Category: Get More Referrals

When I deliver my live presentations (like my April Referral Champions Training Camp) I like to demonstrate the 5 places you should always consider creating a conversation about referrals and personal introductions.

While these areas are SO obvious (hence “no brainer” in the title), most professionals, advisors, and business owners miss these opportunities. What about you?

“Getting referrals is a notorious challenge for many entrepreneurs. Even those who do generate word-of-mouth business often don’t really understand why those referrals come their way — or how to go about getting more of them in a systematic, strategic manner.

“Cates has spent two decades building, honing and perfecting a system for generating new business from existing clients — a system that has led to amazing results for thousands of businesses both large and small.

“Here are three key moves that you can make right now that will boost your referrals — and could even ensure that you never have to market yourself again.”

You may be great at the work you do and you may have great relationships with most of your clients. And you may be making two critical mistakes that are keeping your clients from introducing you to others.

Mistake #1 – See how busy I am.

Mistake #2 – See how successful I am.

The Principle: When you can have fun with the referral/introductions process, everything gets easier. You feel more comfortable AND your clients feel more comfortable! More importantly – you produce significant results.

The Action: I just spoke to a group of 100 Group Benefit Advisors. After my presentation, Eric Silverman told me about a best practice that is working for his firm. This simple idea puts a smile on the face of his clients and generates referrals and introductions.

Here’s a great piece from Julie Littlechild (President of Absolute Engagement) about why clients don’t refer you as much as you’d like. I think you might be surprised by this.

How you give referrals to trusted partners, clients, and others is important. Do it right and it triggers the law of reciprocity.

Writes Fred Diamond, co-founder of the Institute for Excellence in Sales…

“Helping trusted associates get new business feels great. When I heard from the first two of my business associates, I was pleased. It felt nice to help out friends I respect.

“But when the third one called, I thought, okay, something interesting is happening here. I did some investigating and learned why the referrals were so successful. I always thought I was a good referral agent but now I could finally see some tangible results.”

I just read this blog post from JULIE LITTLECHILD. Definitely worth reading AND acting on what she says…

If you’re like most successful advisors, you’ve already segmented your clients based on the value they bring to the business. And, if like most of those same advisors, this took place more than a few years ago, there is a good chance that both you and your business have changed to the point of making your model meaningless or, at least, outdated. Is Your Segmentation Still Relevant?

One way to build a solid and profitable business is by finding one or more target markets and applying the principles of Reputation Marketing. Last week we covered 7 reasons why I believe you should consider this powerful strategy. This week, I’m going to give you 3 attributes of a profitable target market.

1. Financial Capacity – Regardless of the nature of your business, if your targets don’t have the financial capacity to take full advantage of your value (operative word being full) then it’s the wrong niche for you.

You probably already have a sense of how narrowing your marketing focus helps you produce better results. But perhaps you’ve never fully bought into the idea. Many people operate under the mistaken belief that, “If I just focus on this target market, I’ll miss all this other opportunity.”

Well, the truth is you might forego some opportunity, but your success in your niche will be so great that you’ll never miss it. Here are 7 reasons why you want to consider targeting a narrower market: