Beyond Referrals Page 3

  A REFERABILITY CHECKLIST

  Alan Weiss, in his book Million Dollar Referrals (McGraw-Hill), provides this list of qualities that contribute to one’s referability. Measure this against your current client relationships.

  Trust. Do you live up to your promises and claims?

  Value. Do you demonstrably improve the client’s condition?

  Responsiveness. Are you accessible, and do you respond rapidly?

  Credibility. Does the client feel it’s impressive to be partnering with you?

  Reciprocity. Do you recommend people to the client where appropriate?

  Professionalism. Are you on time and on deadline?

  Innovation. Are you leading edge, state of the art?

  Reputation. Are you seen by others as being the best of the best?

  Weiss notes, “The more you create and maintain breakthrough relationships, the more you will receive unsolicited referrals from your clients.”

  ACTION STEP

  Think long and hard—on your own or with your staff. Are you fostering these qualities as best you can?

  THINK PROCESS, NOT PRODUCTS

  If you’d like to get referrals sooner in your relationships, then you need to think process over products. Selling a product will make you some money, but it’s unlikely to make you referable and create word of mouth unless you have a process designed to deliver value every step along the way.

  Do you have a clearly defined process through which you put most of your new clients? Is your process educational? Do you ask questions that get your prospects thinking in ways they haven’t thought before? Do you discuss expectations? Do you question their assumptions? Do you remain consistent with your process, or do you wing it?

  One Barometer of a Great Process

  As I’ve already mentioned, one way to measure how good your initial process is, is by the number of unsolicited referrals it creates. If your initial process is not creating referrals without your asking for them, then something could be missing. Perhaps you’re not creating value quickly enough to prompt your prospects to tell others about you.

  Leveraging Your Process

  Here are five steps that will ensure you get the most out of your process—to help you make your clients happy and to generate referrals and introductions:

  1. Have a clearly defined, client-centered process that makes your prospects go “Wow! More than I expected.”

  2. Name your process. When you name your process, it becomes yours. No one else has your process. Clients can only get this process from you. This is a way to distinguish yourself in a crowded marketplace.

  3. Illustrate your process with graphic design—on paper. This brings your process to life. It helps you explain your process to your clients and centers of influence (COIs). And most people learn and remember better visually.

  4. Communicate to prospects, clients, and COIs why and how your process is beneficial. Get in the habit of talking about your process on a regular basis. And always talk about it in terms of the benefits. No one really cares that you have a process; what they really care about is what the process does.

  5. Bring your process to life with stories, anecdotes, and case studies. Stories engage the emotional side of the brain—which is where all buying decisions are made.

  To borrow a term from Star Trek, your “prime directive” for every appointment with prospects is to bring value. When you lead with value, two things happen: (1) you make more sales, and (2) you do so in a way that makes you referable sooner. Never wing it when it comes to client interaction. Have processes in place, and have them documented by checklists. Then respect the checklists!

  ACTION STEP

  Set aside about an hour or so (with your staff, if you have staff) and think through the different types of meetings and processes you have with your clients. Then create a checklist for each one to make sure your processes bring as much value as possible; do this consistently with all prospects and clients. Review and enhance this at least once per year.

  BECOME REFERABLE EARLY IN THE RELATIONSHIP

  Helping people get started with your product or service as quickly as possible will help you create word of mouth and referrals quickly in your new client relationships. In his book The Referral Engine (Portfolio), author John Jantsch (http://www.DuctTapeMarketing.com) discusses the concept of providing your clients with an “owner’s manual.” Jantsch advises, “Create a getting-started guide for your product, company, or service. Create a series of how-to videos, or an automated email series providing lessons and tips, or a follow-up phone consultation. With a number of our referral tools, we have built-in follow-up programs. Driven by the technology of auto-responders, people who invest in our referral tools continue to get help from us long after their purchase.

  “The point is, the faster someone implements your product or service and, therefore, sees results, the more likely they will talk about you to others. What’s more, if you’ve done a good job educating your clients that word of mouth and referrals are appreciated, they’ll be happy to spread your good word.”

  APPRECIATION MARKETING

  In their book Appreciation Marketing (http://www.Appreciation Marketing.com), Tommy Wyatt and Curtis Lewsey introduce a great concept that will enhance your referability: “In today’s fast-paced, electronic world, that once handwritten ‘nice to meet you’ greeting card has been replaced by a robotic e-mail or text message. That once heartfelt ‘Happy Birthday’ phone call is now left on the answering machine. Everything is done faster, faster, and faster than ever before and it has to. It’s the new millennium. Alas, all this wonderful technology that was supposed to open the door to new horizons and make your business life easier has instead double-crossed you.”

  Appreciation marketing—building better and stronger relationships with your inner circle and your client base—is more important today than ever before. Not only is it fundamentally wise, but where your present and future success is concerned, it’s essential.

  For instance, saying thank you to clients for their business and for their referrals is critical to client loyalty in your referability. Wyatt and Lewsey write, “The truth is, NOT saying thank you does more damage than actually SAYING thank you does good. If you have to contact someone regarding business, then contact them regarding business. Don’t try to disguise your business efforts as appreciation. They’re not the same thing. By the same token, if you are contacting someone as an act of appreciation, then make it 100% about that. Remember, if you practice Appreciation Marketing principles, the people you are appreciating already know what you do for a living. You don’t need to suggest it to them. If you are genuine, you are already on their mind in a positive way.”

  ACTION STEP

  Have you implemented an appreciation marketing strategy into your business? Are you and everyone who works with you in the habit of sending out thank you cards and, when appropriate, thank you gifts to clients and other strategic alliances? Create a systematic approach to saying thank you. I use a service called SendOutCards. You can test the service by sending yourself or a colleague a sample card (I’ll pick up the cost). If you like the service, you can sign up for free and just pay as you go. It’s very easy. Go to http://www.SendOutCards.com/billcates.

  ARE YOU SENDING THE WRONG MESSAGES?

  Too often, small business owners, salespeople, and professionals unknowingly send signals to their clients that negate their desire for more referrals.

  I’m Too Busy

  Be careful about sending the “I’m-too-busy-to-take-on-new-clients” message. When your clients have trouble reaching you or you always appear overwhelmed to them, consciously or unconsciously they are thinking, “She’s far too busy for me to refer my colleagues to her.” Make sure every customer-facing person in your organization gets this message too. Several years ago, I was considering hiring a vendor to help with a project. I heard him deliver a seminar that made me change my mind. Several times during the session he talked about how bus
y he was, how busy all his people were, how he had to be careful about taking on more business. In an effort to “impress” the audience about how successful he was, he was actually turning business away.

  See How Successful I Am?

  If your business is the type that deals with very successful people, you can easily fall into this trap. We know that successful people like to deal with other successful people. So we choose clothing, vehicles, and timepieces that radiate success. However, in this dynamic, we can give the impression that perhaps we are so successful that we don’t need any new clients.

  Now, there’s nothing wrong making a “successful” impression through the way we dress, drive, and keep time. In fact, I think it’s important to dress and act as if we’re peers of the buyer, not merely a vendor. But if we do that, we need to counterbalance that message by promoting referrals and asking for referrals.

  I’ve had many seminar and Referral Boot Camp attendees tell me that when they went back to their clients to be proactive for referrals, their clients said, “I didn’t realize you were taking on new clients.” Ouch!

  YOUR CLIENT-SERVICE PROMISE

  Do you have a client-service model or client-service plan? Do you know how often and for what reasons you’ll be in touch with your clients? Or do you have a reactive business model? Let me tell you a little story from the world of financial planning.

  Jay is a financial advisor in New Jersey. He was meeting with a referral prospect in his office, describing what he calls his “client-service promise.” About halfway through the conversation, Jay told me that his prospect’s jaw dropped and he said, “Wait a second, Jay. You mean to tell me this is the way you’ve been staying in touch with my friend Rick for the last five years?” Jay confirmed that. Then the prospect said, “You know, the only time I talk to my advisor is when I call him!” Two weeks later this prospect became a client and moved $3 million into Jay’s business.

  In the financial advisory world, it’s hard to believe that an advisor seemed to ignore a $3 million client. What was at work here? Probably the advisor was running a “reactive practice.” Big mistake!

  Jay told me that having a client-service model does three things: (1) it creates incredible client loyalty, (2) it creates great referability (Jay has a 100 percent referral-based business), and (3) it allows you to distinguish yourself from the competition. Jay said, “Whenever I start to talk about my client-service promise, I can feel the energy in the room change—in a positive way toward me. Because most advisors don’t have or follow a client-service plan.”

  Think about your best clients for a minute. Do you think your clients can tell the difference if you have a model that drives your behavior when it comes to staying in touch with them or if you wing it with them? You bet they can!

  By the way, I like the term Jay uses, client-service promise. Inherent in the word promise is the word commitment. I think it’s a powerful way to bring up your model or plan.

  The two main components of a client-service promise are:

  1. Keep adding value

  2. Build business friendships

  Keep Adding Value

  There are many ways that different types of businesses can keep adding value to their client relationships. One thing I advise most businesses to do is to hold client review meetings. Most financial professionals have these built into their models. Most other businesses don’t, and that’s a shame. What do you think would happen in your client relationships if you sat down with your clients—let’s say at least once per year—and reviewed your relationship? What impact would it have on your relationships if you made sure the communication was working well, if you made sure the client was seeing the value in working with you, and if you brought some new ideas or teachings to the relationship? This simple strategy will increase your client loyalty and enhance your referability.

  ALL THINGS NOT BEING EQUAL

  Maybe you’ve heard the expression “All things being equal, people do business with their business friends.” And beyond that, I think “All things being not so equal,” people still do business with their business friends. Creating business friendships with your clients shields them against the competition and makes you highly referable.

  By “business friend,” I mean a relationship where you and your client get to know each other beyond the core business reason that brought you together. Here are a few ideas to consider adding to your tool kit:

  1. Break bread in your home or your client’s home.

  2. If you typically have clients come to your office, every now and then go to their space (home or office).

  3. When they come to your office, after your meeting walk them to their car. Watch how the conversation changes to a more personal nature.

  4. Host client appreciation events (dinner, wine and cheese tastings, chocolate appreciation parties, cooking lessons, etc.). Keep them small so you make solid connections with everyone there.

  5. Support your clients’ charitable endeavors by actually showing up at their events, not just writing a donation check.

  6. Host celebration events. When your clients celebrate something significant (milestone birthday, wedding anniversary, promotion, new business, retirement, etc.), throw them a party. You’ll create incredible loyalty and meet a lot of new people just like them.

  7. Send birthday cards. This should go without saying, but this is a lost strategy. Create a simple reminder system so you’re prompted a week or two before each client birthday. Send a card, send a present, or deliver a cake. I’ve met a number of small business owners over the years that deliver birthday cakes to some of their key clients.

  3 PROMOTE REFERRALS

  PROMOTE REFERRALS AND INTRODUCTIONS

  Great service is not enough! I have often heard people say, “All I have to do is serve the heck out of my clients and I’ll get all the referrals I need.” This is a half-truth. Exceptional products and service should be your standard and will certainly generate some referrals without asking for them. Every business should be getting unsolicited referrals. If you’re not getting unsolicited referrals, then there could be something wrong with your service or client relationships.

  Great service alone is not usually enough to get the full quantity and quality of referrals you’d like. Very few companies get enough unsolicited referrals to keep them thriving. And many of the unsolicited referrals may not fit your ideal client profile. To get the quantity and the quality of referral clients you would like, you have to be proactive!

  This chapter is the first step in your becoming proactive for referrals. I often refer to this as “planting referral seeds.” Many of the ideas that follow are things you can do early and often with prospects and clients. Sometimes these strategies yield referrals right on the spot, even though you weren’t expecting that to happen.

  HAVE YOU CREATED A “CULTURE OF REFERRALS”?

  Getting referrals and introductions is not just about asking for them, though that’s an important strategy. Think in terms of creating a culture of referrals—where your clients know how to talk about you, know the kind of clients you serve the best, and create engaged introductions.

  Nelson Simoes is an extremely successful financial advisor in Canada (he reached number two in production in his office out of 5,000 in nine years) who has created a culture of referrals. From the beginning of his career, Nelson got into the habit of creating personal introductions, mostly over lunch, but occasionally over another meal or at a hockey game. When a client mentioned someone in his or her life, Nelson became genuinely curious. Once it looked like he could be a valuable resource to his client’s friend, colleague, or family member, Nelson would say to his client, “I would love to meet your colleague. Can I take the two of you to lunch?”

  This is how Nelson built his business. I was just in touch with Nelson—getting permission to tell his story—and this is what he told me: “Next week I’m going to lunch with a client who is bringing six other friends to introduce me. Also,
I bought a cabin last year and have been hosting clients and their friends on weekends to help build my relationships with existing clients and meet new ones at the same time. My goal is to make it as easy as possible for my clients to provide personal introductions to their friends through lunches, presentations, cabin getaways, etc.”

  Nelson has been using personal introductions for so long, now clients call him and say, “Nelson, I have a lunch for us,” meaning “Nelson, I have someone I’d like to introduce to you.”

  That’s what I call a referral mindset and a culture of referrals. And what a fun way to do business! Have you built a culture of referrals (or should I say “introductions”) in your business, or are you still just dabbling in referrals?

  ARE YOUR CLIENTS KEEPING YOU A SECRET?

  Have you ever heard a client say something like, “I gave your name out to a friend the other day. I hope that’s okay?” If you have, then shame on you. We all need a simple and systematic way to let our clients know—at least our “A” clients—that it’s okay to not keep us a secret.

  If you’re familiar with my work, then you’re probably already familiar with the effective little phrase I’ve been teaching for years: “Don’t keep me a secret!” This phrase works so well, I even made it the title of my last book on referrals. If you haven’t been using this fun, nonthreatening way to let your clients know that you’re still open for business, then I suggest you try it a few times. You’ll be surprised how well it works.