Many peoples quest involves owning their own business. The life blood of a business is the customers. How successful a business is in getting customers will dictate how successful the business is. One very powerful method of getting customers is referrals.
This is the second article based on a conversation with Steve Willinger. Steve is a business consultant that specializes in marketing and small business start up. Yesterday we discussed finding clients. One way of finding them is using referrals.
A referral is simply someone that you are introduced to by a common friend of both of you. It can be a very powerful method of finding clients for your business. It is basically a two step process. First you define who you are looking for. We discussed this in yesterday’s article. Second you ask people if they know anyone like that. It sounds simple but that does not mean everyone does it. Most people don’t know who they are looking for. If you don’t you are most likely not going to find them. Since we talked about defining you search yesterday, let’s talk about the second step today.
You mainly have three types of people who can help you with this. First, you have the people you haven’t done business with. These are people you just run into. You just ask them. They may know someone. Second, you have the people you do business with. They have seen your services. They were people who fit your customer profile. They very likely know someone like themselves. You may want to include the giving of referrals as part of your contract with them. Third, you have people who you know that are in similar businesses to yours. Business is not really war no matter what you see on TV. You can be friendly with people in your business category. Everyone can benefit by a little cooperation. Most likely you have a little different skill set and orientation than they do. If you send them a few customers along they will feel obligated to do the same.
You may have to prompt people a little to get good information. Rather than ask if they know anyone like you want at all, ask if anyone at their church or gym is like that. That makes it easier and easier makes getting good results more likely.
People in your field may be a good source of customers. You have a unique skill and interest set. People in the same industry have different specialties. If a customer needs something that’s a little stretch for you, but a match for someone you know, send him over. By helping the other person they will be likely to send over someone who matches your requirements more than theirs. But, you have to do your part about referring people back. If someone just sends and never gets anybody back, they will eventually stop sending people over. Be a team player. Be helpful and everyone will benefit.
This is the rest of the discussion with Steve on this topic. In the mean time you should check out Steve’s web site. It shows the areas that Steve is involved in and is a good resource for information on marketing small business.
Quest On….
Steve’s Web Site: http://www.amarketingguy.com
