Who doesn’t love referrals?
Well, ok, who doesn’t lovegoodreferrals?
(I don’t want to talk to your brother-in-law about his idea for putting tropical fish collections on blockchain)
I’m talking about referrals from existing clients.
Beyond the fact that they are easy to convert. They also tell us something powerful about our business.
Let’s look at that and leave ourselves with a few tips on how to get more.
Why we love them
They are good because they are easy to convert. The trust part is done.
The new prospect trusts you because they trust the referring prospect and the referring prospect trusts you.
All this trust is because you have been valuable.
And it’s proof that you have value that is the real reason you should love them.
Referrals mean you have service-market-fit.
The proof you need
The better you are at sales and marketing, the harder it is to tell if you have an offering people need.
Strip away the sales, marketing, messaging, and positioning—the packaging of what you do—and what matters is that your core offering solves a big enough problem.
Referrals are powerful because you’ll never be referred because of your packaging. They’ll never refer your homepage design, audience size, or search engine ranking.
They’ll refer you because of the effect you had on theirs.
Once you have proof of results, you can layer sales and marketing on top and know that you are scaling something solid.
Referrals should therefore be a vital sign for your agency. If you aren’t getting them, you might be building on sand.
The actionable bit
It’s simply to say that you should ask for referrals.
You should ask for referrals.
Thatwassimple to say and contributed to even more preamble.
Here’s the tip.
The skill is to make yourself referable and make sure those referrals are valuable.
Being “referable” means that people know what you want to be referred for. They understand your offer, its price point, and can describe it easily.
What you want to be referred for
Your clients know what you do for them, but do they know what you want to do?
Our services evolve over time. We become more strategic and move away from lower value work. Naturally, we have existing clients on our old offerings. Accept that reality (and enjoy that revenue).
However, your old offerings are where you’ve been.
You want to be referred for where you’re heading.
Let your clients know this.
Referrals come from individuals, so this doesn’t need to be a big pitch at your account management meeting. In fact, that will probably feel too much like upsell.
Use your personal relationships. Ask your contact informally where they think their business is heading and then reveal the amazing things you now do.
When they express interest, you can do the simple thing from above and ask if they know anyone you should be talking to.
An easy offer
When someone does refer you, then you want a solution they can express easily at a price point they understand.
A great way to go about this is to have a mini-upfront project. Our work can solve big problems and be hard to scope. The mini-project is fixed price and valuable as a way to get started.
And it’s a great thing to be referred for.
“You should speak to X…”
- They have a workshop for $x that will spec your MVP
- They have a £y audit which will show you your SEO opportunity
- Their workshop will help you understand your existing brand and it’s only €z
Now your referred prospect has trust and confidence that they are speaking to the right people.
And you are going to have a conversation you want to be having. Rather than one about tropical fish.