One of the best ways to grow your business and increase your marketing efforts is through recommendations and referrals from your current clients and customers. Sometimes, this happens spontaneously without much effort from you, but often gathering referrals takes some effort. Are you interested in finding out better ways to ask for referrals? Here are some suggestions…
Make it easy for current customers to give you referrals or make recommendations about your work. You can do this by providing materials that they can pass on to their friends and families or offering incentives for passing the word along. Some businesses choose to offer a specific dollar off, free product or percentage discount to current customers for referrals.
Approach your “ask” with humbleness and with an “asking for a favor” attitude. If you let your ego get in the way and act as if you expect or deserve a referral or recommendation, the client or customer will likely be put off and not feel compelled to do anything for you. You can even start your conversation with , “I’d like to ask you a favor…” This sets the tone that you are definitely giving them the power and ability to control what they do or don’t do. And it puts you in a very personable, humble place. Done correctly, asking for a referral or recommendation in this way makes the customer feel as though you have entered into a “partnership.”
If you are asking for a letter of recommendation or you’d like the client or customer to provide testimonial to a potential client, be specific and offer to do most of the legwork. Tell them exactly what you need and why you need it. If it is a verbal recommendation, offer to have the prospective client call THEM and not ask them to call the prospective client. The current customer may actually ask you “What should I say?”–you can provide a script, a draft of a letter, or some other helpful information. By making it as easy as possible for current customers and clients to make referrals and recommendations, you’ll get more of them and be able to grow your business with word-of-mouth.