People attract people. That’s why it’s so important to leverage your existing customer base for sales.
You might think: “But Amy, how do I do this if I don’t have any reviews yet?” Hold your horses, because reviews are only one way to display social proof.
There’s another, more subtle, way of leveraging your existing customer base for sales and it’s called the sales reference effect. Curious to find out what this is and how you can use it? Let’s take a look at how you’ve already got the customers you need to increase your sales!
Increasing social proof and understanding the sales reference effect.
We know that we need to improve our social proof to boost sales — that means more posting, engagement, and so on. But we can’t talk about this without discussing the sales reference effect.
I learnt about the sales reference effect throughout some of my other launches. I discovered that it’s this tiny thing that can help you get a lot more clients, and it’s not even difficult.
The goal of this sneak peak into a chapter of my Launch Gamebook is to teach you how to leverage your existing customer base to attract new customers.
What is an existing customer base? I’m talking about people that are currently in the process of buying from you.
So, what’s the sales reference effect? It’s all about people attracting other people. If you see a lot of people eating at a certain restaurant, chances are you’re going to go there too.
People go where other people go. People buy from where other people buy from. So, how do you use this to your advantage throughout your launches?
How to use the sales reference effect by celebrating your customers.
In order to use the fact that ‘people attract people’ to increase your sales, there’s a few things I recommend you do.
The first one is an easy one, and I need you to remember this. Even if you feel like you’re not getting that many sales, I still urge you to do this. Many people make the mistake of ignoring the sales reference effect until they feel like they’ve got enough sales to start using their existing customers to attract others. The truth is, it doesn’t matter how many sales you have. If you start posting about sales you’ve already made, you will start to get more.
Every time I make a sale, I post about it. I celebrate it. Someone else who’s on the verge of signing up now feels that little push to go and sign up themselves.
It makes people ask: ‘why haven’t I signed up yet?’. At the same time, it celebrates those who just bought from me and doesn’t make them feel forgotten once they’ve handed over their money. I use language that congratulates them on investing in themselves, not celebrating them handing over money to me.
It all depends on your product, but you can show yourself packing orders, you can post sticky notes on your wall with each customer's name. Just make them feel seen.
Resharing your clients content to support the sales reference effect.
Beyond celebrating your customers yourself, you can also re-share what your clients have posted or shared about your product. This also helps attract people as they see people buying from you. This could be an unboxing video, or a shoutout on their stories.
When you start sharing your customers posts, or content that shows people are buying from you, also remember to make that all into a highlight. It shows people buy from you, and it shows customers they can trust you with their money.
When I have clients on a call and they post a story, I always reshare it. It shows people they can buy from you, it reminds clients who haven’t bought from you in a while that you’re still worth buying from, and it attracts new clients.
H2: Time-lapse: show people your process.
I often shoot videos of me working and create time-lapses, which people seem to love. When they see I’m working hard and that I’m busy, they know that people buy from me and that I’m hard-working in general.
Showing me working with my team gives customers an insight into the fact that they can trust me, and what kind of person I am. They see that we are busy because people buy from us and trust us, and it encourages new customers to want to buy from us too.
It shows I have paying customers and I can afford a full-time team, and this encourages other people to buy from me.
Time-lapses are also a great way to show you have customers in cases where, for any reason, you can’t share information about your paying customers or re-share their content. It still shows that you’re busy, that people are paying you for your product or service, and this still promotes the sales reference effect.
Take selfies with your customers!
I cannot believe how many people I see with physical businesses, meaning they see their customers in-person, and they don’t ever post content with those customers.
When you do see your clients, ask them if they’d be comfortable taking a selfie with you and get that content going! Let other people see you with your customers and visualize being a customer of yours too.
Some clients will love it, some won’t. But even getting some content with a few of your customers can really help with the sales reference effect.
It may even help your relationship with existing customers as well as attracting new ones. Maybe your customers will love being featured and they will be even more enthusiastic about your product! As a result, they could end up reposting and promoting you more than ever before.
The point is, keep yourself at the top of people’s minds.
Whether you do a time-lapse, repost, or a virtual ‘co-work’ with me, the point is you’re keeping your name on everyone’s lips.
I livestream myself recording podcasts, or discussing this chapter of the Launch Gamebook, and it reminds people that I know my stuff when it comes to sales and that I keep showing up.
Remember, we need trust for people to take action. Showing up creates that trust.
Your strategy needs to be solid for people to buy from you, so you can’t rush these things or rush building trust. But, you can do things (like using the sales reference effect) that encourages people to buy from you faster.
The sales reference effect is a tactic that helps people take faster action.
The point is: people attract people.
You can use the sales reference effect however you like. The point is, make sure to let people see people are buying from you and maybe even that your product is running out.
How can you show people that people buy from you?
People need to see something to believe that you have clients. You may see that you have a lot, but if you’re not doing something to show others, how would they know?
I want to challenge you to figure out a way to show people are buying from you. For me, it’s a post-it wall with my clients' names. What will you do?
Remember: satisfied customers are the best type of customer you can’t buy.
If sales hasn't really been your cup of tea up until now and this episode triggered you to change that, I can highly recommend my Selling Checklist where I teach you my own keys to selling online. Download it for free through fastforwardamy.com/sellingchecklist
Watch this episode on YouTube or listen via Apple Podcast, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and search for episode 175 of The FastForwardAmy Show.
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