How Can I Get More Customer Referrals
for My Small Business?

Shawna: It is super cool when a referral just kind of lands in your lap. I just finished off a year-long engagement with an association that was the perfect fit for me. And I got it through a referral from a dear speaker friend of mine who spoke for them last year and knew that I would be the perfect fit for what their goals were for this year. And the good thing about that is this is from a speaker friend who's part of a referral pod that I belong to. And so the three of us refer business back and forth and we all speak on different topics. And it's perfect. We're all in about the same fee range, have about the same experience.

Shawna: And so if a client needs somebody who can speak on resilience, I know exactly who to refer them to. Or if they need somebody on leadership, I know exactly who to refer them to. And vice versa, because I've engineered it. But I have to say, it is super cool when a referral just falls in your lap. I wish that that just happened more. Thank you, universe.

Shawna: But let's talk about why people don't refer you, even if they love you as a customer of yours. There are a few different reasons why people don't refer you. If you know they like you, you know they're happy with you, they just don't refer you. Number one, you are not top of mind and they're not going to proactively refer you. Very rarely does that happen. They will refer you if somebody asks them for a service or product that you provide, and they are happy with you, they'll absolutely refer you. But you're not top of mind. That's the first reason why.

Shawna: The second reason is that maybe they don't know exactly what type of customer you want if it's not exactly like them. So if I am a home buyer and I worked with a realtor to buy a home and somebody's looking to sell a home in a completely different part of town and it's a different type of home, whatever, I may be hesitant to refer them to my realtor because I'm not quite clear on whether that's a good fit or not. So it could just be that they are not quite clear on the types of customers that you want more of. And the third reason is maybe they don't really think about you in a referral capacity because you've never really asked them. And the fourth one is that maybe they just don't know what to say.

Shawna: So how can we engineer it so that you stay top of mind, they know exactly who your exact right customers are, and they know what to say, and they know that you want referrals. Let's talk about the three things that you have to do first to engineer this. The first one is you have to have a phrase that kind of sticks in their head that's memorable for them. Shawna helps X do Y. So for my realtor friend, it would be, let's say, Melissa helps home buyers and sellers anywhere in the Twin Cities. I would fill that in with her words because she has given those words to me.

Shawna: So it wouldn't just be like, you should talk to my friend, Melissa, she's a realtor. It's, oh my gosh, I know exactly who you should talk to. My friend Melissa works in the northern suburbs and she specifically works with people who buy and sell houses in the one-plus million dollar range. Let's say, totally making that up. So make sure that they know exactly who your exact right customer is and how or who you help blank to do blank. And number two, make sure that you ask them at the exact right moment. So at the peak of their happiness with you during that time around.

Shawna: If they're a first-time customer, you know when the peak of their happiness is when, if you have brick and mortar and they are so profusely grateful for whatever you just did for them, that's the moment to ask. Or if they send in a thank you or they send in a review or something like that, that's the time to ask. Anytime when you know, okay, this is the peak of their happiness with me right now for this round of purchase, that's when you do your ask. And then the third thing, remove the friction. Make sure it is ridiculously easy. Tell them how to refer you, where to refer you. Give them a link, give them a template, give them exactly what they need. Give them a card, maybe a physical business card so that they have something with them.

Shawna: Let's talk about five easy referral strategies that actually work. Number one is the easiest, the direct ask. I just spoke about it when they're at the peak of their happiness with you. Maybe they're right in front of you, or maybe you have them on a Zoom call or on the phone, or you were just in their home providing a service, whatever. So the direct ask, and so many of us fail to do this. I'm guilty of this myself. I just had a speaking engagement last week that I was so grateful for the type of audience it was. It was my perfect type of audience. And the client was amazing. And I left thanking her profusely. And I went to the airport, got on the plane, I didn't ask her. So always make it a part of your process that you ask before they leave you because she was at the peak of her happiness with me the moment I walked off the stage.

Shawna: Secondly, get comfortable with the phrase, “Who do you know who?” This is a great way to specifically ask for your exact right customer and introductions to them. So if you are having coffee with somebody or you're reconnecting with an old college friend, “Hey, who do you know who books speakers for associations that serve small businesses?” That would be my ask. So what is yours? Who do you know who? And get used to that and get comfortable and use it until it just falls right off your tongue.

Shawna: The next one is for every referral that you get, start a loop of thanking that person who did the referral. Send them a little something, whether that's a handwritten note in the mail or the bare minimum, at least pick up the phone or leave them a voice note or something of that nature and just let them know, I would love more of the same. I'm always keeping you in mind. In fact, I just thought of this client for you. And that brings me to my next one, exchanging referrals. So I talked at the beginning of this episode about how I have a little pod where we refer each other. That doesn't mean that those are the only people that I refer.

Shawna: I refer an appropriate speaker to the appropriate client at the appropriate time for the appropriate topic. But that pod stays top of mind for me because every time that we talk, we are saying, hey, who do you know who, or who can we refer each other to that maybe we've worked with in the past couple months. So we keep bringing it up and we have regular check-in calls to hold each other accountable, but also to stay top of mind with each other. So that referral pod, that referral network that you create, make sure and cultivate that. I also have speakers that I network with that literally are marketing speakers so that if they have a date that they can't do a particular gig, they will reach out to me and vice versa, because I know we're in a similar fee range.

Shawna: So that just kind of that engine feeds itself when you feed into it. And lastly, you can easily do this by putting it in your CRM to at appropriate intervals, follow up with clients. For me, I follow up with clients after a speaking engagement to thank them and ask them, can I be of service and help you introduce you to other speakers now that I know your audience so well. And if you want to let me know what you're looking for for next year's conference, I'm happy to make introductions or recommendations. I always do that because I want to help my clients. And if you don't use a CRM, I was guilty of that for a million years, ADHD, hello, then just put a reminder on your phone.

Shawna: I talk to Siri all the time. Just say, hey, remind me to follow up with Julie about this or whatever, but set reminders for yourself. However, it doesn't have to be a huge, expensive CRM. Do it in whatever way is comfortable for you, but set those intervals so that you don't forget and just get kind of in this cadence.

Shawna: Let's talk about four things not to do. The first one is offering cash incentives or other incentives to the wrong group of people. Like if you don't know them well enough, or even if you do, if it just feels icky, you know, like your doctor, “Hey, if you know anybody who needs surgery, I'm giving you 50 bucks on an Amazon card.” Yeah, that just doesn't quite feel right. So make sure it feels appropriate. If you're not sure, ask your favorite customer, what would this be like? And ask them, in fact, how do you recommend that I get more clients?

Shawna: Small businesses have a wonderful advantage here. You can call three customers this week and they'll probably know exactly who you are. Pick three favorites. Reach out. Thank them for being great customers, tell them the types of people you'd love to help more of, and ask who comes to mind. The best time to build that referral habit may have been years ago. The second-best time is now.