Get Referrals, Get More Business!

During a recession, I coached a construction company from million in annual revenue to $22 million in $18 months utilizing my referral technique. In the earlier 18 months they were a $4 million dollar company. They were losing ground. They ran several pricey marketing campaigns and weren't getting any business from them. Their greatest challenge was getting opportunities to do business that generated profit for them to grow.

I asked in the event that they had any strong relationships that could refer business to them. They assumed that if someone desired to refer business to them they would have completed it by now. At time, they had been trying to get referrals by saying, "Who do you know that is about to do some new construction that you could refer us to?" This got no results, so they quit asking.

Through the technique that I'll share with you, they could get 279 names of individuals who could refer them to opportunities to get more business. They focused our attention on the top 16 most influential relationships and asked them to connect us with individuals who may benefit from their service. In 6 months, they grew from $2 Million to $10 Million. And in 18 months, they had grown to $22 million annual revenue. But before I tell you how they did that, I'd like to tell you a tiny about my journey of learning how to get a gigantic amount of referrals to make my own business profitable.

Finding Common Ground

The greatest challenge for plenty of businesses is they don't know the right way to ask for referrals. My first years in business as a financial advisor, I had the same challenge. like the construction company, I would ask my clients, "Who do you know...?" This was met with plenty of blank looks. It was such a broad query that no knew how to answer it. They had a difficult time coming up with names.

The few times I could get referrals, the that referred me to their friends did so because they had something in common those people. So, in lieu of "Who do you know," I began to ask these kinds of questions: "Where did you grow up? What kinds of organizations do you belong to? What are your favourite things to do for fun?" I found that if I asked questions in categories, it always led to common ground. Those categories are hobbies, interests, lifestyle and values (relatives and community).

Harold and Clara Jane Johnson were a couple in their seventies and of my favourite clients. When I asked, "What are your favourite things to do for fun?" They said, "We LOVE square dancing!" They told me how much fun they have when they go dancing and how they love the people in the group. I asked how plenty of members there were in the square dancing club. They said, "311. Would you like to come to of our square dance nights? Most of our members will be there." Knowing I would likely feel daft at a square dance, I said, "Absolutely!"

At a break in the music at the dance, Harold took the microphone and from stage said, "I need to take a minute and introduce you all to my brilliant financial advisor. He is the reason why we are retired and they never must worry about money. In the event you get a chance, you ought to sit down and see what they has to say." I could not have asked for a better endorsement!

Getting a Personal Introduction

In the coursework of our next meeting, I asked Harold and Clara Jane what people I ought to work with from their square dance club. Harold took out the listing and marked 156 names that they would be happy to refer to me in person, either through a phone call or meeting. And that is when it clicked. People will refer you to people that they have something in common with that plenty of times has absolutely nothing to do with business. I asked Harold why they hadn't referred me to these people historicallyin the past. They said, "I thought you were busy to take on any more clients!"

Thinking in Categories

Building on what I learned about the power of finding common ground with individuals, I created a process to get referrals from businesses. I call this exercise the "Wheel, Hub and Spokes." You can use this to get referrals from other businesses, whether they are your clients or not. And, you can use this exercise to show other business owners how to get referrals and get referrals yourself while doing it.

A financial advisor has lots of categories that they connect to on a consistent basis. They need to think about a number of the primary connections that a financial advisor has. For example, they might have a relationship with an estate attorney. So, between your hub and the wheel, draw a straight line that looks like a spoke. On that line, write the words "estate attorney." Then, draw another spoke and write accountant and another spoke, write a property and casualty insurance agency. They can continue around the wheel adding several spokes with lots of categories.

I need you to imagine for a minute that you were sitting down with a financial advisor and you are going to show them how to get referrals. Take a blank piece of paper and draw a large circle, like a wheel. In that circle, about a third of the size of the original circle in the middle, draw another circle. It ought to look like a doughnut. We'll call this the hub. In the midst of the hub, you'll write the type of business you need to get referrals for. So in this example, in the hub we'll write "financial advisor."

Then they might switch gears a tiny bit. What are some associations they might be connected with? Are they connected to any chambers of commerce? Next, you might add a spoke for clients. Or add multiple spokes for clients, where you could write what type(s) of business clients that they work with, focusing on the categories where they'd like to increase clients.

If this financial advisor works with business owners a lot, add spokes for business categories. For example, a business broker could be a lovely person for a financial advisor to work with. You could also add companies who focus on staffing, web, know-how, payroll, and property management.

In the event you were teaching a financial advisor how to get referrals & get more business, you first help them to think about feasible categories where referrals might come from. As they are taking a look at various categories & you get clear about those, then you can dig in to names. As an example, there is probably over insurance agent. They probably belong to over association. Work with them to write down the names of people representing the categories you wrote on the spokes.

Getting Names from Categories

Now do this exercise using your own company as the hub. You can use relationships that you work with as spokes, then go to each of those relationships & show them how to do this using their companies as the hub. As you help other business owners come up with sources for referrals, you can merge your lists of categories & names with other business owners & start working together. & when you help each other find common ground with people on your lists, imagine how lots of referrals that you could get!

This was the exercise I used when I was working with the construction company. They used "general contractor" in the middle & commenced thinking of subcontractors, advisors, various outsources & vendors. Because of all those relationships, they came up with 81 categories for our spokes. They came up with 279 feasible names for those spokes. In the event you started out with that lots of names, how lots of referrals do you think you could get? Do you think you could get more business doing this?

Earl Kemper, two-time global coach of the year in the world's largest business coaching organization, ActionCOACH Business Coach, is the authority on developing strategic alliances & getting referrals. Over the past 28 years, they has successfully coached over one,100 individuals who on average, double their business in less than nine months. Referrals & teaching others how to get referrals continues to be his number source of new business for his company, ActionCOACH Empowerment. To learn more about how to get referrals, increase clients, get more business & make your business profitable.