By Certified Action Coach Dave Beam
Most of my business comes from referrals. Someone who has experienced my coaching, or attended an event, tells someone else they know and recommends they call me. I am also a member of a regional referrals group, BNI. Almost 100% of the business owners that I speak with tell me that the majority of their customers come from “word-of-mouth”.
What I want to help you with in this article is increasing the number of customers in your business through referrals. One of the obvious ways to be successful at any endeavor is to take something that works and make it better. Here are some practical ideas to help you gain more business and new customers through referrals.
1. Ask – Many people are hesitant to ask others to refer them. The fact is we all have many things to do and several priorities. Many of my customers and peers would love to refer me, it’s just not a top priority. It’s about as much of a priority for them to refer me, as it is for me to refer them! Asking them to refer you just makes it more likely that they will refer you.
2. Have a plan to ask – Plan to ask at least one of your current customers per week to refer you. This probably sounds pushy, so let me give you a method of asking that will make everyone feel good about the experience. First, take your customer to lunch, and tell them that you are going to ask for referrals. Assure them that they will feel comfortable about the process. After dessert, have them take out a blank piece of paper, and number it 1 – 10. Tell them that this is their paper, and they will not be giving it to you. Have them write down the first name of ten potential referrals for you. Help them understand your best customer, or target. For example, ten new customers like them would be great. Now ask them to scratch off five of those names that would be the most unlikely customers for you of the group. You are just facilitating the process, and don’t want any information other than the first name. Your referral partner has full control of the list and process. Now they have five names remaining of possible customers for you. Have them select the least likely of that list, and justify to you why they would be a good customer for you. If they are not convinced and can convince you that this person would be a great customer for you, have them scratch that name off as well. Proceed in like manner with the rest of the list until your referral partner is insisting that the people left on the list would be great customers for you and probably love your service and products. Then simply ask them to contact those people within the next week and ask them if they would be interested in meeting you or coming into your business. You will only respond when the new prospect calls you or comes into your business. Your referral partner is going to contact these people and make sure they are really interested before you meet them. I have found that this method takes away most of the anxiety and concern about asking for referrals.
3. Say thank you – to your referral partner for providing the referral. The reason people refer you is because they want their friend to have the same great service and experience that they have had. When you keep your referral partner in the loop, and give them periodic feedback on how it is going, it makes them feel great about referring you. Why don’t you make a list of the new customers you have received in the last several months, and if they have been referred, go back and thank the referral partner and let them know how it is going. It is likely that you will receive some more referrals.
4. Give referrals for those you would like to refer you! In our networking group, BNI, it is called “giver’s gain.” People love to return favors and help those who help them. Truly the more you give, the more you will likely receive.
There is much more in terms of how to build a business based on referrals. My friend Jason Hager would love to help you do just that. He is the owner of a regional Referral Institute franchise, and if you are interested, give Nathan (my business development person) a call and he can get you in touch with Jason.
Dave's Recommended Read: Networking Like a Pro: Turning Contacts into Connections
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