3 Ways to Generate More Referrals Than You Can Handle

By: Michael | Published: September 21, 2010 | Filed under: Entrepreneurs, Small Business Advice

As a small business, you obviously need to bank on the fact that you will be judged based on the quality of work you produce for your clients. Whether good or bad, people will be talking about your business. Do good work, deliver on time, be consistent, and your customers will be sure to tell their friends about how great your services are. However, always keep in mind that the same holds true for delivering low quality work. People will then be saying all the negatives about your company and your offering. While this will always remain true, you can always try other ways of incentivizing referral business. Let’s look at some of your options to ensure you never are short on work because of all the referrals people have sent you.

Do great work, earn referrals. As stated above, when you do fantastic work people are very likely to tell their friends in conversation that the project was completed successfully. A great example of something like this is to think about contractors that you use around the home. People like plumbers, electricians, painters etc. When you need work done, one of the most common ways to determine who you can trust to do the labor, most people will ask around. Make sure you’re the one people are saying excellent things about, as opposed to negatives.

Ask your clients for referrals. This one seems obvious, but most people completely forget. One of the best time to ask a client for a referral is when they express to you how terrific your service has been. Ask them if they know any people in the same situation, and if so, to tell them how you were helpful. In this instance, people tend to be very willing to help!

Treat people who send you referrals like gold. Always ask your new accounts how they found you. If it was from a referral, be sure to contact the person who referred them, and at the very least, say “thank you.” If it’s a current customer, doing something like offering them a service credit can always be effective. Phone calls and handwritten thank you notes can go a very long way. Additionally, if you chose to put extra something in the thank you note (such as a gift card, movie theater passes, anything that promotes entertainment) will really be remembered.

Heads up, if you contact the AMC Movie Theaters corporate buying department, you can get a VERY deep discount if you buy their passes in bulk. A pack of 50 passes backs out to under $8 a pass. While these are valued at over $10.50, this can leave a great impact while saving you some money in the process. Certainly, other deals like this exist out there if you look hard enough.All in all, generating new referrals isn’t too hard if you’re putting the effort in.We want to hear from YOU! What method has your business used to drum up new business? A referral contest? Offering something along the lines of “a month of free service for each referral?” Tell us in the comments!