Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the majority of your new clients came in through referrals? Or that you had a trusted network of people you could rely on for referrals? The good news is that your clients, prospects and colleagues need help and you have the ability to help them achieve their goals.
Why are Referrals Important?
“Referral sales require almost no financial investment, but they bring in very valuable warm leads,” cites an article in Forbes. Referrals come in already trusting you and your business. They are highly effective in generating new business and produce some of the highest conversion rates among all marketing channels. And ultimately, they are the preferred source of new business for business owners.
3 Important Steps to a Good Referral
1). Your willingness to help others
Your clients, prospects and colleagues all need help in one way or another. Your trusted relationship with these people enables you to spot areas in which you can share a valuable referral that will help them solve whatever roadblock they may be encountering.
2). Your willingness to introduce your valuable clients to your trusted colleagues
As a member of the Association for Enterprise Growth (AEG) and other business organizations, you’ll build relationships with business owners and share your successes and challenges. One of your valuable clients may offer just the right solution for one of your colleague’s issues. Sharing these resources is a signal that you trust your colleagues with your best clients.
3). Your follow-up to ensure a good connection
After you provide a referral, it is good practice to follow up with both parties: the person you referred and the one receiving the referral. You want to see 1) if the two parties got in contact with each other, 2) how the conversation went, and 3) any result from that connection. Did the referral get hired or purchase a product or service? Were there any disconnects in the referral? Knowing how the interaction progressed provides you with useful information for your next referral.
Referrals are Powerful within the Association for Enterprise Growth!
Surprisingly, many business owners don’t know the best way to generate referrals, do so passively, or fail to ask for them altogether. Sadly, they could be missing out on their most lucrative income source or resource.
There are two types of referrals. The first type refers potential purchasers of a product or service to a business. The second type entrusts your own clients to your colleagues, for example, referring a client CPA firm to a business owner in your network.
At AEG, referrals between and to AEG members is one of your many member benefits. Your AEG advisors are always on the lookout for ways to help member companies grow, and help to find the right expertise either within AEG or from its members’ independent networks.
The Association for Enterprise Growth provides an eco-system of city-based communities with advisors to help business owners grow their business, exit on their own terms, and build personal wealth. Learn more about referrals at AEG Referrals Grow Your Business.
Grow your company with referrals. Contact AEG today.