A customer referral means that you’re firing on two important cylinders.
First, you’ve done enough things right that they meld together into an experience that’s more than the sum of the parts of your organization. Second, the connection you’ve created with customers through the delivery of this experience compels them to tell others about it. Your customers become your marketing department, relating their experiences and convincing others to try you.
You need to know how far you are down this path of building a customer base that would refer you. If you track the rate of referrals in general and by customer group, you’ll know the strength of your ongoing revenue stream before you even spend another dollar on marketing.
