What percentage of your new business comes from referrals? Do you have a clearly communicated process for asking and responding to processes?
If not, here’s are a proven process that can help drive an immediate improvement…
Ask. Tell your best customers that you would welcome referrals – you might be amazed at how many never thought of putting you in contact with some qualified prospects. And don’t expect immediate results – plant the seed, till the soil…you’re in this for the long haul so when you make referrals a regular part of your marketing efforts, you will see results
Clearly define your ideal client. You want to make it easy for your customers to help you – so give them a clear, concise definition of your ideal client. Focus on hard facts that are easy to identify – so if you target consumers, provide details like these – age, sex, education, household income.
And if you target businesses, focus on details like these – industry, annual revenues, number of employees, geographic location.
Have a simple and fun process. Make it fun, rewarding and stress free. Suggest a face-to-face meeting/introduction over breakfast, lunch or dinner. Maybe a round of golf or at a baseball game. Show the love to the customer and the referral!
Take immediate action. You asked. You received. Show enthusiasm and appreciation by making the referral your priority. You want to make a good impression on the prospective client, and you want to show your customer that they made the right decision to go beyond the traditional customer relationship and become an ‘evangelist’.
Communication. Keep your customer aware of your efforts and progress – even if the referral doesn’t lead to business. This shows the customer you are working the opportunity, and that shows your respect for the customer.
And your communication with the referral should be focused on understanding their needs and showing them you are uniquely qualified to provide a unique, valuable solution. If you discover that the referral has a need you can’t solve – let them know as soon as possible but I would suggest having alternatives you can recommend. This extra step will go a long way towards turning that referral into a new evangelist as well!
The power of ‘Please…’ and ‘Thank you…’ Remember to ask politely and thank your customer for the effort. Remember, referrals require your customer to ‘put themselves out there’ and the first few times aren’t all that comfortable for them. So use this experience as another opportunity to show them that you deserve their business, their trust and their support.
The same is true for the prospective client – thank them for the opportunity because you don’t want to give the impression that you are taking it all for granted because you were referred by a shared acquaintance. (You might be surprised how many times I have watched someone act like they thought the opportunity was a slam dunk…but we all know what happens when we assume…)
Follow these simple steps and you will build stronger relationships with you. Oh, and there is one more important step that helps support the entire process – provide your clients with referrals too. Ask them how you can help them attract new business – and make it a part of your daily efforts!!
What do you think? Do-able? Anything missing that can make this a stronger, more effective process?
