workbook.multiple referral systems

8/6/2019 WORKBOOK.multiple Referral Systems

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Multiple Referral SystemsYour Easiest and FREE BusinessBuilder


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Multiple Referral Systems Page 2

Copyright PhoenixFire Marketing Group

INTRODUCTIONWhy do I want referrals?

Gathering referrals is the least expensive, simplest business builder you can get, and thereis no monetary or business risk involved. Studies prove that prospects produced throughreferrals have the highest conversion rate. But your biggest benefit is that referralsnaturally strengthen your relationship with the client who provides the referralbyrecommending your business to someone they know, your client invests emotionally inyour business and commits himself to you.

I get quite a few referrals now and then. Is that enough?

If youre getting referrals without soliciting them and they are growing your business,

imagine if you proactively solicited referrals. Were going to show you in the followingpages how to increase your client base by 69% in just four weeks using a single referralsystem. Then were going to help you build several more to increase your client baseeven further.

Okay, but how many ways can I ask for a referral?

At least 20 different ways! If you want to optimize your business and consistently attractnew customers, regardless of the economy, buyer attitude in your industry, or marketingsnags, then you will have to employ at least 4 referral systems.

How to build Referral Systems:

In the following section, were going to take you through ourReferral System Builder.Youll answer questions about your business and clients, and then well explore severalReferral System Templates (example systems you can modify and implement in yourown business). Soon, youll be turning all your clients into Referral Engines.

After you finish the Referral System Builder, youll go through the next section,Guidelines for Implementing Referral Systems, which will take you step-by-stepthrough using and profiting from each referral system you build.


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SECTION ONE:The Referral System BuilderPart OneBrief Business Questionnaire

Answer the following questions. We will then discuss each one and how to ensure thatyou get the most information out of your response.

1. Who are your ideal prospects? Ideal prospects are those customers you want tohave hundreds more of. Describe them in detail.

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2. What benefits are your ideal prospects looking for? What are their buyingcriteria?

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3. What percentage of your current client base resembles your ideal prospectdescribed above? Do you know exactly who those clients are? Could you findout?

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d. Gender

e. Ethnic Background

f. Neighborhood or Geographic Region

g. Business Type

h. Business Title

i. Marital Status

j. Religion

k. Hobbies

l. Political Views

m. Membership in Associations or Groups

n. Automobile Type

o. Subscriptions to Magazines, Newspapers, Trades, Favorite Shows

p. Educational Backgroundpart of Alumni Association?

q. Investment typeshome owner, stocks, real estate, bonds, savingsaccount, etc.


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r. Physical Health

s. Mental Health

t. Substance Usecigarettes, alcohol, drugs, prescriptions

u. Vacationswhere, when, how often, use travel agents?

v. Buying Preferencesretail (upscale or discount), direct mail, phone,online, etc.

w. Other

8. Now consider how you can locate your ideal clients through your existing

relationships. Now that you know exactly who youre looking for, you can morereadily imagine what vendors, clients, employees, friends, etc. would have accessto such people. For the categories below, list every business/person you have acurrent relationship with, or have ever had a relationship with in the past (dontforget your dentist, doctor, and other professionals you deal with in your personallife!).

a. Vendors

b. Clients

c. Employees

d. Professionals


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e. Personal and Professional Rolodex

f. Competitors

g. Relatives, Neighbors, and Friends

h. Prospects That Didnt Buy

i. Church, Association, Group Members

j. Businesses and Professionals your prospects trust and/or do business with

k. Leaders, Experts, Celebrities your prospects admire, respect and trust

l. Magazine Editors, Writers (also consider newsletter and e-zine publishers)

m. Special Interest Groups (think of the hobbies your ideal client has)

n. Businesses/Professionals who your prospects do business with before,during, or after they do business with you.

Now that youve responded to each question above, lets revisit them and take a closer

look. You may want to go back and add more to your responses as each of them willhold infinite possibilities for building an unstoppable arsenal of referral systems.

Question 1. Who are your ideal prospects?

Stacy Hall and Jan Brogniez, in their bookAttracting Perfect Customers, believe thatbusinesses often fail because they spend all their money on trying to find clients. Theysay that the key is to attractyour perfect client by knowing exactly who he or she is.


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Theres no magic formula to building a great client base. But there is a distinct frame ofmind that will do a heck of a lot to help. Consider this:

Would you want to spend tens of thousands of dollars throwing ads and email or mailcampaigns out into the market and hope that someone out there is interested in what youhave to offer, or

Would you rather decide what you want your client to be like, and then, without spendinga dime, find clients you already have (or people you already know) that resemble thisperfect picture, and then utilize them as Referral Engines?

Question 2. What benefits are your ideal prospects looking for?

Its the age-old adage: people dont buy products and servicesthey buy solutions totheir problems. They buy peace of mind and financial freedom from their FinancialAdvisor; they buy an emotional experience from a novel or movie. They buy higherprofit margins and business growth from Lead Generators.

But lets take this question one step further. What additional benefits do your clientsreceive as a result of your product or service? Benefits they might not have noticed orthought they wanted? Sometimes these are the benefits that close the sale. For example,if someone buys a glass of water and you want to upsell him to seven glasses, you cantconvince him that hes extremely thirsty. But you can tell him that consistently drinkingseven glasses of water a day will increase his energy, reduce stress level, as well as backaches and other stress-related pains. You can educate him to waters ability to help himlose weight, increase lean muscle mass, and increase mental retention and intellectualperformance. Isnt that much more convincing than simply reiterating, But yourethirsty!

Question 3. What percentage of your current client base resembles your ideal

prospect described above?

20% of your clients will produce 80% of your profits. Its the oldest rule of ROI in thebook. But thats if you arent aware of your clients and utilizing referral systems.Perhaps only 5% of your current clients resemble your Ideal Prospect that you created.Yet, if logic holds true, they likely know people similar to themselves in age, gender,hobbies, industry, etc. To increase the amount of clients contributing that big chunk ofchange to your business, simply turn those particular clients into Referral Engines!

Question 4. How do your competitors address prospect needs? What do they doworse than you? Better than you?

Your competitors are not your enemy. In fact, were going to show you how to profitfrom your competitionthey can be your greatest asset and most profitable referralsystem. But before you can build a profitable relationship with a competitor, you have toknow how your companies differentiate. Its okay if they do something better than you,


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because you can leverage that. You can also leverage what you do better. (Well go intothis in detail under the Competitors Referral System Template.)

Question 5. What is the biggest problem or issue facing your prospects that is not

being met?This question is two-fold. First, what is the issue facing your prospects that your productor service directly addresses? If you sell shoes, that issue may be the need for designerstyle at bargain prices. If you design graphic art, the issue you solve may be the lack of acreative brand identity that expresses the clients unique company character.

Yet, the second aspect of the question is that problem or issue that arises because of theprospects central need. To use the shoe example, additional problems arise for theprospect when their designer styles at bargain prices shoes fall apart after one week.Another problem may be poor customer service; or a prospect may feel the need for ashoe expert that can refer them to trustworthy shoe retailers.

You want to identify the core need your product or service fulfills. Then look at the wayyou fulfill that service and all the surrounding aspects of your relationship with yourclients. What additional needs, problems, issues, and desires do your prospects have?How do you address them? Are you addressing them better than your competition? Youwant to educate your clients and prospects to the fact that you dotell them youunderstand the various needs and issues they have and that you go out of your way toaddress them.

Question 6. How do your current clients view your company and product/service?

What are you currently doing to improve their perspective? How are you WOWing

them?If youre not sure what your clients think, ask them. Send an email or phone thempersonally. Many will be more than happy to let you know, and to increase the responserate, offer them a free gift or coupon to thank them for their time.

If youre not utterly convinced that youre WOWing your clients, or youre not sure howto, think of a company or professional youve done business with or are doing businesswith (it could even be a cheerful barista at a coffee shop that you only saw once), andexplain to yourself why doing business with them wowed you. Then brainstorm how youcan incorporate that into your relationship with your clients.

Question 7. Describe your ideal client in terms of demographics.

You could triple your profit based solely on your answers to this question. IntendedDemographics are those descriptors you choose, and in choosing them, you never have toask yourself, Where do I find the best prospect for my business? How do I target mymarket? When you decide that your ideal client is a member of the NationalAssociation of Women Business Owners, youve just created a lead pool you can access,


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probably for free. And by collecting this same information on your existing and futureclients, you will find that some of your clients belong to that same organization and willintroduce you to the rest of its members. The possibilities are endless. And that leads usinto the next question.

Question 8. Now consider how you can locate your ideal clients through your

existing relationships.

The incredible profit potential in referral systems is that you can get a referral fromanyoneeven your competition. If you offer a service at a less expensive price than yourcompetitor, you can ask them to refer all their dead leads to youfor every client yougenerate from those dead leads, youd pay the referring company a percentage of yourprofit from that client. If you hire someone to supply your computer networking andmaintenance, its likely that they have additional clients that could make good prospectsfor you, and since your growth translates into your vendors growth, theyre often morethan happy to refer the business to you.

Now that weve showed you various ways to look at the questions we asked you and thepossible answers you could provide, go back through each question and see if you canadd to the answers you already gave. When youre finished, continue on to Part Two,where we will explore several possible referral systems.

Part TwoReferral System Templates

The following templates are examples of some of our most profitable referral systems.Read through them and see which ones you like. Eventually, you could incorporate everysingle one into your business, however the first time you work through this book, weregoing to have you pick out three you like best and then well lead you step-by-stepthrough modifying and implementing them into your business.

The Top Twenty Club

Pick out the 20 people (or the 20% of your client list) who do the most business withyou. Concentrate most of your efforts on those clients, and do a superb job servicingthem. Add so much value to their relationship with you that they are eager to giveyou referrals. If you work with local clients, take them out to lunch and ask thempersonally to call on people they believe would enjoy the experience theyve had withyour company. When you get a sale from a clients referral, let him or her know andgive a Thank You gifteven if you dont get the sale, let your client know and still


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give the gift. Youd be amazed at how well they can turn their referrals No into aYes.

The Dead Lead Sea

If your company has dead leads that youve contacted several times, in severaldifferent ways, with several different offers, and theystilldont buy, create a leadexchange with the competitor you think those dead leads might be inclined to buyfrom. You can exchange your dead leads for your competitors dead leads, or youcan set up a referral program where you try to sell a prospect on your competitorwhen he declines to buy from you and vice versa. You would receive acommission from each sale you make for your competitor. Lastly, if you donthave leads, or your competitor doesnt have leads, you can take (or give) leads on a

profit-sharing basis.To choose the competitor you work with, always ask prospects that dont buy whattheir reason for declining is and find the competitor that best addresses that reason.Contact that company and explain, Every company has leads we cant convert.However weve learned from our prospects that they are most concerned with X andwe believe your company does the best of all of us at addressing X. So consider this:Instead of spending additional money on generating new leads that may or may not bequalified, and losing money on those leads you couldnt convert, let us give you theleads we cant convertweve already qualified them for youand we wont chargeyou a dime for them. Simply give us X% of each sale you make from those leads, orexchange your dead leads in return. Of course, you can also pitch the reverseask

them to give you all the leads they cant convert and youll pay them a percentage ofeach one you convert.

Point of Sale or Immediate Follow-Up Ask

Have your sales person or website request a referral at the point of sale. If yourehesitant to push for the referral so soon, wait a brief time so that your new client hastime to evaluate your product or service, while you provide attentive customer serviceand added value to their every communication with you, and then follow up with acall or email asking for five referrals. Its always nice to offer a gift as a thank you toboth the referrer and the referred.

Retail Referrals

If you have a retail store, make sure your cashier, sales staff, employees, etc. chatconstantly with clients and build a relationship with them. The best way to ask for areferral is in a nonchalant, ecstatic way. For example, if a client comments on howcrowded the store is, say, Thats because weve got so many great clients like you


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who constantly send in their family and friends. Who are you thinking of sendingin?

Give Promotions to Current and Past Clients

Many businesses run promotions for enormous discounts or freebies. But they add aqualifier to the promotion: you have to be a new client who hasnt purchased anythingin the past. These promotions are fine and profitable, but run promotions that areonly for your current or past clients so that they feel valued as well. They are yourbread and butter and the reason for your business survival and successshow themhow much you appreciate that. When you offer the promotion, point to yourcompanys attention and care for your clients and ask for referrals.

Let Me Spend My Time On You.

If your clients are hesitant about giving referrals, explain that you have two jobsto

provide the best service possible to your client, and to find new clients. Ask yourclient what theyd prefer you dospend more time on finding them the house theywant, or the stock investment most profitable to them, or on designing the mosteffective website or marketing strategyor spend that time on finding more clients?

Its in your clients best interest to provide you with referrals and if theyre happywith the service or product you provide, they shouldnt mind.

Clear From the Get-Go

Let your prospects and new clients know that you take pride in your work and that

you consider yourself one of the best providers of your product or service in yourindustry. Tell them that you expect to get referrals if your performance lives up toyour reputation. If clients give you poor referrals, you can tell them you wont dobusiness with them anymore unless the referrals improvechances are they will.Coming from a place of power and expectation, when done with respect and follow-through, can be highly effective.

Dont Target Market, Target Donate!

Each of your clients likely belongs to certain associations, enjoys particular hobbies,and participates in various local events or organizations. Build relationships and

donate your time, services, money, etc. to those charities and organizations that haverelationships with your Ideal Client. Your company should give back to charities andthe community anyway, so why not specifically target who you work with? Forexample, if youre a walk-in clinic, offer free tours to school kidsthe schools willlikely send kids and staff to you for physicals since theyre already familiar with youdue to the free tours. Donate your time to local fire, police, and rescue departmentsso that they know and trust youtheyll send their lighter emergency calls to yourclinic.


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Upsell the Compliment

Every time a client pays your company a compliment, thank them and ask kindly fora referral.

Lets Get Personal

Have you referred your own friends, family, and professional acquaintances to yourcompany? Have your employees? If youre afraid to sell yourself to your contacts,consider contacting everyone in your rolodex by letter or phone four times a year.Simply explain whats been new in your personal and professional life and ask themwhats been new in their life. Explain what your business needs are, such as Imcurrently expanding my customer base and am looking for [describe your IdealClient]. Ask them to contact you if they can in any way help and offer to do thesame for them.

A great way to automate this process while also personalizing it is to use an emailautorepsonder (explained later in this workbook) that allows you to mergeinformation you have stored in your database (such as persons name, interests, etc.)into your message.

If the Expert Says It, It Must Be So

Contact experts in your field, or locally respected people if youre regional, andexplain that your best clients respect and look up to them. You love these particularclients because of [explain their defining characteristics], and you want to grow yourbusiness by securing more clients like them. You feel that since your clients respectand admire them as an expert, youd like them to refer you to others they feel wouldbe a good client for your company.

Before, During, and After

Talk to your clients and find out who they often do business with before purchasingyour service or product (in other words, what prior purchase led to the need for, or thepurchase of, your product or service). Also find out who they do business withduring and after doing business with you (as a result of doing business with you).Then contact those businesses and explain that your companies are naturally

complimentary. Develop a loose or formal referral relationship where each companyrefers its clients to the other company on an exchange basis or on a profit-sharingbasis.

The Narrow Market

If you have a very narrow market segment, such as Fortune 500 executives who are55 to 75 with a $100 million or better net worth, your clients might not know exactly


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who to refer to you. However, if you present a list of qualified prospects to yourclients, they might know someone on the list or of a way to get you in touch withthem.

The Lottery PrizeEvery time you receive a referral without asking for it (or even when you have askedfor it), send a hand-written thank you note with a lottery ticket, or similar gift. Yourclients will never forget it and theyll secretly refer lots of people to you simplybecause they know that next lottery ticket will be a winner!

The above Referral System Templates are just a sampling of the infinite ways you cangenerate referrals for your business. Browse through them again and choose three thatyou want to implement immediately. Once those three Referral Systems become secondnature to your business, you can come back and implement the rest.

The Three Referral System Templates I Want to Use Are:

A.________________________________________________

B.________________________________________________

C.________________________________________________

Now describe how youre going to modify each Referral System Template for use withinyour business. Describe in detail exactly what you are going to do and the result youwant to have. Dont worry yet about how youll do it. Well lead you through thatprocess in the next section.

Referral System A: __________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________


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________________________________________________________________________

Referral System B: __________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Referral System C: __________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

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Now that youve built your first three referral systems, its time to make them a reality!Work through Section 2:Guidelines for Implementing Referral Systems and in lessthan a month, youll see your business grow dramatically.


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SECTION TWO:Guidelines for Implementing Referral SystemsPart 1How to Get the Most Out of Referral Systems

Begin with a highly valued product or render a superb service. If youre notconvinced that what you offer serves your clients best interest, youll havedifficulty generating referrals.

Ask for referrals up front as part of the deal. Demonstrate your pride in yourservice and your natural expectation that when you provide great service to yourclients, they will want to spread the word.

Ask for referrals at the moment of peak customer satisfaction or interest. Ask

more than once during your relationship with your clientsand always cultivate alife-long relationship with each client.

Use your referral system to further educate your client to the value and benefitsthey are receiving (restate value and benefits within your referral ask).

Always provide meaningful value in return for a referralgive a discount, afreebie, a special report, lottery ticket, or anything your client would appreciate.

Say Thank You for the referral in a valuable and personal way that turns theclient into a perpetual Referral Engine.

Actually follow up on the referrals you get, and do so immediately andconsistently.

Treat referrals the same way you treat any leadeven if they say no, dont throwthem away. Continually follow up every few weeks or months with a differentoffer, highlighting a different perspective or benefit, and continually educate themto the way your company can improve their life as it has for their friend. Betteryet, try this (its helped us close 50% of the referrals who originally said no):provide a special report of 5 to 35 pages that provides valuable information thatyour prospect can use to positively change his life immediately. Dont ask foranything yet, just give the gift. When he sees the impact of your expertise andyour willingness to give so much useful information for free, the next time youfollow up, youll have a greater chance of closing the sale.

Understand that referrals are the most profitable leads and that you should spend asignificant amount of time on generating them. The conversion rate for referralsis higher than any other form of lead generation, converting at an average of 20%-30%. In addition, the cost of sale for a referral is significantly less than the costof sale for other leads. Therefore the profit margin for referrals is astounding.

Create referral systems that involve more than just your clients. Dont be afraidto approach your competition, your vendors, your friends and relatives.


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Be direct and specific when asking for a referral by stating the exact action youwant the referrer to perform.

Ask for referrals from the clients you get as a result of a referral. Theyllnaturally be your best referrers.

Be enthusiastic when asking for the referral! Enthusiasm is contagious and ifyoure excited, youll get your client excited. If the client is excited, hell get hisreferral excited and often make the sale for you.

Part 2How to Set the Stage, and Ask for, Referrals

Businesses often refrain from asking for referrals because they dont know what to say orhow to say it. Here are several examples for how to set the stage for referrals, and also

examples of what to say when asking for referrals.

Setting the Stage:

Identify exactly how you differentiate from your competitors

Show interest in your clients (or other possible referrers) by asking them aboutthemselves

From the very beginning of the prospecting process, build a relationship with theperson youre working with. Whether he buys or not, keep in contact by updatinghim on your company, sending information, a special report, a newspaper

clipping, or anything you know hed be interested in and find valuable Always educate your clients and prospects about how buying from you will

positively impact their lives, both in terms of direct benefits and additionalbenefits they may not have considered

Conduct your business with such professionalism and attention to service thateach client can trust, without a doubt, that anyone he refers to you will receive thesame fabulous treatment

Do something special for the person youre going to ask a referral from beforeyou actually ask. This naturally encourages reciprocity. Send a birthday card,buy him lunch, give him a referral or a special report, book, free subscription to

his favorite magazine or newsletter, or anything else he will find valuable.Understand that your companys first and most crucial reason for existing is toimprove your clients life in any and every way possiblethat doing so willnaturally make you profitable. Give for the sake of giving, not for the sake ofgetting a referral, and the referral will come naturally.

Periodically reward clients who have provided referrals in the past with a surprisegift, special informational report, thank you note, flowers, a public Thank You


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to them on your website or somewhere in your retail store, etc. Do everything inyour power to show your appreciation and the referrals will keep coming.

Asking for Referrals:

Explain that they owe it to their friends and colleagues to refer them to you

Explain that even if that referral doesnt buy, he will get a valuable service out ofyour conversation with him, as youll educate him about what to look for, avoid,expect, etc. from your industry.

Assure your referrer that you will be a professional and that the referred personwill thank your referrer for introducing him to you.

Give your referrer reasons why he should give you referrals. Explain that you getmuch or most of your business through referrals (or that you want to), and thatthis allows you to concentrate most of your time and money investment onimproving your product or service, rather than on trying to locate more clients. It

is in your clients best interest to refer people to you as it directly affects the levelof service you are able to devote to him.

You can tell each new client that the product or service you are giving is based onhim giving you referrals and that it is a condition of doing business with you.People respect confidence as long as it is humble and respectful.

Offer an incentive to your referrers in exchange for the referrals. You could givethem a cash bonus for every referral that results in a sale, or provide a discount onyour service for each referral that results in a sale. You can exchange referrals,donate money to their favorite charity, help them grow their business, or providethem with a valuable special report you prepared on a subject of great interest to

them.

If you want referrals from other businesses (or your clients are businesses), offerto give their clients a product or service for free or at a discount in return for acertain number of referrals.

Ask the referrer to actually call their referral on your behalf and introduce andendorse you to them. Reverse their risk by saying that if their referral is at allunsatisfied, you will give that person their money back and also give the referrer adiscount or freebie to apologize for the inconvenience. (This is not an assumptionthat something will go wrong, but a confident statement saying you are so surethey will be satisfied that you are willing to offer such an enormous guarantee.)

Ask for the referral when the person is most receptive. This could be when hebuys, or after youve done something great for him, such as processing a refund,earning a return on his investment, increasing his profit, giving him a referral,fulfilling a promise or obligation, etc.

Ask them, How can I grow my business? or Who do you know that wouldappreciate the same service I give to you? or ask them, Have I met all yourneeds? Great. I have a need that I think you can help me with. We get our best


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clients from referralssince you are one of our most valued clients, Im sureanyone you refer to us would also be a fabulous client. Who comes to mind?

Always formally thank anyone you get a referral from. Take the time to make aphone call, send a hand written letter, a gift, or provide a surprise discount on hisnext bill/purchase.

Part 3The Exponential Growth Referral Systems Generate

Lets look at how simply asking for two referrals from each new client can grow yourbusiness by more than 50% without costing you more money, time, or effort.

No Referral System Example:

Imagine that every week you place an ad that produces 100 leads. From those 100 leads,you make 20 appointments. From the 20 appointments, you close five sales.

In a month, if your ad consistently pulls the same amount of leads and your sales scriptscontinually close 25% of appointments, you will have run, and paid for, 4 ads, followedup on 400 leads, kept 80 appointments, and closed 20 sales.

Ads Calls Appointments Sales

Week 1 1 100 20 5

Week 2 1 100 20 5Week 3 1 100 20 5

Week 4 1 100 20 5

4 ads 400 calls 80 appointments 20 sales

But what if you wanted to increase your sales without increasing your marketing budget?

Referral System Example:

Now lets assume you ask for, and receive, two referrals for each sale, and that every 10referrals you get produce 3 sales. Thats a 30% closing ratio, which is higher than the25% closing ratio you normally get. But more importantly, those are sales you didnthave to spend marketing dollars to acquire, and research proves that referral sales takeless time and effort to close.


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Step 1. Evaluate Your Company and Products

You must be 100% convinced that your company provides a superb and valuable productor service. Know exactly what it is about your company that makes it superb andvaluable. If youre the least bit doubtful, improve the product or service.

Step 2. Identify Your Referral System Type

Is your referral system a passive system built into your sales and/or follow-up process, oris it a company initiative that you proactively implement a couple times a year? In otherwords, is this particular referral system:

A. Passive: A verbal or written ask that comes during or immediately after each

sale/visit on a consistent basis, or

B. Proactive: A formal campaign to past and current clients (or other possiblereferrers) in the form of a letter or email, to be sent out a couple (or several)times a year.

Your referral system type will affect the process you design, however either type ishighly effective and youll eventually want to incorporate several systems of both types.

Step 3. Develop Your Pre-Ask Process

What can you do for your current and past clients (or other referrers) to add enormous

value to their relationship with your company? Choose at least one of the followingoptions and immediately perform it for current and past clients, and incorporate it intoyour business process with each new client you acquire. You could also do this forprospects. Dont just perform the Pre-Ask before you ask for a referral. Periodicallyperform it on a consistent basis so people dont feel like youre just buttering them upfor the Ask.

A. Develop a Free Special Report. Could be a couple pages to 35 pages, aslong as its valuable and can directly impact a persons life or a businessbottom line. Send it to all your current and past clients (along with anyfriends, colleagues, and contacts in your rolodex who could benefit) as a JustBecause to show your appreciation for them and your desire to help.

B. Get to Know Them. How can you get to know your clients and otherpossible referrers on a more personal basis? How can you increase their trustin you and your business? You could send them a fun questionnaire toformally gather information. But you also want to make each transaction andcommunication with clients more personal. Its okay to ask them how thefamily is doing, what they enjoy for fun, what organizations they take part in,


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what their favorite charities are, etc. If they ask why you want to know,explain that your business prides itself on its strong relationships with itsclients. You dont want to just provide a product or serviceyou want toimpact each clients life. If you come across free tickets to an opera and youknow a particular client loves the opera, youd want to give them those

tickets. If you happen upon an informative article about real estate investingand you know a client is interested in learning more on the subject, youdwant to pass that information along. Also explain that you have severalrelationships with professionals and businesses outside your industry. If youknow a lot of your clients have a need for a lawyer, you would leverage thatrelationship with a particular lawyer to negotiate a discounted fee for yourclients (the professional can afford to discount their services to your clientsbecause they didnt have to invest any money to acquire the sale).

C. Increase Level of Customer ServiceMake the client experience more fun, easier, and highly valuable. Call onclients every so often just to ask if theres anything you can do for them, or tooffer information they might find useful (that may or may not be directlyrelated to your company). Ask them how you can better serve them and dowhat they ask. We knew one gentleman who owned a grocery store that grewinto a profitable tourist attraction and the only place the locals shopped simplybecause hed exclaim Shazaam! every time he rang up a sale, throwing acouple free bananas or pomegranates into the clients grocery bag.

It sounds simple, but few companies take the initiative to truly do everythingin their power to meet the various needs (including emotional needs) of theirclients afterthey have become clients.

D. Thoroughly EducateYou can never educate enough. Oftentimes, your clients wont realize all theancillary benefits they get from working with your company. Its okay to tellthem. Send a monthly newsletter on how to get the most out of your productor service, or with informational articles about your industry or area ofexpertise. Constantly reiterate the value in working with your companybutdont simply restate the same benefit. Highlight different benefits each time,from different perspectives. Each person has a different hot buttonthatemotional need they want fulfilled (such as acceptance, respect, feelingvalued, or feeling like part of the inner circle) and you never know whichhot button each client will respond to.


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Step 4. Design the Referral Ask

Depending on your referral systems type, your actual referral ask will either be a formalemail, letter, or phone call, or it will be a component of your sales process, customerservice, or daily conversation with clients. Whether you ask for the referral in person,through an email, or on a page of your website that appears after each sale is made, how

you ask and what you ask for can dramatically increase the amount of referrals youreceive.

When developing your Referral Ask, first ask yourself the following questions:

1. Why am I asking for the referral? What benefits does my company get from these

referrals? What benefits do my clients get out of my receiving these referrals?__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

2. Are there any reasons why someone would not want to give me a referral? How

can I address those reasons?

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

3. What is the most compelling reason I can think of that would make my client (andother referrers) beg me to give me referrals?

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________


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__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

4. What is my idea of a referral? What do I want my referrer to give me? Do I justwant a name and phone number, or other contact information as well? What typeof people do I want referred to me? Do they fit certain demographics? Do I wantthe referrer to contact them on my behalf, or do I simply want to use their namewhen I call?

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

5. How many referrals am I going to ask for from each referrer? How often am Igoing to ask?

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

6. When am I going to ask for these referrals?

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

7. What am I going to give, or do for, the referrer in return for the referral(s)? Whatam I going to give, or do for, the referral in return for working with my company?

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________


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__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

8. Am I excited about my business, my clients, and this referral system? How can Idemonstrate that enthusiasm and evoke that same enthusiasm in both my referrerand the referral?

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Now its time to develop your Referral Ask Script. Use Script Format A for a PassiveReferral System, and Script Format B for the Proactive Referral System.

Script Format A: The Passive Referral Ask

I am going to ask the following Referral Ask when (or every time) this event happens:________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Introduction or Transition Phrase Ill say when above event occurs (what Ill say tointroduce the subject of referrals or to transition from a particular event, such as apurchase, compliment, etc.):

_______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________.

Actual Referral Ask (my request and offer to the referrer, along with explanation of why Iwant the referral, the type of person Id like referred, and how I want that referral):

_______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________


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________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________.

Responses to Objections (list the three most common objections you receive or expect to

receive and your response to each one):

Objection 1: _____________________________________________________________

Response:

_______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________.

Objection 2: _____________________________________________________________

Response:

_______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________.

Objection 3: _____________________________________________________________

Response:

_______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________.

Then repeat your Referral Ask.


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Script Format B: The Proactive Referral Ask

I am going to send the following letter/email, or make the following call __________times per year. I will send the letter/email or make the phone call when the followingevent(s) occur(s):

List events that will incite your Referral Ask:

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Or choose to send them out regardless, at pre-scheduled intervals.

Introduction:

I am sending this message/making this phone call because (state your reason whytogain more customers like you, because I value you and need your help, etc.):

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

I am sending it to you in particular because (express why you value them):

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

I know youll be excited to provide referrals because (explain the several benefits, suchas helping their friends, allowing you to spend more time on them, etc. they get inproviding referrals, and the benefits the referral gets):

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________


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________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

And to thank you for your referrals, Im going to give to you the following things(provide as bullet points and describe each freebie, discount, etc.):

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

And Im going to give each person you refer to me the following things when they buy(list as bullet points and explain each one):

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

You can rest assured that your referral will be handled with the utmost professionalismand I am so confident in my company and our product/service, that if, for any reason, thepeople you refer are unsatisfied, I will do the following (give them their money back,give them something free, continue to work with them for free until theyre satisfied, helpthem find a better product/service, etc.):

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Reiterate why youre asking for the referral and the benefits theyll receive. Thendescribe the objections you feel they may have and your response to those objections thatwill put them at ease:

Objection 1: _____________________________________________________________

Response:


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_______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________.

Objection 2: _____________________________________________________________

Response:

_______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________.

Objection 3: _____________________________________________________________

Response:

_______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________.

Ask for Referral (my request and offer to the referrer, along with explanation of why Iwant the referral, the type of person Id like referred, and how I want that referral):

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________


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________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Provide detailed instructions explaining what they should do next to give you thereferrals, i.e. do you want them to send an email, tell you over the phone, call the referralon your behalf, etc. Make sure to let them know exactly what information you needabout the referral and how theyll receive the discount, freebie, or gift once they make thereferral.

Explain how youll proceed with the referral once the connection is made, reassurereferrer that it will be a great experience for the referral.

Briefly ask again for the referrals with call to action attached, i.e. tell them to click onlink to online form or email address, to call a phone number or to fill out and send inenclosed referral card, make phone call to referral, etc.

Thank them!

Note: The above Script Format may have to be modified for certain templates such as the

Dead Lead Sea Template. However the structure and methodology of the Script Formatremains the same.

Step 5Expand Your Referral System

Once youve designed your referral system and implemented it, go back to Question 8 ofthe Brief Business Questionnaire in Section One and modify your Referral Ask for eachof those 13 relationships. For example, if your first Referral System you build is aProactive Referral System that asks your clients for a referral, modify that script so thatyou can send that message, or make that phone call, to your vendors, your personalrolodex, your competition, etc. Some referral systems wont work as well with certainrelationships, so use your best judgment. The key is that there are infinite variations foreach referral system that will explode your growth exponentially when you make smallchanges to each system.

So Good Luck, and Have Fun!


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To help you with your implementation of the Referral System you just created, wevecreated the following section. Its an optional Strategic Action Plan that weve added toeach strategy to help you set goals around your implementation. Use it to hold yourselfaccountable to your goals and ensure your profitable success.

P.S. Check out the last page of this document. We decided to throw in some greatresources weve used to automate the referral system process and still provide top-notchservice to our clients and referrals. Many of them are free!


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Now, several things may have occurred as you began mapping out your action plan. Onthe one hand, you may have found that you had very few steps. If so, dont be alarmed.At the beginning, we often only see the most basic steps in our journey. As soon as youbegin to walk your action plan, youll notice the minute details, the extra steps in

between.On the other hand, you may have quickly realized that to achieve your goal, you

would have to achieve a couple of other objectives in the process, and that each of thoseobjectives involves their own action steps. This does not necessarily mean you have amore complicated goal, or that your chances for reaching it are compromised. That isjust the nature of certain goals, primarily those that involve interaction with others, suchas improving relationships and career goals.

To accommodate the various ways your plan may have evolved, below are twodifferent charts. Fill in the one most appropriate for you. Chart A is for those who havea linear action plan without supplemental objectives. Chart B is for those who have a

compounded action plan containing the additional objectives.

Chart A

Goal: ________________________________________________

*Begin with your last step, then the step before that, working backwards to your first stepyou take. Wait until you are finished to fill in the numbers of each step because the firststep listed will be numbered as the last step you take.

Step_____________________________

Step_____________________________


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Step_____________________________

Step_____________________________

Step_____________________________

Step_____________________________

Step_____________________________

Step_____________________________

Step_____________________________

Step_____________________________

Step

_____________________________Step_____________________________

Step_____________________________

Step_____________________________

Step_____________________________

Step_____________________________


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Step_____________________________

Step_____________________________

Step_____________________________

Step_____________________________

Step_____________________________

Step_____________________________

Step_____________________________

Step_____________________________


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Chart B

Goal: ________________________________________________

*Write your goal at the top, then the supplementary objectives below. If you have morethan three, make your own chart on a separate piece of paper and paste it to the page. Foreach objective, start with the last step youd take to succeed at that objective, and workbackwards. Wait until you are finished to fill in the numbers of each step.

Goal

Objective Objective Objective

Step ____________ ______________ ______________

Step ____________ ______________ ______________

Step ____________ ______________ ______________

Step ____________ ______________ ______________

Step ____________ ______________ ______________

Step ____________ ______________ ______________


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Step ____________ ______________ ______________

Step ____________ ______________ ______________

Step ____________ ______________ ______________

Step ____________ ______________ ______________

Step ____________ ______________ ______________

Step ____________ ______________ ______________

Step ____________ ______________ ______________

Step ____________ ______________ ______________

Step ____________ ______________ ______________

Step ____________ ______________ ______________

Step ____________ ______________ ______________

Now use the next page to outline the immediate action steps youre going to take in thenext two weeks to launch you towards reaching your goal.


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14 Day Quick Start Schedule

48 Hour Launch Pad: Actions to take in next 48 hours

MONDAY TUESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURD

MONDAY TUESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURD

MAIN GOAL:

14 DAY GOAL:


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BONUS SECTION:Resources for Building Referral SystemsThe following resources are those services and products our company has used tosimplify and optimize our referral systems. Weve tried to put together a great resourcelist of free products and services, however some will cost money. PhoenixFire MarketingGroup does not receive any profits if you choose to purchase items listed here. We aresimply providing them here for your information.

1. Email Autoresponder ServicesAn autoresponder is an email address that, when emailed to, returns an automaticmessage to sender. You create the message ahead of time. Many autoresponders can

create sequences, wherein a series of messages will be sent at predetermined intervals(daily, monthly, every Tuesday, or on specific dates).

These autoresponders automate follow-up, e-newsletters, and email campaigns. Mostimportantly, they help you build a relationship with your clients and help youautomate the referral ask.

There are some free autoresponder services out there. However, weve found they donot have the functionality many of us need. Weve provided our favorite freeautoresponder and our favorite cost-effective and functionality rich autoresponder,but research each and choose the one best fitted to your needs.

a. Free Autobothttp://www.freeautobot.com

You can sign up to use this email autoresponder for free. You can createunlimited autoresponder messages, however you cannot upload subscribersbut only add them one by one. On the plus side, you can create a form onyour website that automatically adds people who fill it out to yourautoresponder.

Note: Because this autoresponder is free, be aware that it is ad drivenyouregoing to see a lot of offers promising free leads and marketing. Weve testedthem all to see if there were any gems in there and there arent, unfortunately.

So keep focused and simply use this great tool and dont get sidetracked!b. QuickTell Autoresponder

http://www.quicktell.com

After researching every series autoresponder we could find, we choseQuickTell as our personal choice. It has the most functionality, by far, of anyautoresponder weve seenyou can view their list of features by going totheir website. To give you a quick rundown, you can create HTML and text


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and can take up a lot of your time. Thats why youll want an online community.You can create an FAQ forum where your clients submit their questions for you toanswer. Because they put their question in the public forum, other clients will seetheir question posted, along with your answerso they wont have to contact youwith the same question. This builds a dynamic knowledge base for your products and

services so that any technical support staff you have wont have to keep fixing thesame problems and answering the same questions again and againeachcommunication is recorded and saved in the community forum for your other clientsto see. Youll also see that other clients will begin answering support questions!

Beyond managing your customer service through an online community, you alsoallow your clients to connect with each other, post their success stories, the variousways theyve used your product or service, and network together. Your onlinecommunity will also inspire them to visit your website often.

The best free forum-based online community we could find is Invision Boardtheyre incredible and highly function rich. We cant say enough good things aboutthem! Every function you could ever want is included in their service for free. Theonly downside is you need some technical knowledge to integrate it into yourwebsite. But theyll do it for you for a small fee, or you can contact your webdesigner.

Heres their website:

http://www.invisionboard.com

To get the free version, click on Downloads and Pricing and select Free TrialVersion. Its fully functional and will never expire. The small notice they displayat the bottom of your forums is barely noticeable and doesnt get in the way.

6. Free Article DatabasesIf you want to provide free information to your clients and prospects, referrals andreferrers, but you dont have the time to write those articles or e-books, search FreeArticle Database, Free Ezine Articles, or Free Newsletter Articles, etc. on yourfavorite search engine, and youll find hundreds. You can visit these sites and perusearticles in your industry that you can download and give away for free. You simplyhave to keep the article authors bio and contact information attached, as provided, toevery reprint and transmission of the article. You can compile several articles tomake an e-book, send them weekly or monthly in a newsletter, or offer them solo.But you are not allowed to sell them without author permission.

And as a bonus, if you do have time to write articles, you can submit them to thesearticle databases along with information on you and your companyas othercompanies use your free articles, theyll basically be edifying you as an expert andgiving you free ad spaceyour company information and pitch at the bottom of yourarticle.

Some article databases weve used are:

a. http://freezinesite.com


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b. http://ezine-universe.com/c. http://www.bestsecrets.comd. http://www.zongoo.com

7. Free Website and Web ToolsEven if you dont have an online business, you could greatly benefit from having awebsite. We found a company called Bravenet.com that offers free websites and webtools so that you can quickly get online.

We recommend investing in true website development and can refer you to somefabulous website designers, however if your budget or timeframe is tight, you can geta free website at:

http://www.bravenet.com

Contact us personally for referrals to great web designers. In many cases, we cannegotiate discounts for you. Email [email protected] with the subject,Website Designer Needed, and include your contact information. Well get back toyou shortly.

workbook.multiple referral systems

Documents