THREE WAYS TO INCREASE YOUR REFERRALS BY MORE THAN 54% (September 14, 2017)

It goes without saying that referrals are the most valuable source of income for any small business, but just in case you have your doubts, Nielsen tells us that people are four times more likely to buy when referred by a friend.

So how do you get more referrals? You encourage happy clients to refer you.

Another interesting bit of research from Nielsen: 83% of customers are willing to refer after a positive experience, yet only 29% ever do. Clearly, most of us aren’t doing a good enough job of encouraging clients to refer our services.

Well known New Zealand speaker and trainer Bill James says the problem is that we don’t ask the question often enough and when we do, we almost always go about it in the wrong way.

Anybody can say do you know who else needs my help?, but the response will rarely be satisfactory because the brain, while capable of storing huge amounts of information, is not very efficient at accessing it it’s the reason why you wake up in the middle of the night yelling that’s it, his name was Bob!’

When you ask the question ‘who do you know” the person you’re asking will most likely blank. Try a little experiment. Ask somebody: ‘Do you know a good joke?’ and watch their mind go blank, says Bill.

The key is in how we frame the question.

If you want them to come up with some names, you need to reframe your question in a way that works with how the mind thinks.

Bill offers three tips for reframing your request for referrals.

1. Stories

The human brain works on stories.

If you tell a story about how you helped somebody, the person you’re talking to will automatically start to think of people who may be impacted in the same way as the person in your story.

Tha’s because stories work at an emotional level. Logically, they may not know about somebody who needs finance. However, at an emotional level they will know about people who are frustrated by slow payers, says Bill.

2. Frame the relevant information you need

The mind is like a great filing cabinet. It holds tons of information buried in thousands of pieces of paper in multiple drawers. Your job is to help your client help you by guiding him towards the relevant drawer with the relevant information.

You may know that he is a member of the golf club. The club has a governing committee made up of members who are business owners and senior management. This is where you ask, who on the committee is always frantic because he or she is running a growing business? I suggests Bill.

3. Make an emotional connection

In both the framing and story techniques, emotion is key. Words and phrases like frantic,’ frustrated and it’s end connect at an emotional level because we are all engaged with what happens to people and the consequences.

Bill says the biggest mistake you can make is when asking for referrals is to be spontaneous.

Plan, prepare and practice. Know who you’re looking for and how exactly your referral source may be able to help you.

About Bill James

Bill specialises in helping people who don’t like selling but have to anyway†achieve the results they need, through his integrity selling system. Download your copy of his e-book on modern sales tools for modern times.

https://www.referralsaasquatch.com/17-referral-marketing-statistics/