When deciding whether to track down a food truck, prospective food truck customers trust one source of information above all others: their peers. So who sells your products or services? Increasingly, the most important person selling what you’re offering is — your customer. More specifically, your customer advocates.

How To Create Customer Advocates For Your Food Truck

To sell more items off your menu, you need to get your current customers marketing and selling (i.e… advocating) for your mobile food business. First, find the core customers who are passionate about your food truck. This should be easy. They are the customers you know by name and the ones who frequent your truck more than their own kitchen table.

If you are new to the food truck industry and haven’t built up a loyal customer base, you can begin asking (at your service window or over social media channels): “How likely are you to recommend us to a friend?” Then, for those who respond with “highly likely,” make it easy for them to do so.

Ask them them to post a recommendation to their Facebook friends, LinkedIn connections, and Twitter followers, or ask them to write a great review on a site such as Yelp. A study by a Harvard Business School assistant professor, shows exactly how positive reviews on Yelp impact food truck/restaurant sales. According to the study, each star rating on Yelp translated to anywhere from a 5 to 9% increase in revenues for restaurants and food trucks.

RELATED: How To Develop Your Food Truck Social Media Voice

The Bottom Line

Getting customer advocates for your food truck is a lot different from getting them to buy your menu items. Once you embrace this, you’ll find that customers can help you grow your mobile food business in many ways.

Do you have customer advocates for your food truck? We’d love to hear how you got them. Share your thoughts on this topic in the comment section, our food truck forum or on social media. Facebook | Twitter