How to Use Email to Get Referrals Warmed Up

While most referral-getting is a conversation to master, the written word can help you turn a name you’ve been given into someone expecting your call.

Dan and Scott, two clients of mine who run their own business, have had great success having their assistant use pre-prepared email endorsements to make it easy for referral sources to warm up their referrals.

What do I mean?

1. Dan has always been good at getting colder referrals – names of people not expecting his call – but he was getting tired of these people not calling him back. Since I explained the reasons why a warmed up referral is 35% more likely to do business with him, he now gets a referral and asks his referral source:

“Would you mind shooting her a quick email to see if she would be interested in hearing from me?”

2. This wording (‘would you mind’) gets a yes response.

3. Dan has learned that most people do not know how to talk to others about his business (which is true for almost everyone), so rather than risk losing the chance of doing business with this prospect, he then says:

“The easiest thing is if I have my assistant email you what might want to say and then if you want to make any changes to it, please feel free to do so.”

4. Dan and Scott’s assistant then has four emails to choose from which vary based on the business specialty most relevant to the referral. The emails also vary based on whether Dan wants a personal introduction because this is a big prospect, or if he simply wants an opportunity to call the referral.

5. Email example #1. Remember this is worded for the referral source to send to the person they have recommended to Dan:

Hi Dave,
Two of my business colleagues, Dan Gonzalez and Scott Williams, would welcome the opportunity to visit with you. They are co-owners of Gonzalez Williams Consulting and they specialize in Executive Benefits and Business Succession Planning. In addition to being well-connected in our community, they have done a good job for my company. Would you be okay if I have them give you a call to introduce themselves?

All the best,
Matt

6. Email example #2:

Hi Dave,
Two of my business colleagues, Dan Gonzalez and Scott Williams, would welcome the opportunity to visit with you. They are co-owners of Gonzalez Williams Consulting and they work with banks across the state in a financial consulting capacity. I think it would be mutually beneficial to spend some time with them. Would you be open to getting together for golf or a drink after work in the near future with Dan and me? If so, please let us know what dates fit your schedule.

All the best,
Matt

7. If your market is not using email much, or if you simply prefer a hand-written thank you note, you can’t write the note for your referral source but you can suggest what they say to their referral in your note:

“Mike,
It was great to see you yesterday. I hope your trip to Seattle goes well. Also thanks for recommending me to your friend Dave. All you need to tell him is that you’ve been really pleased with the work we’ve done, that you highly recommend that he at least have a conversation with me and see if I can drop him a line some time.
Perhaps I’ll follow up with you towards the end of the month.

Thanks and hope to see you out tailgating soon!
Matt”

Provided the relationship is strong, I think this approach can work very well nowadays because everyone is so busy. This kind of process makes it easy for your referral sources, which is so important when it comes to asking for referrals to get warmed up.

Clearly this is a tool not a cure-all. But since I’ve got clients getting good results with this method with high quality contacts, it would be silly of me not to write about it! Please share your results with me and do forward this email onto others that would appreciate this idea!