“Our customers love us. Let’s do a referral campaign!” — literally every CEO ever (so I’m not subtweeting you).
We’ve all seen the B2C playbook: “Refer a friend, get $5 off!”
It’s true that no one sells your product better than a happy customer. And that customer referrals are the most cost-effective, high-converting pipeline source. But…
This is not B2C, and we’re not selling $50 water bottles. Enterprise B2B is an entirely different beast. And the overly-structured, incentive-based referral program that works so well in B2C does not work in enterprise B2B.
Trust me, I know – because I’ve probably tried dozens of versions of a referral campaign in enterprise B2B: Gift cards, gifts, email campaigns, CSMs asking, discounts, free months, complicated rules with referral links with ultra-sophisticated Salesforce tracking.
You name it – I’ve been there, done that, and… failed miserably.
It doesn’t work because:
- There’s no natural owner: The CS team doesn’t want to do it – it’s not tied to their goals, and it’s another ask they need to bug customers with. And marketing doesn’t have the relationships.
- Senior enterprise buyers don’t care about gift cards, and are often not allowed to accept any gift.
- Tracking, rules, and complicated setup means wasting a ton of time and energy perfecting a complex referral program… that drives exactly zero referrals.
So forget the structured referral program. Here’s what actually works:
✅ Create spaces for your happy customers and potential buyers to connect organically. 🌱 Think curated dinners, summits, Customer Advisory Boards (CABs), and small, invite-only community events. Virtual events can work too – we’ve had success with virtual “community roundtables” and Zoom breakout rooms.
✅ Present this to your customers as an opportunity, not a favor. They’ll get to enjoy a fancy dinner while connecting with peers – other senior leaders at similar companies.
✅ Get prospects in the same place. Encourage customers to bring a friend who might benefit from what you’re offering, and invite your own curated list of prospects.
✅ Let the magic happen in the room. ✨ You can offer light structure with conversation starters, but often, it’s not even needed. Customers will naturally sing your praises.
The bottom line
I’m all for referral initiatives and letting your customers do the selling . But do it the right way: organically, as a genuine win-win-win, not an over-engineered, incentive-heavy program.
