Not everybody you meet is a qualified prospect, but everybody you meet is a legitimate and large source of qualified referrals! The statistics gurus say that every individual has a personal contact sphere of more than 150 people. You meet new people every day. One of the most common socially accepted enquiries that people make is to ask the question, “So, what do you do for a living?” Every time you have this simple social exchange, it is an opportunity to dramatically expand your referral reach.
The key is to have a mind that is always open for business and a strategy that allows anybody and everybody to offer you referrals. People will give you a referral if they have a self-serving incentive to do so and you make it easy. A myth of business referrals is that just by giving your cards out (even if it is accompanied by a powerful and persuasive sales dialogue) your phone will ring off the hook. It won’t! All those nice people you met at Starbucks, at the little league game, the party and in the elevator will help you grow your business if you show them how it is in their interest to do so.
A simple yet immensely successful way to show them how is to create a special REFERRAL CARD. Here is how it works:
A referral card is a specially designed card to give out during these chance encounters that we enjoy every day. It gets your information out and improves your chances of a callback. The card has four components to it:
1. It has all your contact information so it is EASY for potential customers to get a hold of you.
2. It clearly states your unique value advantages – what your claim to fame is that makes you the obvious, best business choice.
3. It offers a gift or incentive to call for additional information.
4. It explains how to easily collect the gift.
EXAMPLE TEXT FOR A REFERRAL CARD:
You are being given this card by (the referring persons name) who wants you to have a FREE JAPANESE MAPLE, valued at $----.
You can see our national award-winning garden design and installation work at www.----. All our work is completely guaranteed and our crews are the fastest, friendliest and neatest in the business.
To get your JAPANESE MAPLE simply present this card when you agree to a design or estimate. Call me at (555) 555-5555.
With this referral card, you have given somebody the opportunity to be a hero and to give a gift to a friend. Note that the gift should obviously make financial sense. It needs to be less than the cost of buying a lead through advertising or a listing service such as the Yellow Pages. It also has a built-in qualifier so people don’t take advantage of the gift without giving you a chance for business.
If you are committed to effortlessly growing your business, consider the cost/return potential of the REFERRAL CARD. A stack of 250 cards can cost you $50 to $100. If you handed out on average ONE A DAY it would take you a full year to finish your pile of cards! This simple activity has a huge upside of massively expanding your referral reach. Giving one card a day to every warm and friendly person you happily cross paths with extends your reach to 250 multiplied by 150 – that is 37,500 additional people who can get to know about you for less than $100 and a minimal effort.
Clifton Pieters’ latest book for landscape professionals titled "SHOW ME THE PROFITS: Closing More High Margin Sales With Powerful Referral Selling Secrets" is available through the Lawn & Landscape site. Pieters can be contacted through his Web site and by phone at 503/492-0548.