More, More, More: How to Get More Referrals!

What if I told you that you were the best product your business has to offer?

Would that be a positive or a negative for you?

No matter how much money we spend on advertising or how many social media posts we put out, or anything along those lines for us or our clients, at the end of the day, you have to provide a sticky client experience, have to be great at what you do, and have to be worthy of referrals. If you aren't these things, then you're going to have market constantly to new people instead of be able to just keep expanding your already existing connections.

So how can you make yourself referrable and how can you get more referrals?

Make Yourself Referrable

You have to be likeable. Genuinely likeable. You can't fake it until you make it, you have to be it. People are likeable by some combination of being nice, funny, engaged, engaging, being a good listener, being honest, modest, and tactful. You don't have to be all of things (trust me, I am not) but you need to find what about you already makes you likeable and then expand upon that to be even more likeable. This doesn't mean you have to be an extrovert, in fact, many of the most successful business people are introverts, but they found what works for them. A big part of this is actually living by your word, if you tell someone you're going to do something, you better do it.

Learn More About your Likability

Not sure where to start? Ask the people closest to you. Force them to be honest with you. They probably will not do it immediately (or they'll be a little too happy to do it immediately, so maybe ask them every day or two for a month to get the full picture). In my experience, most of what they say will be things you agree with and thought you did a good job hiding more so than being surprised by any of what they say. Then you just need to work on this. 5-10 minutes a day of focusing on the change and speaking it outloud, have mock conversations with people, anything like that will go a long way.

Finding more Referral Sources

This is probably the hardest part. You need to think about your ideal client and where they will be in large numbers. Then go there, or connect with people who are there. Then think about who your ideal client will go to when they have a problem, will they talk to a parent, a friend, a teacher, another lawyer, etc. And then you need to find out where a lot of THOSE people are going to be and get in front of them.

Think about the following:

• What organizations are full of my ideal clients?
• What organizations are full of my ideal referral sources?
• What conferences can I go to that are geared for my ideal clients?
• What conferences can I go to that are geared for my ideal referral sources?
• Do I need quantity or quality of referral sources? How does that have to change my strategy?

Then, and this is key, try it for a bit and reassess. Some events or groups will be much better, and some will be a waste of time. But you will not know that until you try it.

Pro-tip - there should already be some people in those groups or events that do what you do (but not too many). Any idea why?

It's two-fold, one that means that it's probably a worthwhile place, and two it's easier to get someone to refer to you when they already refer to your profession than it is to get them to learn to refer to your profession. Why? Because if they weren't already referring to someone who does what you do then either A) they are not good at referrals, B) they don't get enough referrals for what you do, or C) both.

If you really think about that, it makes sense. I have never had someone who wanted a referral to a taxidermist, so I don't know any of them. And if you're a taxidermist, you might be super cool, but I am probably not to going to randomly have that need a bunch now for no reason.

Getting Them to Refer to You

This is where being top of mind comes in. Think about it, in that moment, when you have a referral to give, who do you think of most frequently? Why?

Is it something they did to be memorable? Do they do a good job staying in touch with you? Do they give you good and thoughtful gifts? What are they doing to stay top of mind with you?

Then...do those things to other people.

And do the reverse, who do you constantly forget about and not send stuff to? Why do you forget about them? What could they do to stay top of mind with you?

And then...do what they should be doing to stay top of mind with you to other people.

Get More From Referral Sources

Lastly, when is the last time you asked your referral sources what you could be doing to get more leads from them? Never? Which is totally fine, that's the normal amount of times people have done this.

But ask. You never know if you don't ask.

Sometimes they will not have more to give, but sometimes they will. Or maybe they need more referrals from you to send more back. You will not know if you ask, and as long as you do it tactfully, you aren't going to piss them off or rub them the wrong way.

But Again, Be Genuine

I want to again stress though, none of this works if you aren't genuine and honest and really care about people - referral sources, clients, friends, etc.

All of this has to come from a place of positivity and a want to help and grow and assist others. Otherwise, people will know in their gut that there is something off about you and not want to refer you cases.

So let's get started! Let me know how I can help (again, you just have to ask).

Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay happy.