Getting Referrals from Centres of Influence
26th March 2009
Getting FREE leads from External Connections
14th April 2009
Those who get a lot of referred business are usually good at their job - AND clients know it.
Their clients KNOW, understand and appreciate the service and its benefits, believe they are given good value for money and they also TRUST and LIKE the person that deals with them or provides the service to the extent that they want to help them.
KNOW, TRUST and LIKE are the attributes that need to be improved in order to get lots of quality referrals.
Those that don't get a lot of referred business EITHER have a low level of KNOW, TRUST AND LIKE, unbelievably don’t ask for referrals, or both. If it’s mainly due to not asking; this is relatively easy to fix, but it must be done properly and consistently as a natural procedure and a culture developed and honed within the firm. Management needs to embrace it as a business system.
Client facing staff need to be aware that in order to gain lots of quality referrals they need to be generally liked, valued and trusted by their clients and thus should WORK on these aspects - with SINCERITY. They also need to CARE about their clients again with sincerity, and clients need to FEEL it.
Asking for referrals is NOT begging and should never be done in desperation. Clients need to be made aware of the benefits to THEM that you use Referral Marketing Systems. They should ultimately feel they WANT to refer quite happily, they should want to see you and your firm continue to prosper.
The best time to ask a client for a referral is just after you’ve concluded some work particularly just after they thank you; at this point they're feeling very happy with their decision and suitably softened for your appeal.
A referral is only a referral if you have permission to quote the referrer’s name to them and giving thanks for referrals is a must; remembering personal details (write them down somewhere) to chat about will help build rapport each time you talk. A quick note on building rapport - it is not something confined to the first 10 minutes of a meeting; it is something you should do continuously. Business discussion can become tedious and dry and it helps to dilute that with normal human banter.
