Hot Ideas & Hot Air

There is no ‘one way’ to get referrals, but there are a lot of simple things you can do to make it easier and more likely that you will get them! But, when I am talking to my clients about getting more referrals, I usually tell them to follow these 11 steps:

Deserve referrals: This should go without saying, but if your clients are not satisfied, then you can bet you won’t be seeing any referrals. Start by asking yourself this simple question: “What could we do that would make our clients so happy they would look for ways to refer new clients?”

Target your referral sources:  Just as you must define and target your best customer prospect, you must also have a very specific profile of the best referral sources. If you don’t know what your best customers look like, how can you tell your clients how to find you referrals?

Make it an expectation: One of the best ways to leverage the power of referral marketing is to make the providing of referrals an expectation of every client relationship. With every new client or networking relationship, you need to introduce the ideas of referrals. In fact, the most effective referral marketing systems start with this as a stated expectation.  This method of generating referrals becomes easier as you implement it because more and more new clients will come to you in this same way and will already understand this expectation. 

Do it during the honeymoon:  Your referral marketing system should be designed to acquire referrals as soon as possible. No matter how great your service is, your firm will never be thought of as highly as when you first provide a solution.   Over time, even though you might provide the same great solution over and over again, your value fades with familiarity. Ask for your referrals very early in the relationship.

Educate your sources:  One of the keys to systematically generating “high quality” referrals is to create a simple tool that helps educate your sources. One sheet of paper with the following bits of information is more than enough: 
Type of referral you want
An explanation of your core message
What exactly you plan on doing with the referral (so they know you aren’t just going to sic ‘Bob the Sales Guy’ on their friend
A call to action - where, to whom or how they should provide you with that lead 

Invite participation:  Your system should be designed to invite or even force your referral sources to participate in the process. The more participation from your referral source in the referral marketing process, the better the referral. When a referral source arranges a lunch or appointment between you and the referral or hands a neighbor a gift certificate for your services, you’ve got a strong chance of turning that referral into a client. 

Make it easy for them: If you give your client an easy way to give you a referal, they will be more likely to do so.

Follow-up:  It’s always a good idea to keep your referral sources involved and motivated. Let them know when you have contacted a referral. Let them know how it went. By all means, let them know when one of those referrals turns into a new client.   Your referral sources provide referrals because they want to see your firm prosper. The bigger the role they see themselves playing in that, the more involved they will become. Thank your referral sources in meaningful and genuine ways. 

Reward your sources: There are many ways to provide incentives and rewards to your referral sources. Straight monetary rewards tends to get boring - Be creative and you’ll be surprised how many more referrals you get!

Reward every step of the way:  One the greatest ways to create a flood of referrals is to set up some form of tiered reward system. In other words, when someone gives you a name or referral, immediately send him/her, say, two movie passes.   They will appreciate the gesture but, more importantly, they will do two other things: 
They will likely call the referral up and encourage him/her to take your call (this is why communicating your progress is so important); and,
They will continue to send you more referrals.   Sometimes a referral source will send you five or six referrals before one turns into a client. This two-tiered system ensures that they stay motivated until you get that big one that turns into a great new client. Then you can send the $50 dinner certificate or outrageous basket of goodies for tier two. 

Look for moments of truth:  There is no perfect time to ask for referrals, but there are some milestones or “moment of truth” events that present perfect opportunities to maximize your ability to receive referrals:  When you complete a project well done and a client tells you how pleased he/she is  When you go over and above in some customer service aspect and your client suggests that you just saved his life or at least his job … doesn’t that sound like a good time to ask for a referral?  Other great times to look for referrals:
When you deliver a new product
During a review or check-up process as part of your service 
Make a list of all of the instances where your firm comes into contact with its clients and referral sources, and look for natural opportunities to systematically insert some aspect of your referral marketing system.

Remember: The only thing standing between you and a referral is the fact that you haven’t asked for one!

Is there a great way to generate referrals that I am missing? Or something you’ve done (or seen done) that worked well?

This entry was posted on Monday, July 7th, 2008 at 11:16 am and is filed under Requirements of every small business, Tips and Tricks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.