How to Ask for a Referral
What’s the big picture of getting referrals? If I had to summarise, there are six main areas:
- Believe that it’s silly not to ask
The more you believe that you’re asking because you are helping people rather than trying to sell them something, the easier you will find it to ask. Until your head is in the right place, asking for what you want is going to be uncomfortable.
Webcast on how to get comfortable asking for referrals:
http://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/6177/28947
- Identify that you’ve got water in the well
In any relationship where you are asking for something, you must bring value (and probably quite a lot) or this person must know, like and trust you if s/he is going to recommend you to others.
Listen for cues, listen to your intuition or ask for positive feedback.
6 Steps to a Fearless Referral Conversation webcast:
http://www.thereferralauthority.com/referral-marketing-webcasts/
- Until your belief is strong, find effective transition wording for your ask
When you believe it’s silly not to ask, you seldom have to worry about finding the perfect wording. Why? Because you will be comfortable and congruent in your conviction that you can help others – why not you to be asking?
However, since referral getting is a skill, you may well want better wording until your confidence is consistently high.
Many of my clients feel comfortable transitioning by saying, ‘It would be silly of me not to ask you about person A, opportunity B and door C.’
Or ‘One other thing I’m curious about is that you mentioned person A. I don’t know if you know how happy they are with their current (abc professional) but would you be willing to put in a good word about me and see if they’d be open to hearing from me some time? It’s very rare I meet people in their situation I can’t help’
- Be specific about what you want
You should never hear someone say ‘let me think about it’ because 98% of the time they won’t. It’s your job to let others know who you want to help such that 1-3 names come to mind.
This webcast on How to Be Specific was voted in the top 5 in 2011 on the UK site Thought Leadership Live:
http://www.thereferralauthority.com/referral-marketing-webcasts/
- Get your referrals warmed up
This increases your chance of landing the business by 35%. Most people do not feel competent or comfortable in knowing how to refer you. Most need your help whether it’s a face to face introduction, phone call or virtual ‘e-troduction’.
Webcast on how to do this:
http://www.thereferralauthority.com/referral-marketing-webcasts/
- Practice!
It’s a skill. All of the above areas are like guitar strings; they require time and effort to sound polished and professional.
Start with one of these areas, set a goal for the week and focus on improvement each day.
Please forward this to those who matter.
Author: Matt Anderson, The Referral Authority, Author of Fearless Referrals
Copyright 2012
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are snarky, offensive, or off-topic.