My client Amy is in an industry that is heavily built on referrals. Like her colleagues, she relies on referrals to grow her prospect base and generate more sales. Unlike her colleagues, Amy gets tons of referrals on a regular basis and turns more than 90% of her referred prospects into clients.

Let’s take a look at how most of Amy’s colleagues handle their referrals…

First, they hope and pray that referrals come to them. A few of them actively seek out referrals by asking past or present clients for names. The majority are too afraid to ask and so, since this is an industry based mainly on referrals, the turn over and drop out rates are extremely high.

The ones who do land a referral do one of two things:

1. They either leave the referral sitting on their desks, never to be referenced again. According to a research report by BPM Forum, over 80% of generated leads are never followed up on, are dropped, or are mishandled.

2. They immediately pick up the phone, call the referred prospect and slip right into sales speak. The prospect has no idea who they are and he certainly isn’t ready to commit to anything based on this ambush.

So the sales person has a very difficult time landing referrals and then turning those referrals into new clients. He complains that the industry is too difficult, that it’s like breaking through the “old boys’ network”, that he just wasn’t cut out for sales, you know the drill.

Now we’ll compare that to Amy’s referral system…

First, she asks for referrals. It seems so obvious, and yet most entrepreneurs are hesitant to take this initial step. Some are afraid that asking for referrals will make them look desperate. Some don’t know how to ask for referrals. Some are just too shy to do the asking. Whatever the case, the evidence is undeniable that lots of Amy’s referrals came about simply because she asked.

After Amy gets a referral, she immediately sends a hand-written thank you card to the person who gave the referral. This extra little step lets her referral partners know they are appreciated, and so they are more willing to give lots and lots of referrals in the future.

She then sends a hand-written card to the new prospect. She doesn’t sit around waiting and hoping that the one who gave the referral will initiate a meeting between herself and the new prospect. Amy takes control of the situation right away.

The next day, Amy sends a copy of an article that she’s recently written to the referred prospect. She matches the article as closely as possible to what she knows about the prospect. Notice, she sends an article, something to actually help the prospect. She doesn’t send a brochure talking about how great and wonderful she is; she addresses the prospect’s needs. She is already starting to position herself as the expert.

Amy also invites the prospect to download a free report that she offers at her website. This automatically puts the new prospect into her drip marketing system. If Amy doesn’t land a project with the prospect on their initial meeting, she will be able to easily follow up on a regular basis, automatically. Incidentally, Amy offers two different services within the same industry. So I set up two different free reports with two different drip marketing systems. Amy will get a better idea of the prospect’s needs based on which free report he requests.

A few days later, Amy calls the prospect on the phone to set up their initial meeting. By this point in time, the prospect feels he already knows Amy, and that first phone call is very warm and relaxed. The prospect has a great understanding of what Amy can do for him and he is eager to set up a time to meet.

If time permits prior to the first face to face meeting, Amy sends a handwritten follow up card accompanied by another article. Since she has already spoken to the prospect and has more understanding of his needs, she can tailor the article - and often she will even tweak the article a bit to personalize it directly for the prospect. (Be careful when using this technique so your article doesn’t become a sales piece.)

When Amy and the prospect finally meet, the prospect views Amy as an expert in the field, thanks to the articles and free reports, and almost as a personal friend, thanks to the handwritten notes. Amy’s confidence is extremely high and the meeting is more of a conversation than a sales discussion.

After the meeting, Amy again follows up with a handwritten note. She also sends another handwritten note to the person who gave her the referral, thanking him again and letting him know how things are progressing.

Thanks to this system, more than 90% of Amy’s referrals become customers, and she gets 65% more referrals than her industry average.

At first glance, you would look at Amy’s system and think there’s nothing extraordinary about it. And, basically, you would be right. The extraordinary thing about it is that she’s the only one doing it! While her system is not difficult, it’s not expensive and it’s not extremely time consuming, most marketers are too lazy to go the extra mile. And then they complain that their business isn’t growing fast enough, that they don’t have enough customers, that they’re not making enough money.

The quickest and easiest way to grow your business is with referrals. If you don’t have a referral strategy in place yet, create one now. And if you do have one, take a good objective look at it and make sure it’s really effective.

Action Item:

1. Review the articles and materials you have written and choose the top three to use in your referral marketing program.

2. Print several copies of these articles on your letter head and keep them handy. Be sure all your contact information is included on the letter head.

3. Next time you receive a referral, send one of these articles before your initial phone call. This will help position you as expert in your referred prospect’s mind before he even speaks to you.

Not sure how to go about requesting referrals? No time to design your follow up cards? Grab a copy of my Complete Referral Request System and get started on your referral program today!

Now go find some new clients!

Karen Scharf helps small business owners attract and retain more clients. Karen coaches and trains website owners on various tricks and techniques that have been proven to increase website conversion. She offers coaching programs and a Marketing Makeover to turn your ineffective advertising into a profit-pulling system. Grab your FREE checklists, whitepapers and reports at http://www.ModernImage.com You can also get a FREE subscription to Successful Site Secrets at http://www.SuccessfulSiteSecrets.com