Referrals- Our Biggest Untapped Resource

As I sit and consider the state of our business I am excited for several reasons. The first and foremost being our sustained performance and the opportunity for growth that has provided us. The second thing that excites me is the fact that we are still only scratching the surface in regards to one of our most fertile lead sources.
I believe that you have all had those prospects call in and simply sign up because of the experience one of our clients had with us. They take very little time and effort to convert and ultimately become an incomparable source of income for you. The first thing we must understand in order to truly start driving our referral business is that:

People Like to Refer Business to You!!

Other than doing a great job, why do people refer business to you? It is because they like you and feel that you can help their friends or associates. This is pretty obvious. The other is also obvious but often missed:

People like to help people. Why? Because it makes them look and feel good!

Am I being cynical? Not at all. Do you ever remember sitting around a table with some friends and someone says they're looking for, say, a good house cleaner? All of a sudden everyone at the table starts to vie for who can give the best referral. We want our friend to use our reference because we get an ego boost. We win. Someone noticed us and paid attention to us. That feels good.

So word-of-mouth marketing is happening all the time because it makes people feel good to make a contribution. Heck, if we gave referrals and our friends didn't use the people we referred, we wouldn't feel so great.

So in order to increase referrals you need to remember a very simple truth: Our referral sources want to both help us and their friends because it makes them feel good. It reflects positively on them.

So doesn't it make sense that you're going to get a lot more referrals if you do everything possible to make your referral sources feel even better? Of course!
 

The Four Key Referral Strategies

Now let's look at the Four key strategies for increasing word-of-mouth and your referrals sales. These four proven strategies will help you dramatically increase the referrals you receive. Remember that just one strategy can mean dozens of new clients over the lifetime of your business.

Using several of them can mean the difference between average and extraordinary success. And the great thing is, most of them cost very little or nothing. The Four strategies are:

1. Performance - Building value and trust
2. Visibility and Communication - Make sure people remember you and understand what you do
3. Just Ask - And you shall receive
4. Rewards - Will make them refer more

Strategy #1 - Performance Means Building Trust and Value

First of all, no one is going to refer business to you if they don't trust and value you. But you don't determine value, your customer does. If you think you do a great job but your client thinks it's so-so, then guess what? It's so-so. This is often a hard lesson to learn. We judge ourselves by our intentions. Clients judge us by our actions. So if we promise something and build a certain expectation and then don't deliver that expectation, we will end up with disappointed clients.

In sales this brings to mind the old adage “Under promise and over deliver”. As a sales professional our first instincts are to commit to whatever we think the customer is going to want to hear. In doing so, we often commit to unrealistic timelines, over ambitious projects and set our new clients up for disappointment.

The truly successful salesperson sells a client on parameters that are far less than what they will actually receive. Let’s follow the logic of doing this.

For example: We have a client that needs an 8 page site up in two weeks in order to meet a print deadline. After consulting the design team we learn that we can actually deliver the site in just under a week providing the customer sends us all of his information in a timely manner.

The salesperson takes this information and excitedly calls the potential client to tell them the great news. He says ”Mr. Client, Not only can we do it within your timeframe but I was able to twist some arms and get a commitment for just one week if we can tie up all the loose ends today, Okay!”

Chances are that this sale is going to happen based on the need of the client. What the salesperson may not see is the potential pitfalls that may be created and the opportunity they lost by not setting their client up to see us excel rather than hope that we do not hit a glitch and fail to meet the deadline.

A successful salesperson would address this situation just a little differently. When he calls the client with the news he says “Mr. Client, I have met with our design team and they have committed to have your site completed in time for you to review and meet your print date. I realize that this is very important for you so I am going to give you my word that I will stay on top of each step of your site to ensure that it is ready to go and that you are completely satisfied with the end product. Now in order for us to hit this two week timeframe there are a couple of things I need from you, Okay!”

The salesperson has done a couple of things by using the second approach. First and foremost the sale is just as likely with either one. However, with the second approach the salesperson has not only put himself in a position of trust and ultimately champion the customer’s cause, but at the same time he has set himself up to be the hero when he calls after just one week to report that the site is ready for review. Imagine this customer’s response to a call from this salesperson when he tells him that, not only were we able to hit the timeframe he requested, but we are a week early.

He has built a firm foundation of credibility for the company and more importantly for himself. This customer now has complete faith in our ability to come through and in this salesperson’s integrity and honesty. In short, this customer now knows that he can depend on us to deliver for anyone he may refer.

Performance includes the following *little* things:

• Returning your calls (and emails) promptly. It's more important than you think!

• Keeping your word - doing what you say you will do

• Meeting your deadlines (and making ones you can meet)

• Communicating when you run into problems

• Apologizing when you make a mistake

• Doing a little extra or going the extra mile

• Having a good sense of humor - not taking yourself too seriously

Performance also includes the following *BIG* things:

• Your intention to make a contribution

• Your passion and your love for your work

• Your personal connection and commitment to your clients

• Your knowledge and expertise

• Being authentic and sincere

• Your insight and integrity

• Being professional and courteous

None of these things "just happen." You need to work at improving performance "by design." Take one or two of these areas mentioned above and create a simple action plan for implementing it into your presentation.

Create a policy, for instance, to return all calls and e-mails within 1 hour. Seems simple, but it will stretch you and make you see how much further you can go. When you nail that one - work on another one until you can definitely say you have exceptional service.

It will take awhile, but you'll slowly but surely start to build a reputation as someone who really cares and takes care of clients.


Action Plan

1. Determine one area where you know you could improve performance and service and where you know it would likely increase referrals.

2. Let's say this area is sending "thank-you" emails to all new clients after the first call.

3. Create a simple professional Thank You “Template”. Build it so that you can easily add in specific references to the call so that it is more personal.

4. As soon as you have completed your call with a potential client send an email indicating that you are confident that we can serve their needs. The main reason for doing this may be different than you think. The biggest challenge to getting callbacks is creating an easy way for them to access your information. This practice puts it electronically in front of each of them.

Strategy #2 - Visibility and Communication

Marketing Starts with Visibility Whether it's in-person, by mail or in your email box, if you don't have a visible marketing presence, nothing is going to happen. Once you're visible, then you need to communicate the value of what you offer.

Nothing is more important than communicating how you can help your clients. As a salesperson with Heritage Web Design you need to be prepared to clearly explain what and why we do what we do at any moment. This includes every way we communicate whether it’s verbally or in print such as email. This includes email to those who are looking like strong candidates as well as those who have indicated that they are not interested.

A long time ago I learned that simply because a product doesn’t fit within a certain client’s needs, it does not mean that they don’t know someone who would benefit from our services. And based on how I handled myself during the call they would often refer me to people that they thought would benefit from our program.
There is a simple truth in sales; “those who dare ask, get!” It’s that simple. The hardest part about getting a referral is the simple process of asking if they may know someone who would benefit.

We are often intimidated or afraid of the rejection we may get by sticking this question out there, and honestly you will get more no answers then yes. But when they do refer someone to you they have just given you the golden foot in the door. In fact you are nearly 10 times more likely to sell a referral then any other type of lead.


To be successful you must overcome the natural instinct to avoid rejection that we all feel. You need to ask for referrals on every call whether they are interested or not.

Some specific ways communication can increase referrals

• Positioning - People better understand exactly what you do and what solution you provide so they can easily share this with others.

• Packaging - People visiting your web site understand your value and tell associates to check out your site.

• Promotion - You send an email to your customers/prospects and it contains information that others want to pass along. You are continually in front of your prospects with valuable information.

• Persuasion - In meeting with a new prospect, you explain the benefits of your service so clearly that they want to tell an associate about what you do as well.

Action Plans

1. Look at an area of your day where your communication is less than clear and do something, anything to improve that communication.

2. For instance, if the opening paragraphs in your presentation talks all about you but neglects to talk about how you can help your clients, take half an hour or so to do a rework until it communicates with impact.

I can't emphasize enough the importance of this one strategy. Marketing IS communication. And if you don't do it well you won't get nearly as many referrals as you deserve.

Strategy #3 - Just Ask for Referrals

I have called this a strategy here, however it is the heart and soul of any referral program. On rare occasions you have and will receive calls from people referred by our most satisfied clients. This only equates for a very small percentage of the referrals you should be getting every day.

 The key to receiving referrals from "just asking" is to plan your strategy ahead of time. It's too late when faced with a client who's happy with your work and you blurt out some inanity like, "Well, make sure you send people my way." They'll say "sure" but nothing will happen.

Or even if they do refer, they'll do it in a way that reduces the chance of the "referee" ever calling. They don't call, not because they don't need your service, but because they don't know you and it feels risky for them to call. So you need to set things up with your referrer so it increases the chance that something will happen.

Action Plan

1. The timing of asking is the key to this working. When you are discussing the results of your service and they are very enthusiastic about what you've done for them you can say something low-key such as: "Who else do you know who would like to receive similar benefits?”

2. Script your request so that you are putting the referrer and the referee ahead of yourself. "We are always looking to assist businesses that would benefit from our small business partner project. Do you know anyone who would benefit from a website and having that $2500 fee waived?"

3.  Make it very clear exactly who you are looking for as clients. Don't make your referrer do a "global search" of their internal database. Narrow it down for them. "The kinds of businesses I really like to help are businesses like yours who are putting in the effort and time to make their business grow and become very successful. Do you know any businesses like this that we may assist in their efforts?”

4. Let them know your Intentions – One of the biggest roadblocks to referrals is the customer’s concern about how you will handle their friend or associate. It is important that you take the time to reassure them that you are simply interested in finding out if we can help them. “Mr. Client, I want you to know that you have my commitment that I am simply going to see if we can assist them. As you experienced we have no interest in bullying someone into doing business with us. If it works out great, if not at least they will know there is an affordable option for the future, Okay!”

Strategy #4 - Rewards and a simple Thank-You

One of the most obvious ways to increase referrals is to reward referring behavior. That is, make them feel even better for referring. What are some simple, inexpensive things that can accomplish that?

Action Plans

1. A simple Thank-you for referring. Let them know by call or email that you sincerely appreciate the referral. Keep them posted, whether they got the client or not, and keep them informed about progress with the client.
   By the way, the more personalized this is, the better. Include specifics about how it is going and express gratitude for their efforts on your behalf.

2. Thank those who refer often by thanking them even more.

3. What's one of the best things you can do to thank them? Give them something to show your appreciation. Call them up and say: "I really appreciate that referral. I'd like to thank you by giving you a free flash intro. This will give your site a really professional look. (This is only available if the referral purchases)

Create an Action Plan for Generating More Referrals

Who?
Who are the clients or other business contacts who are most likely to give you referrals? What would motivate them to give you referrals -- that is, what's in it for them?
What?
What systems and strategies will you use to generate more referrals? Performance, Communication, Just Asking, Rewards etc.
How?
What letters, calls, scripts, etc. do you need to develop and implement to start the referral-generation process?
When?
By when will you start? How will you fit this marketing activity into your schedule?