With all referral programs, it’s important to remember that you want this to do one thing, and do it well. A referral letter is the “next best thing” to having a personal referral, without that person knowing who will be reading their letter. This can be as simple or complex as you require – as long as the basic message that you want to give is included, then having several is not a bad place to be in.

All great websites out there have referral letters on client pages, more well know as testimonial pages. We have people who have written in to rave about a product – doesn’t sound like a big deal, does it? Way over 60% of purchasers have said that they 1) read user generated comments or testimonials and 2) that their decisions have being based on these writings or comments. This is the main reason that many businesses spend large amounts on customer satisfaction and client follow-up.

With the current economic downturn, it’s no wonder that there is a high demand for these programs. Using this strategy has become so necessary that it’s worth mentioning again, briefly.

Make sure you follow up with your clients and prospects; ensure the sales and delivery process goes smoothly and to their satisfaction; follow up, every step of the way. When you’re assured of their satisfaction, then ask for a referral – or ask for a referral letter, depending on the product or service you are offering.

In areas where your offerings are not in a wide demand setting that referral letters will be very important, as not everyone will know someone who specifically will want your product, but if they’re happy with your service, they will be more likely to give you a testimonial letter. Since testimonials can increase your business, it’s a strategy that should be company policy – to ask for a referral after any contact with a client.

Integrating these letters into a sales presentation is not always easy or needed, but having them on hand to allow prospects to review an honest assessment by a previous client of your product or service will go a long way to showing that your company holds its responsibilities highly and backs it up. Taking into consideration the effect the referral letter has on sales is not easy and it’s incredibly hard to find metrics to back it up, but it is a known fact that our opinions do affect others, however trivial they may seem to us at the time, and that this influence has a huge impact on every sales arena.

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