This is the Best Way to Get Clients for 99% of Businesses

By Craig Ballantyne

 

Jim Rohn, the great sales trainer and motivational speaker, once said:

 

“One customer, well taken care of, could be more valuable than $10,000 worth of advertising.”

 

He was talking about two things. First, a happy customer will be a lifelong customer, which means they will continue to spend money on your services and products.

 

Second, a well taken-care-of customer will give you thousands of dollars in referrals.

 

This applies to almost any business—personal training, real estate, finance, coaching, and even funeral homes. (Think about it. When people choose a funeral home, where do they go? The Yellow Pages or to a trusted friend?)

 

Referrals are the best way to get clients for 99% of businesses because…

 

➤ They are no or low cost, as you’re working with warm leads and asking someone else to make introductions. You don’t have to invest a lot of time or money into getting referrals.
➤ They are “warm leads,” and are easier to convert to clients because they come via a reliable recommendation and pre-seeded trust.
➤ They often lead to an immediate sale, cutting out the sometimes long, drawn-out process of courting cold audiences via advertising.

The bottom line is that referrals are the low-hanging fruit in your business—the easiest way to get generate revenue, and at a high profit margin.

 

But how do you go about picking this “low-hanging fruit”?

 

Beginner entrepreneurs often think that referrals happen naturally—either because they believe their service/product is in demand, or the quality they offer speaks for itself.

 

WRONG.

 

The reality is, most of your clients are too busy to think about, remember, or deliver a referral for you. After all, you’re the one benefitting from it—not them.

 

But if you have built trust with your customers and make the referral process easy, they are likely to seriously consider referring business to you. Why? They believe in you as an entrepreneur.

 

Also, sending you new business makes them look like a hero—they solve a friend’s problem while giving you profit. It’s a win-win, and they can take credit for it.

 

But before you celebrate that victory, you need ASK for a referral directly.

 

So let’s set up the right referral system to make the “ask” easy:

 

Step 1: Create a spreadsheet to track your referrals

This doesn’t have to be fancy; just create a simple spreadsheet in Excel and keep it on your desktop. Include, at the very least, loyal, longtime customers’ names; basic contact information; a column to log all communications; and a list of any gifts you send them. Make this your sales blueprint.

 

If you’re working with a larger sales team, you can put this sheet up on a board for everyone to see. You’ll notice that it becomes a motivational tool; everybody wants recognition for bringing in sales, so give the sales people who land big referrals public kudos.

 

Step 2: Send a gift or offer commission

Using your loyal customers as a starting point, spark the referral conversation with a gift.

 

There are so many options here, depending on your industry. As a personal trainer, I used to send healthy snack baskets to clients. Real estate agents and financial advisors are known for sending higher-value, personalized gifts—flowers, chocolates, wine or Champagne, etc. Coaches will often send productivity tools like leather-bound notebooks or journals.

 

In my new business coaching program, I take a different approach. I send money. Lots of it.

 

Whenever a friend refers a new paid-in-full client ($5,000) my way, I immediately send them a check for $1,000, along with a copy of my Perfect Day Formula Kit. This encourages people to refer even more business to me.

 

Be mindful of what gift you send, however. It should represent you and your brand, be truly useful or enjoyable, and not contradict your mission or vision. Don’t send a gift that is an inconvenience either, like the person who once sent 50 pounds of unwanted exercise equipment to our office (where it sat unused in a corner for months).

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