Here’s good news.

This zero-cost strategy works…!

We all know it…. This is how we have built our business in initial stage. The only problem is some of us …. or rather many of us haven’t explored the full potential of this strategy simply because we haven’t realized it yet.

I speak to large number of business owners every week and when I ask them about strategies, they use for generating enquiries, I often hear “We get our enquiries by Word of Mouth.” This is usually the first answer I get and then 2-3 more strategies follow.  “So, if this strategy is getting you majority of your leads, what are you doing to get better at it?” and they answer “We don’t have to do anything. We just get the leads” or sometimes they say “We give our best quality and service”

Did you notice?

We assume that we will get referrals automatically and there is no outward effort required from our side. In other words, ‘We are not causing the inflow of leads’ but ‘We are expecting the leads to come in’ and that’s the GAP I want to fill today.

If you are not sure where to get the next lead from, if your enquiry pipeline is running dry, if your prospects are not responding to your calls in the current situation, or if you want to avoid cold calling & rejection…… here is the most handy, effective strategy to quickly generate some leads, or at least to get your foot in the door. Moreover, this strategy gets more qualified leads.

I am tweaking the WOM strategy which anyways works for you well… Instead of getting leads by chance, let’s make it happen.

Ask for It.

When was the last time you actually asked your client to give some referrals? Don’t remember? You might have asked recently, but do you do that often? Do you ask all the clients for referrals?

Fact is we don’t ask and hence we don’t get. It is as simple as that. Of course, there is a right time, place and method to ask.

Here is a simple way to ask. “If you are happy with our work, can I ask you for some help? Could you please refer me to any company who might require this?” I would stress on ‘please’ and ‘help’ as these two words are magical. Try it out. When you request for help, people are always willing to help. This is NLP thing.

If they cannot give any referral, then at least ask for the contact details of the people they know…! This will start building up your suspect list.

The best time to ask would be immediately after you have completed the job or solved their problem during service.

You will be able to ask for it particularly when you… and that’s the second point;

Keep in Touch

We have to be in touch with all our customers…. At least once in 90 days… because if you don’t, your competitors will. Also, if you are calling them only to ask for referrals, it may not work. You need to keep in touch all the time so that you build rapport and earn the right to ask for referral. Who knows, there could be a requirement right there itself..!

Here’s how you can do it in a structured way.

Make a list of all clients and all the people therein. All the people…. Do not exclude anyone. All departments or stake holders you know. For example, if I am selling Boilers or Cooling Towers, I should be in touch with Projects, Engineering, Users, Purchase, Consultants etc. And then schedule them in Call Recycling. i.e. getting in touch with them in rotation…. When you finish the list, start from the first again.

Why should you remain in touch with everyone? Simple… they change jobs and are great potential for business from the companies they have joined. Also, everyone has their own contact spheres. This holds true for all the levels from junior-most to senior-most. So, keep in touch with all, at least once in 90 days.

And when this starts working for you, do not forget to;

Reciprocate

If you received a referral, thank the person (This is the least you can do). Keep them Updated about what’s happening with their referral and ask for help if you need lubrication. Offer them something in return which they will value. It could be a free service, a training program or at least a Thank You card. It goes a long way. When you reciprocate, it’s a motivation for them to refer you more and more.

I have done it myself in my water treatment company where we used to regularly get business from people who left job at our client and joined a new company and the new company became our client. It works. It definitely worked for me and there is no reason why it shouldn’t work for you.

Getting referrals from client is a powerful strategy. It is at almost zero cost and if you train your customers to give right kind of referrals, you will always have qualified leads.

You don’t have to wait for anything. You can start NOW.

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The tips we share are a small part of what we do at our coaching sessions.

If you’d like to take the whole framework and install in your business, then do drop an email at sameer.waghode@expandusbusinesscoaching.com with subject line as “Scale Session” and we’ll reach out to you with all the details quickly.