Recommending the services and products of others is a natural part of business life. If we are particularly impressed with the service we receive, we are keen to tell others about it. Likewise, if we receive bad service we do not want our peers to experience the same, spreading negative reviews just as quickly. Personal recommendations and referrals are not only an important part of the sales process but are also key to building a good reputation and a solid network. For small businesses, and start-ups in particular, who have yet to build the recognised brands or sophisticated sales processes of their larger counterparts, referrals can account for a large proportion of their overall lead generation and new business contacts. While there are hints of ‘green shoots’ in the economy, we are not out of the woods yet. The balance sheets of small businesses are still particularly vulnerable. Cash remains king, so anything that brings in extra revenue is important. But time is also tight. SMEs must focus on bringing in and retaining business. Any additional revenue streams must work with the way the business already operates. Could referrals, based on recommendations that are already taking place, be just the process that is needed? Easynet Connect commissioned this research to establish how the world of referrals, or the so-called ‘referral’ economy, works in the SME market, and to find out whether small businesses were missing out on potential revenues from the businesses they refer. Indeed, it was also important to ascertain whether there is any appetite to earn money from referring business, and if so, what are the obstacles that prevent businesses from establishing referral schemes today.
The primary research for this report was conducted by OpinionMatters, an independent pan-European market research company. The research was commissioned by Easynet Connect in order to gain insight into how business referrals work in the SME market. OpinionMatters interviewed 275 IT decision-makers, split equally among company size (ranging from SMEs of 1-4 employees up to enterprises of 250+ employees). 32 IT consultants were also surveyed as part of the sample. The research was conducted and compiled in September 2009.