Add an URP to Your Business Card For More Referrals
We expect a lot from such a small, inconsequential scrap of paper, don’t we?
A mere 7 square inches of flimsy paper, and yet we count on it to be our face, our image, our very business persona to someone we may scarcely know. Business cards are usually the first marketing purchase for a new company or new employee, and they’re still the most popular marketing tool of small business.
Business cards do much more than merely convey contact information!
Business cards are supposed to get people to remember your name (or at least what you look like); tell prospects where you’re located; encourage potential customers, clients, and vendors to call, email or visit your website; and convince every single one of them of your credibility. And they have just seconds to do so before being pitched into the trash or crammed into a card file.
So what am I encouraging you to add to your already-overworked business card, and why on earth would I do so?
My friend Dave Frey of MarketingBestPractices.com refers to it as an U.R.P. - or Unique Referral Proposition - and it’s simply a statement about how important referrals are to you. It’s a way to remind every recipient of your business card that when you provide a quality product or service, you hope and expect to get referrals in return.
Most of us expect to get referrals from satisfied customers, so at first glance, adding more text to an already crowded card, asking for referrals, may seem like a foolish waste of space.
But according to Dr. Ivan Misner, author of “Truth or Delusion: Busting Networking’s Biggest Myths”, that assumption is the biggest delusion of all. People expect good customer service; it’s a minimum requirement. By itself, good service is just not enough to generate a referral.
And even if someone is enormously pleased with you and your company, your customers are busy. Frankly, you’re not their biggest priority. They forget. And sometimes they honestly don’t realize that you need referrals — you never ask!
Putting a brief U.R.P. statement on the back of your business card is an easy, effective way to let people know how they can help you; it makes it crystal clear that referrals are critical to the growth of your business.
An U.R.P. statement may be something like:
- “Customer referrals are essential to my business; I want to spend my time and energy taking care of your pets, not writing ad copy. Please recommend me to your friends.”
- “We only do business by referral.”
- “Our business is 100% referral-based; if you’re happy with our service, please give your friend, neighbor or co-worker this card!”
These statements are admittedly brief; you can draft a lengthier version of your Unique Referral Proposition and make it available on your website or in your promotional materials.
Anything you can do to reinforce the idea that referrals are essential to you makes it more likely that customers will remember to recommend you - and makes it more likely that he or she will refer you rather than your competitor.
Putting your Unique Referral Proposition on your business card is an easy and effective way to help other people help you grow your business. And that’s worth a little bit of printing space, don’t you think?
Copyright 2008, Diana Ratliff. All rights reserved
For a limited time, Referral Marketing and Business Card Expert Diana Ratliff is giving away free subscriptions to her “Referral Marketing Tips” newsletter - bonuses available if you subscribe today! To learn how YOU can get more referrals than your Rolodex can handle, visit http://www.GenerateMoreReferrals.com today.
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