The Best Referal Systems for your marketing consulting services?

14 replies
Was curious if there are any creative ideas for any Referal Systems that are designed to leverage your clients (and maybe centers of influence like Small Business Owners Association ect...).

Thoughts?
#consulting #marketing #referal #services #systems
  • Profile picture of the author Corwinnx
    Adwords Vouchers- not sure if you can get them direct from Adwords or not, but you can always offer it as a 'gift certificate' from your own company and just pay the up to the voucher amount for them when running their campaign.

    Rebates- I actually don't see many 'rebates' in the online world but they are known to be extremely effective in brick and mortars for more reasons than most consumers even realize. Most consumers think that rebates are used to move inventory, but there are so many more things it can do for a business, such as list building. I would offer my clients a rebate for every business owner of theirs that opted in to my list.

    If I think of any more, I'll let you know. Curious to see what others have in mind for this too. Thanks for starting this thread. It's one I'll follow.

    -Marcus
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  • Profile picture of the author Shaun OReilly
    Originally Posted by chrisnegro View Post

    Was curious if there are any creative ideas for any Referal Systems that are designed to leverage your clients (and maybe centers of influence like Small Business Owners Association ect...).

    Thoughts?
    If you're looking for a lot of creative ideas for referral systems,
    then I highly recommend the Jay Abraham audio series entitled
    93 Extraordinary Referral Systems.

    It contains a lot of fantastic ways that other people are using
    to generate referrals for their business and will trigger other
    ideas for yourself too.

    93 Extraordinary Referral Systems by Jay Abraham (no affil.)

    Dedicated to your success,

    Shaun
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  • Profile picture of the author Loren Woirhaye
    I was gonna say : If you have to ask this question you
    probably haven't read Jay Abraham.
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  • Profile picture of the author chrisnegro
    Have any of you bought is CD Series? Looks like I may have to buy it. Do you guys remember any of the top 2 or 3 referal method he explains in his series...THAT BLEW YOUR MIND AWAY?

    Thanks guys,

    Chris Negro
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    • Profile picture of the author Shaun OReilly
      Originally Posted by chrisnegro View Post

      Have any of you bought is CD Series? Looks like I may have to buy it. Do you guys remember any of the top 2 or 3 referal method he explains in his series...THAT BLEW YOUR MIND AWAY?

      Thanks guys,

      Chris Negro
      Yes - I have bought the CD series. I wouldn't recommend
      something that I haven't used myself.

      The audio is not Jay Abraham sitting down in a studio
      giving step-by-step guides on various referral systems.

      That's not how Jay's mind works.

      It's recordings from his high-end seminars where he gets
      the attendees to step-up to the mic and talk about the
      referral systems they are using in their own businesses.

      The value in the program for me is in the ideas it triggers
      off and how you can adapt the ideas for your industry.

      It also includes an interview at the start with an Australian
      Dentist named Paddi Lund.

      An alternative is to get Jay Abraham's book Getting
      Everything You Can Out of All You've Got
      and go to the
      chapter on referrals there.

      Dedicated to your success,

      Shaun
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  • Profile picture of the author Josh Anderson
    Rebates- I actually don't see many 'rebates' in the online world but they are known to be extremely effective in brick and mortars for more reasons than most consumers even realize.
    This may sound odd to some (it did to me when I first researched it) but referral rebates as an incentive for buyers are illegal in all 50 states. It ranges from misdemeanor to felony depending on the state and statute.

    It is called referral or chain selling.

    I know, most people are not aware that this is illegal and it sounds ridiculous. I did extensive research and interviewed legal experts on the subject years ago when I was trying to create a referral program.

    Essentially it is illegal to offer a discount or rebate as an incentive to a paying client to refer others to you.

    You can offer a referral commission but you cannot offer it in the form of a rebate or discount as an incentive to buy.

    The key is incentive to buy... in other words you cannot offer a discount or rebate in exchange for names or referrals in order to close the deal. That is where the illegal part comes in.
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    • Profile picture of the author Corwinnx
      Josh,
      Wow.. thanks. I didn't know that. Guess I'll stick with the gift certificate idea.

      -Marcus
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      • Profile picture of the author bobmcalister
        how is that big big big 200k account going ?
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        free facebook ad trials . proof before payment

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    • Profile picture of the author Paul Hancox
      Hey Josh

      Any particular reason WHY it is illegal? My first thought is that the law sounds a bit silly in this regard, but maybe there's more to it.

      Originally Posted by Josh Anderson View Post

      This may sound odd to some (it did to me when I first researched it) but referral rebates as an incentive for buyers are illegal in all 50 states. It ranges from misdemeanor to felony depending on the state and statute.

      It is called referral or chain selling.

      I know, most people are not aware that this is illegal and it sounds ridiculous. I did extensive research and interviewed legal experts on the subject years ago when I was trying to create a referral program.

      Essentially it is illegal to offer a discount or rebate as an incentive to a paying client to refer others to you.

      You can offer a referral commission but you cannot offer it in the form of a rebate or discount as an incentive to buy.

      The key is incentive to buy... in other words you cannot offer a discount or rebate in exchange for names or referrals in order to close the deal. That is where the illegal part comes in.
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      PresellContent.com - How to sell without "selling"
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  • Profile picture of the author Paul Hancox
    Hi Josh

    I'm just doing a quick Google search using keywords "referral rebates illegal".

    I came across a New South Wales (Australia) "Fair Trading" site...

    Referral selling - NSW Office of Fair Trading

    They do say this:

    However, it is not 'referral selling' and not illegal for a trader to offer you a rebate, commission or other benefit for simply providing the names of consumers or helping the trader supply goods or services as there is no condition that another future event has to happen in order for you to receive that benefit.

    Obviously this is an Aussie site, so I guess the rules might be different elsewhere, but at least from their point of view, it's not illegal to offer rebates for referrals, but only if the rebate is conditional on the referral becoming a sale.
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  • Profile picture of the author James Schramko
    I have researched this in Australia where the above law does apply.

    The easiest way is to offer a percentage of the referrals account as an ongoinf commission rather than a rebate on the referrers account.

    I am also a Jay Abraham fan.
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  • Profile picture of the author chrisnegro
    Thanks all...just got his CD series.

    Warmest regards,

    Chris Negro
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    • Profile picture of the author Troyso
      Im trying to get my head around the whole referral is illegal situation.

      would this situation be illegal? after a customer has bought your product, you send them a letter that tells them that your after referrals and that for every person they send to you you will send them 10 cash?


      The way i see it is that it is only illegal, if you are offering a discount to the customer before they have bought, and on the condition that their referrals buy also?


      Does this make sense? What are your thoughts,


      p.s Im in australia
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  • Profile picture of the author James Schramko
    Troyso,

    That does not sound illegal to me.
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