before Luis because Mauricio has more warm intro paths to your target accounts.
3️⃣ You don’t always need to ask for an intro to leverage the Connector’s network.
The problem with warm intro tools is getting the warm intro.
It might not be worth spending the effort and social capital asking for an introduction to a high-value Connector.
Alternative option: Reference the Connector in your outreach.
Example:
🔥 Subject line: Did you work with [Connector]?
Hi Richard, Noticed you worked with Spencer Davis at Medallia. Spencer is one of our advisors and helped inform our product roadmap. LMK if you ever need help analyzing buyer intent. Happy to send more context on how Spencer uses us.
These campaigns historically generate a ~20% reply rate if there is at least a familiar relationship between the Connector and Prospect.
4️⃣ Combine warm intros with buyer intent signals at the individual level (content engagement, website visitors, following a competitor, profile views, event attendees, etc.).
Getting a warm intro into an account that is not actively evaluating your solution is one thing.
It’s another to get a warm intro into an account that is in an active buying cycle for solutions like yours.
BTW - We can automate these 4 steps.
Case Study
How did an enterprise software company turn its referral program from a passive channel to a proactive one?
1️⃣ They segmented an audience of customers with the highest CSAT/NPS scores
2️⃣ They mapped the networks of all their happy customers to find people who had work overlap with their Champions, matched ICP, AND showed strong intent signals.
Intent signals included recent searches for keywords tied to their value prop and following a competitor.
3️⃣ The first analysis generated ~400 warm intro paths.
4️⃣ How it's operationalized. . .
Old Way: They used to ask their customer, "Keep us in mind for anyone in your network you can refer us to."
New Way: "We've identified five former colleagues as the best referral candidates. If you introduce us to any of these people and they become customers, you will get a referral bonus of $500. And here is a blurb you can forward."
💸 Results: 20 referrals from existing customers one month after launch compared to zero the previous month