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Ramp Up a Systematic Referral Machine

Pages. When looking for a professional of this nature, most ask some-
one they trust for a referral.

As a rule of thumb, the more personal or the more expensive a
service is, the likelier it is that a potential client will seek the advice of
another. A window washing company, for example, whose crew may
spend a great deal of time going from room to room in a client’s house,
will benefit greatly from referrals.

Why Referral Marketing Is So Powerful

Experience tells me that there are two things that often hold small
business owners back from taking full advantage of referral market-
ing: the lack of a system and the presence of fear.

Most of this chapter is about building a referral marketing sys-
tem, so I want to spend some time up front helping you get over the
fear of making referrals a core part of your marketing.

When I say fear, I mean things like fear of being rejected, fear
that you will appear to be begging for business, or fear that your exist-
ing clients don’t really care about helping you build your business. All
I can say to you is this: get over it. If you provide a product or service
that helps people solve problems and meet needs, then you are doing
a disservice to your customers and the world in general if you don’t
actively seek referrals. I don’t think I could say it much more passion-
ately than that.

If you think that your clients will be put off by your desire to
involve them in helping you grow your business, you aren’t thinking
about the relationship the way you should. The entire act of generat-
ing a referral comes down to two simple things:

1. Providing a product or service that people like
2. Managing the referral expectation

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