Referrals are the secret to guaranteeing your business’s long-term success.

Acquiring new clients is costly and time-consuming. When you can use your existing clients to spread the word about your company, it saves you time, money, and energy.

Not only that… Clients that were referred to your business are better clients in every way. They are less price-sensitive, they are more appreciative, they spend more, they buy more often, and best of all… they refer more.

However, a lot of small business owners don’t know where to start with generating referrals.

Asking others to “promote” your business can feel awkward or intimidating. But the good news is that happy customers are excited to pass your name along to their friends.

Even if you already get referrals to your business, those probably happen on their own, without your direct influence. Unfortunately, that’s not a reliable system.

Once you understand how to make your business more referable and how to ask your existing clients to refer, you’ll be well on your way to create a referral SYSTEM that guarantees a long and successful life for your business.

Here are 10 simple ideas how to get more referrals for your small business:

1. Do a Co-Promotion

Make agreements with other small businesses who serve the same target audience with complimentary products/services to promote each other to your lists (e.g. lawyer and accountant, graphic designer and copywriter, psychotherapist and physiotherapist…) For local businesses (e.g. hair stylist, personal trainer, yoga teacher, cleaning services…) – develop a network with similar businesses all over the country. When someone from out-of-town asks you for your services, refer them to the business you endorse in their town. Make agreements that they will do the same for you…

2. Get Those Dream Clients

Make a list of your ideal ‘big’ DREAM clients. Then contact your current clients as well as your LinkedIn connections and social media followers, and ask, ‘Can you help me get in contact with  XX?”

3. Attach to the Invoice

With every invoice you send to a client (in an envelope or an email) add a ‘thank you’ note and a gift certificate they can give a friend…

4. Offer a Group Discount

For example – a seminar fee is €500 but 3 people get in for €900 and 7 get in for €1,400. They will go out and get other people to join them in buying whatever it is you offer…

5. Ask for In-Company Referrals

When you’re doing Business to Business (B2B) with large companies, ask your contact person, “You know what we do and we’ve really helped you. Could you recommend us to another person in your organization?”

6. Ask Your Top Clients for Referrals
Make a list of your TOP 10-20 clients (that spend the most money with you), then meet with each one of them individually, thank them for their business. Then say, “Let’s go over your contact list (email list, LinkedIn connections, CRM…) to see who are the people you can recommend me to.” Then have them personally call the people they put on that referral list.

7. Thank Them for Referring
Get back to the people who gave you referrals so they know what happened in the process. And if the referral became a client – send the one who referred a surprise ‘thank you’ gift. They will want to refer more often.

8. Get a Recommendation
When you ask someone to refer you and they give you a name, ask them to write a short letter/email of recommendation.

9. Follow-Up Call

A few days/weeks after you have completed delivering a product/service, contact your client and ask them how they’re doing and how is their progress… Assuming they’re happy, ask them if there’s anyone they can refer you to…

10. Ask for Evaluation and Referrals

After you have completed delivering a product/service – send your client an evaluation form, and on it leave space for 3 names of referrals and a few lines of “what would you tell them about us…”

Interested in Learning More About Referral Systems?

There are two courses on referral SYSTEMS in the Business University.
Check them out:

• Referral Systems – short, but in-depth course about referral marketing – including 10 simple referral systems and 12 to-do’s in order to create a powerful referral SYSTEM.
• 16 Referral Systems – this is a collection of my16 favorite referral systems – each described in 2-3 minutes and can be implemented immediately.

Now It’s YOUR Turn

For five minutes… come up with as many ideas as you can… how could YOU get more referrals to your business?