BUILD YOUR BUSINESS WITH REFERRALS

Building your business with referrals from existing customers and clients, as well as others, can be easy if you first answer these questions:

What types of referrals do you want? Do you want more retail customers, prospective USMR representatives, or what? Remember, you don't want just any referral - you want people who may be interested in the Equity Acceleration Program™ (EAP) or your mortgage auditing service, or in any other service or product you may offer, or who may want to join your USMR sales team. 

How many each type of referral do you want to generate this year? How about starting out with two referrals a week (one prospective client and one prospective sales rep)? That would total over 100 referrals a year! Feeling ambitious, or even more serious? Then make it a BIG goal. How about six referrals a week, or 300 a year? Go ahead, set that goal for each type of referral and write it down.

How will you remember to ask for referrals? Write reminders to yourself in your calendar and your daily organizer. Or go high-tech if you have access to e-mail and the web. Go to http://eOrganizer.com and set up an e-mail reminder (it's free). eOrganizer.com will send you a reminder daily if you want, or once or twice a week. Here's another idea. Make yourself a "trigger." On a small sticky note write these words: "I will always remember to ask for referrals." Put that sticky note on top of your stack of business cards. That way you'll be reminded to ask every time you reach for a business card. Or, write the same phrase on a piece of paper and insert it in a photo key ring. Keep your keys on the ring or put it wherever you carry your change, breath mints, etc. - someplace where you're likely to see it several times a day. Every time you see that key ring, read the message to yourself. After a while, all you'll have to do is see or feel the key ring and you'll know what it says. It'll trigger you to "ask for referrals." Keep that key ring with you for at least 30 days. After that, you'll always remember to ask for referrals. 

How will you ask for referrals? You may have a few different ways to request referrals, depending on your customer or client and the types of referrals you seek. For example, as an accountant, you may be talking to your best insurance client and you want more auditing clients. So you might say something like this: "Dan, I really appreciate having a client like you. You really have protecting your customers as your highest priority. Tell me, do you know how many of your clients have a mortgage or home equity loan? Did you know that the government found that 50 - 70% of mortgages and home equity loans have lender errors? Who do you know that might be able to use my loan auditing services to protect them from any errors their lender may have made?" Or, you're a mortgage broker talking to your best real estate client and you want more representatives on your sales team. Your request might go like this: "Mary, have you been reading about how biweekly mortgage reduction programs can help your clients build equity faster? I'm really interested in that niche. In fact, I'm looking for new representatives in the mortgage reduction arena. Do you know of anyone who might want to start their own part-time business?" Mary just might have a cousin who's looking to start a home-based company and could use your help. Or Mary might be interested in joining your sales team herself. Make your referral requests as specific as possible. One easy way to get referrals is from your newest clients. Send new EAP clients a Thank You note, with several extra business cards. Ask the new client to hand them out at work, or to friends and family who may also be interest in saving thousands on their current loan or mortgage. With the Mortgage Auditing Program^® you can get numerous referrals from your new clients who have gotten a refund from their lender based on your audit findings. When you send them your audit report, be sure to include several business cards so they can let everyone know about your service. 

How will you track your progress? You'll want to keep a record of your referrals. How many new referrals do you need each week to reach your goal? Are you on track? Also keep a record of how many referrals convert to customers. Some referrals may be better than others, but most prospects will need to hear from you more than a few times before they are convinced they actually need your services. You must burn the benefits you're offering into their memory. They also need to hear your name! Ask yourself after each contact: "Would this prospect say I'm working harder to get his/her business than my competitors are?" That can be a hard question to answer honestly. If you're not contacting prospects at least seven times within the year, you're not working hard enough.

How can you get your customers and clients to contact referrals for you? This isn't always easy to do, but if you can find even one or two clients to help you in this way, that may be all you'll ever need. Here's how it works. Todd, your biggest client, knows just about everyone in town, and people respect him, too. Tell Todd that you're looking for more clients just like him and you're wondering if he can help you. "Todd, would you please do me a favor? Would you choose 15-25 people you know who are interested in building a solid small business, and send them a letter of introduction for me? I'd appreciate it if you'd tell them how much you rely on me and my services, and encourage them to give me a call." If Todd says yes, you just scored big, even if he only sends his letter to a half-dozen of his contacts!

How will you take care of clients who send you referrals? Some clients will give you a referral every month. Others, one or two a year. When you follow up on each referral, be sure to report back to your client. (This can also help you get more referrals.) When the referral becomes your client, or enrolls in your sales team, send the referring client a gift, something the client actually likes. It could be cash, a gift basket, a gift certificate to his/her favorite store or restaurant, or something inventive. For example, if you have a client in Miami who loves the cheesecakes that you can buy only in New York City, go on-line or call the bakeries in Manhattan. You might find a bakery that would ship a big New York cheesecake to Florida! It could be one of the best gifts your client ever receives. You can bet he would send you a lot of other clients through the years!

There's nothing more exciting than creating a referral chain - where one referral becomes a customer, then gives you more referrals who become customers, and so on. And few things in business are easier than asking for referrals. Get serious about it, and build yourself a more satisfying and profitable business!