A Proven System to Get Referral Business
By Mark Bossert | August 2nd, 2008Referrals are an amazing and effective way to grow your business and add to your income. The trouble is that most of the tips and articles give you bad advice on how to get referrals. Here, I’m revealing to you my tested way of when and how to secure more referral business.
When and how do you bring up the whole conversation of referrals?
The first meeting is the best time in the relationship to let people know how you work. To build your business with referrals, you advise people right away that referrals are how you do business. Here’s why:
This results in examples like waitresses, who while serving you can remember lots of detail about who was sitting where and everything you just ordered. Studies have shown that the moment she delivers the check, she struggles to remember anything about serving you. She’s on to the next table.
The part of your brain responsible for this is the reticular activated system (RAS). Researchers call it the attention center of the brain. It has many tasks but one of them is choosing what to pay conscious awareness to.
Have you ever noticed how, once you like a certain car, you start to see them everywhere? Did they just suddenly appear or were they there all along? Your RAS responds to your interest by making the cars noticeable. They were there all along, before you liked them but they were not important so the RAS ignored them.
Some people advocate that the time to bring up referrals is after a product or service has been delivered and the customer is happy with the outcome. However, if you do it this way, your customers RAS will not automatically work with you. Your customer has gotten their result and their mind is on to the next thing – you are automatically forgotten.
Referral System Example
Example of a Referral Request
When you’re talking to your customer for the first time… you can say something like, “Mrs. Jones, I only will take you on as a client if I am absolutely convinced that I can over-deliver exactly what you need.
One of the big reasons I do that is because I get more of my business by referral.
My business uses referrals to spread the word. And to make sure that happens I keep working until you are happy.
I make sure, up front, that the fit is good and I can hit it out of the park.
Once that takes place, I’m betting that you will want to tell you friends and associates about my service. Which is great! I’m going to make sure that you are so excited and pleased with your results that you can’t wait to tell other people about me.
Part of the value that I provide is that I offer very good pricing on my services. So I don’t offer cash or prizes in return for referrals, just a firm commtment that I’ll provide you with the best service at a great price.
I make sure that you get a ton of value so that you want to send friends and associates to get the same results.
I only have one request: If we work together, may I periodically check with you to see if you are thrilled yet?”
When you prime the pump like this, your customer’s RAS gets a chance to start looking for ideal candidates for your service, while you are important to your customer. Doing it this way, your referrals will be much more effective.
Give it a try!
Tags: Entrepreneurs
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:43 pm
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