The sad fact is that many people believe that a referred lead is as good as sold and all good selling skills go out the window! Certainly a referred lead is often easier to convert than a lead that came from an advertisement. After all people prefer to buy from businesses and individuals that they know, like and trust. If a good friend referred you, then you have a little bit of trust. (Unless of course, they don’t trust the person doing the referring.) But you still have to turn the lead into a client by showing them what benefits you offer and the best way to do that is through providing a free information or education product – this could be a booklet, e-book, CD or video. Whatever works best for your industry or profession. Remember the idea here is to provide no strings attached valuable information, or even an experience of your products or services, not to ply your marketing message.
Then the next time you call up a referral, instead of saying, “Ken said I should call you; I understand you are looking for “your products or services”?” tell them that Ken felt that your booklet, “Ten Ways to Know if Your Accountant is Losing you Money ” , or whatever education product you have developed for your business or profession, would be of interest to them and that you would like them to have a free copy.
By starting with this type of education process, giving before you trying to sell anything, you build credibility with your potential clients. (Nobody wants to be sold to.)
It helps with getting those referrals too. What a relief for the person doing the referring to know how their valued client or friend is being treated! How often have you hesitated to give a referral – no matter how great you believed the product or service to be – if you thought you were going to subject your friend or associate to a “Sales Pitch”?
What education tools do I have or can I develop to assist in converting referrals into clients?
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
The Make the Right Choice Educator
The idea here is to provide a special report or Frequently Asked Questions sheet on how to go about choosing the best solution to a particular problem. (Obviously the problem that you solve!)
E.g. “Ten Things to Look for when Choosing an Accountant”
The How To Educator
In this educator the idea is to provide a self help solution to the problem that you solve, along with a section pointing out the pitfalls and problems involved in implementing the self help solution.
E.g. “Ten Things You Need To Know To Organise Your Own Wedding Reception”
The Problem Warning Educator
In this educator the idea is to provide a list of risks or things to watch out for when faced with a particular problem or need. E.g. “Ten Ways to Know if Your Accountant is Losing you Money ”
The Diagnostic Educator
In this case provide some sort of checklist or diagnostic tool that enables potential leads to determine (i) if they have a problem and (ii) if so what kinds of solutions they should be looking for.
E.g “Complete this ten question questionnaire to tell if your website is working for you”
The Complimentary Service Educator
The idea here is to give your referred lead an actual no strings attached experience of your products or services. It should not be a problem to work out whether this is a good solution for you if you know the lifetime value of a customer. E.g. a hairdresser could offer a complimentary colour and style to every new client who is referred by their referral partners. A great way to make both the new client and the referral partner feel special.
The Free Trial Educator
The Free Trial Educator is very similar to the Complimentary Service Educator except instead of offering a one time product or service in this case you offer a time limited trial experience with your compliments especially because they have been referred by your Referral Partner.
The Private Viewing Educator
In this case you run regular special invitation only private viewings, special education events or similar to which people referred by your referral partners are invited. What happens at these events will obviously depend on the products or services you offer.
It could be an education evening, a demonstration or an experience. Once again the idea is to make the person feel special, and to demonstrate your credibility and expertise. The sales will follow.
How many potential referrals are you losing because you are not making it EASY for your referral partners to refer business to you? And WHAT are you going to do about it?
This is part two in a four part series on Creating an endless Rush of Referrals. One of the best ways to connect with potential referral partners is through networking. Make sure that you get your FREE e-course “Ten networking mistakes and how to avoid them” at www.smartbusinessnetworking.com.au. And find out how YOU can create a network of great referral partners.
