Want more referrals?

Tips frim Rashid Kotwal

Had a call from a hypnotherapist. We’ll call her J.

J helps people quit smoking and gets great results. But she’s not getting any referrals. Either from past clients or other therapists. J wondered what was wrong and how could we help?

It’s a pretty common scenario. The vast majority of businesses don’t get a lot of referrals. No matter what they might tell you.

Your best source of referrals should be your clients. But they generally won’t refer even though you do a great job. Unless you give them the tools they need.

 I needed to diagnose J’s issue and then prescribe a solution.

While specific situations differ, the principles are the same.

J gets results. 95% of the time one session with a client is all it takes.

“What happens after the session? Do you ever contact them to see how it went?”

“No. If they need another session they call me. But usually I never hear from them again.”

As a model, it sucks. A Customer buys once and then disappears into the sunset never to be heard from again.

Probing deeper, J mentioned clients who want to quit smoking often have other underlying issues she could work with.

This opens up possibilities to add services including weight loss as she already has a client’s trust.

This was my advice.

Move from one to three sessions.

Three or more touch points means a client gets familiar dealing with you which helps cement the relationship.

In J’s context it takes time for people to change major underlying patterns. Quitting smoking is considered to be one of the hardest addictions to beat. Three sessions allow J to spend more time with each client increasing the long term success rate.

Back to generating more referrals…

Plant the seed that you expect they’ll give you referrals. Explain that you build your business on recommendations from happy clients.

Have marketing material your clients can hand out on your behalf. Material which does the “selling” for you encouraging prospects to call. While your clients may sing your praises, nothing beats having something tangible to hand out.

Then follow your clients up.

Call them in a couple of days to see how they’re going. Are they happy? Did they get the outcome they wanted?

Have a newsletter with tips as well as success stories you can send out once a month. Then make a personal connection every 3 months or so. Gently remind them that you build your business on referrals so you keep on top of mind.

These principles apply to any business. It doesn’t matter whether you’re selling services or physical goods. The more you follow up, the more you show you care and the more your clients will reciprocate by giving you more business and referrals.

The key is to do it.

Want help generating more business? Call Rashid on 0414-913-334.

Referron is a great way to track, measure, reward and follow up referrals.

Www.referron.com