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The One Thing You Must Do To Get More Referrals
by Steve Slaunwhite
I attended a seminar for self-employed consultants many years ago. The topic was "Marketing Your Services".
The speaker, Kevin Hood, a very successful consultant himself, shared a lot of great ideas. But the one thing he said that really stuck with me – haunted me, actually – was this: "If you're not getting at least half your new business from referrals, you're doing something wrong."
His words sent a chill down my spine. At the time, I wasn't getting that many referrals. Hardly any, in fact.
On the way home, my mind replayed the last time I did receive a referral. The phone call I got went something like this: "Hi Steve. This is Jill from ABC Company. Your client, John at Gizmo Inc., suggested I give you a call. We need a sales letter written"
At the time, I was doing a lot of cold calling. I remembered how good it felt to have a potential client actually give ME a call! I also remembered how easy it was convert that referral into a new client. After all, because I was recommended, Jill was already predisposed to working with me.
By the time I got back to my home office, I had made the decision to do everything I could to attract more referrals. The only problem was, I didn't know how!
So I read books. Attended more seminars. I even wrote articles on getting referrals so I could interview experts in the field.
It was frustrating. Everyone seemed to have a different idea of what works.
Some experts insisted that I ask clients and other contacts for referrals every chance I got. Others said that I should send letters or emails with a special form attached for submitting referrals. A few even suggested that I offer a reward system and pay people for referrals!
None of these strategies appealed to me.
Then I met a sales consultant with a recommendation that finally made sense. His name was Tom Stoyan. Here's what he told me when I interviewed him in a 1995 article for Sales & Marketing Executive. "If you want to get more referrals, find people you can help today who may be able to help you in the future."
This "helping" approach was simple and fit my personality. So I decided to give it a try.
Over the next few years I helped my clients meet their deadlines and develop the best marketing communications possible. I helped designers, marketing consultants, list brokers, and even other writers by offering advice and referring business to them. I helped editors and other journalists covering the sales and marketing scene. In fact, every time I met a new contact, I tried to find some way to help them.
And, not once, did I ever ask anyone for a referral.
Did this strategy work? It did for me. Without being aggressive, or using rewards or gimmicks, I now attract the majority of my new business by way of referrals.
Try it. Be a helper. You'll get more referrals. And you'll feel great, too.
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