Generating referrals is an overlooked strategy for finding clients!
Generating referrals is an overlooked strategy for finding clients!
Instead of constantly searching for leads who don’t know you (which is hard!), what if there was a way to be connected to people who were already warmed up to you?
That’s what a referral is!!! It’s leveraging the connections of people who already know, like, and trust you to connect you with people they know.
Referrals are one of my favourite business scaling strategies because there’s so much power in harnessing those connections and activating the people you already know to connect with you people who will need your services.
What I often see is that entrepreneurs either completely forget to ask for referrals or they feel like they are imposing on their connections and feel rude asking for a referral.
A great business friend of mine shared this quote with me that perfectly illustrates this point: “closed mouths don’t get fed!” This blog is to remind you that people enjoy helping others.
Don’t underestimate how much a satisfied client or a close business friend will be prepared to help you.
What I’m going to break down in this blog is how to set up a referral system in your business so that it becomes a reliable method of closing new clients each month.
How to ask for referrals
Your current or past clients as well as your friends (business and personal) are your biggest champions! They know you and trust you. It’s easy to think that they’ll just send you referrals, but they do need some guidance from you on how to do this.
Keep in mind your network is a major asset in your marketing! Now it’s time to leverage their help!
Tell them you’re opening up some spots in your business and want to know if they know of 3 people who can benefit from your work. Have them send a warm introduction email and private social media message to their referral and you. Make it easy for them! Follow up with the referral and offer to set up a time to talk.
For example, if you’re wondering what to write, here are 8 components to a successful referral email:
- Include a genuine greeting: Create a genuine connection in 1-2 sentences here. For example, you might write, “I just saw that you adopted a new puppy and I love dogs!”
- Explain why you’re reaching out. Tell them that you are opening up several spots to support more people. You might say, “I just celebrated my one-year anniversary in my business!” or “I just started my training business!” or “I just came off of maternity leave and I’m stepping back into my business and that’s why I’m reaching out!”.
- Tell them a bit about your current ideal client. For example, you might say, “I work with professional women who want to advance their careers.” or “I work with entrepreneurs who want to use LinkedIn as a client generating system.”
- Clearly state what problems you are solving. Don’t get bogged down in process language like “mindset” or “overcoming anxiety.” Speak to outcomes and what life looks like on the other side of working with you, like “skyrocket their sales conversions,” “avoid divorce by reigniting passion in a marriage,” etc.
- Tell them what their referrals will receive when they meet with you. Right now, it’s a free consultation or session with you. You might say, “Because I’m celebrating returning to my business after my maternity leave, I’m offering a value packed 45-minute session where we are going to create the roadmap to being a 6-figure speaker”
- Tell them what’s in it for them. This is important. Explain what their referrals will receive. It could be a free session with you or 10% of whatever the investment is to work with you if their referral signs.
- Clarify HOW they are going to send referrals to you. Again, keep this easy. Ask them to forward this email to someone-keep it easy! You might say, “do you know of anyone who just started a business? If so, please forward this email to that person! And they can book a time with me using my calendar link” or “do you know any friends or family members that have mentioned divorce? If you do, would you forward this email to that person?”
- Then, close out the email with a genuine closing like, “Enjoy the time with your new puppy! They grow up so fast!”
The intention of this email is for them to think of at least 1 person by the time they've finished reading!
That one person can soon become an ideal (paying) client of yours!
So that’s it, now you have a template which you can follow to get more referrals into your business.
Let’s start crafting those emails!!
We're here to help you create a referral system and attract NOT chase sales if you need it, so get in touch and let's see how we can help you do this and so much more.