You want to use referrals to grow your business... You see the value of turning your customers into your biggest fans and strongest salespeople. Sounds good on paper, but how do you do it in real life? In this article, I'm going to quickly show you the best time to bring up referrals and a proven system to use.
The normal advice given is to prove your worth, make sure the customer is happy and then ask for a referral. While it's sounds good, this is a really just a great way to eventually wonder why you get so few referrals. You understand if you've ever tried it.
If you wait until you have proven your worth, most of the time you've completed your work. Your client is pleased but then they are immediately on to the next thing. You're gone from their mind. It's not personal-it's the natural way their brain works.
Your brain is programmed to pay attention to what's immediately of consequence. What just happened is already starting to fade. When you are in the middle of doing a task you can hold all the details in mind to a very exacting degree. A couple days after you have finished, many of those details have faded, because you are on to the next important things. The part of your brain responsible for this is the reticular activated system (RAS). Researchers call it the attention center of the brain. It has many tasks but one of them is choosing what to pay conscious awareness to.
You can fall asleep watching TV and not pay attention to those sounds but immediately snap awake when your dog starts barking or someone opens the door. Or if you want to find someone in a crowd and they call your cell phone to let you know they have a red hat on, suddenly all the red hats appear. The RAS developed to instinctively choose what you notice. Some people advocate that the time to bring up referrals is after a product or service has been delivered and the customer is happy with the outcome. However, if you do it this way, your customers RAS will not automatically work with you. Your customer has gotten their result and their mind is on to the next thing - you are automatically forgotten.
Here's how to do it:
The first meeting is the prime time to let customers that referrals are how you do business. Here's a way to ask for a referral on the first meeting.
Our business grows by word of mouth. So, we don't stop until we achieve success together.
My business uses referrals to spread the word. And to make sure that happens I keep working until you are happy.
When this happens you will probably want to talk about us to your friends, colleagues and associates. This is a good thing. As I mentioned, our business grows by word of mouth, so it is important to us that you are happy enough with our services to pay us for our work. We also want you to be so thrilled that you become one of our biggest allies and fans.
A couple of things about that. First of all, if you refer someone to us, we won't give you a free toaster or a trip to Mexico. We provide our clients with the best pricing possible, so we haven't built in awards, prizes or cash back if someone refers us.
I only expect that you will refer a friend if it makes sense that they will benefit as much as you have.
I will commit to acting professionally and with courtesy in all dealings with you... and I will offer that same level of service to your friends.
I only have one request: If we work together, may I periodically check with you to see if you are thrilled yet?"
So if this makes sense, I'll be checking to make sure that you are happy with my service."
Give it a try!

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Article Submitted By: MichaelWalsh
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