Do you receive nearly 80% of your business from referrals? I imagine your answer is likely, yes. Whenever I ask this question, I get all sorts of answers on why people would refer a client to a particular person, most sound something like, “I just do a really good job for my clients.”
You just doing a good job is great, but I have a secret I’d like to share with you on how to achieve fantastic referral relationships. As I like to say, your best clients come from your best clients.
So, let’s get started.
First, as humans, it’s important to be aware that we’re referring to people all the time.
It makes us feel really good to let people know about great things and terrible things – whether it’s a good restaurant or an amazing place to buy shoes.
Just think back to the last time you saw someone post ideas on Facebook for their next travel trip, I’m sure you can recall 10s of comments starting to roll in such as, “Costa Rica is fabulous.” or “NEVER try Finland!”
Just like that trip to Finland needed to be near the person’s memory for them to recall it, your work also needs to be top of mind to your current and past list of clients.
It’s like when you don’t want to forget to bring a gift to a party – you add a sticky note to your door that says ‘Don’t forget the gift!’ (Something I do frequently for my busy mind, so I don’t show up to my son’s friend’s party, empty-handed and embarrassed.)
So, how do you prompt clients with a sticky note so you will be top of mind for referral relationships?
With a simple two-step process:
- Create a free gift/e-booklet that helps your potential future clients, like “5 Steps to Buying your First Home”
- Email your current clients, or ask over the phone if you can send the gift to them. This looks like, “Hey Joe, can I send you my five-step guide to buying a home?” I think it may help anyone in your circle who is looking to purchase a new home like it’s helped 100’s of my clients.”
This makes it easy for your clients, like ‘Joe’, who want to refer people to you and now knows how. Of course, you’ll want to have your contact information in the free gift you put together.
I hope this process saves you time, energy, money, and of course the 100’s of Starbucks gift cards you were previously buying to extract potential referrals.