Look after your customers and they will spread the goodness for you. As I always say, WOM is by far one of the most effective forms of marketing, but one that is underestimated and underutilised. 
Here are some of my favourites way to create happy customers – 

• Establish trust and rapport from the start. Work on building the relationship long before they become customers through social media and private messages. Let them understand what you do and how you do it without the direct sales pitch
• Get to know your customers needs as well as they know them. Ask them questions and analyse their behaviour. Identify how you could go the extra mile. 
• Develop and redesign your services to meet their needs better. Think creatively and innovatively about how you can do this. 
• Ask them for feedback regularly. Use feedback forms and open discussions of how you can go the extra mile often where you can.
• Manage expectations and boundaries from the start, these can be much harder to work with later
• Acknowledge the progress they have made or of you working together or the benefits they have received
• Be authentic. Let to know your vision and what you stand for so they can believe in you and your company brand
• Build a loyalty program and incentive it – don’t be shy sharing referral fees with customers. They’re doing the hard work after all!
• Communicate fully and arrange a time when you will follow-up with them. Don’t let them ever feel like they’ve been forgotten.

I could go on and on with these methods but here are a few 🙂 

Remember its easier to lose a customer than it is to find another one. Look after them – you never know who they know!

Getting referrals and recommendations

Seriously just ask them!

If you’ve built a good relationship and are gaining the benefits, chances are they will want to spread the goodness!

• You can use referral cards as a tangible prompt to get them to pass on (and track where new customers have come from) This can also be used digitally too with an affiliate system.