FASTEST Way to Get New Clients

This is the best way to build new business offline, I agree.

Interestingly, social psychologists have found that when you toot your own horn and try and sell others it is not nearly as effective as testimonials from others, which is basically what you are doing here.

Great tip.

You can ask for referrals at ANY stage of talking to a prospect or client.

You're more likely to get a really high quality letter of recommendation from someone who's had a positive experience with you but be aware that any kind of referral from another business owner has a good chance of converting to a paying client.

Also you don't have to limit yourself to clients and prospects.

Your friends, family, anyone you know might send letters to the business owners they know.


I'd add 4 more tips:

# 1: You can have a letter written yourself that you offer if they don't want to go to the trouble of writing one.

Usually this letter would include some kind of gift offer like a gift consultation so it makes the person sending the letter look like they're giving something of real value to their friends (which they are).

Offlinebiz.com members are getting good results using the Offline Gold Client Flood system which includes a letter that your clients and friends can send to business owners.

Obviously it's better if the letter is on their letterhead but it's not vital.


# 2: Be willing to do everything to get those letters together. Print them, address the envelopes, put the stamps on.

If the only thing the person who is recommending you has to do is sign each letter it's far more likely to get done.


# 3: Remember one line. "Where do you keep the names and addresses of people you know?"

If you get anyone to go through their address book they're going to come up with a whole lot more names of people they can recommend you to than if they try to search their memory.


# 4: Thank people who give you referrals (a written thank you note is appropriate) and keep them in the loop. Let them know how the referrals turn out...especially if you get hired and then have some success with a new client.

When you recommend a service don't you like to know it worked out well for the person you gave the recommendation to?

Make the people who give you referrals feel good about doing it.


Referrals from one business owner to another are usually the easiest prospects to convert to paying clients so any activities where you're actively asking for referrals and making it easy for people to give them to you are going to get a high return on effort.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

People are lazy.

Make it easier for them to say yes than to say no.

Write the letter for them, mail it for them, follow up for them.

All they have to do is sign their name one time, you handle the rest.

While endorsed mailings are a great way to get business (I use them with clients all the time), the issue is you have to have a client first.

Want a really easy way to get your first client?

Email.

I know, nothing earth shattering right.

One of my clients is making $10-12,000 a month.

Want to know how he got started?

Emailing his friends and associates letting him know what he was doing now (offline marketing).

Still not earth shattering right?

We'll lets see - he is on pace to make $120,000 to $144,000 this year using something that cost him zero dollars to design, mail, and follow up on.

To me that's pretty good.

Tim

MW,

Referrals are only 20% of my business, thanks for the great ideas and I look forward to using them and increasing my referral %.

Rick

Russ,

Thanks for the great ideas today. i am looking forward to getting your WSO and being on your list,

Rick

Excellent point Millard, i do the same thing, but i want to clarify something here....

My Definition of a referral, is [client] introducing me via the phone or in person and
making a direct personal reccomendation. It takes some practice positioning ones
self at this level though. Once its mastered, its a huge influx of business. Not to mention
i have now incorporated a mailing with their signature on it to a minimum of 20 potential
clients, using the referral letter method.

Great Juice as always my friend...love the original post and some of the follow up.
Robert

Wow. Great Ideas Millard, and very creative too!
PhantomWr.

You hit it on the head: test and twist or twist and test. Either way, you have to keep on top of your "gig", no matter what it is.

Millard,

Great, great ideas! I have a client whose business is in a small shopping mall. I was thinking about creating a self-loading CD containing a short audio seminar with a PDF handout and dropping it off at all the businesses in that area.

I used to work at a law firm and one of the lawyers came back from a conference with a CD some speaker had put in his goodie bag.

Now I know to get a referral letter from my client so I can add a hard copy of it to go with my "leave behind" kit.

Thanks!

Chancer

Millard, am I reading this right? Are you saying that you if a potential client won't give you referrals then you won't take them on as a client? If that is the case then please explain that rationale to me. I would never turn down business just because they won't or can't refer more business. I am not trying to denigrate your post, you wrote a great post reminding us about referrals and how offering something up front can pay back huge dividends. I just don't see your reasoning here.

DJ Hughes, in response to your question, in my opinion, it is absolutely effective to offer a discount to someone who gives referrals. Further, I think it is better to get referrals after they have been your client for a while and are happy with you. In my 20 years as a sales rep I have learned that not every single person who does business with you will end up a happy customer, try as we might. But if they are happy, they will give you solid referrals. I have no problem "incentivizing" anyone to get more business, be it in the form of a discount, rebate, or simple cash award. Not to sound cliche'd but money talks. Look at all the major corporations that offer some sort of incentive to refer people to their business. I am not saying Millard is wrong. If you have positioned yourself as the "premier" in your field then you can dictate terms as you please. I think I am a pretty good salesman but I don't tell my customers how we will do business and I don't turn their business away. Just my 2 cents.

Millard,

I find that a strange position. Why do you need referrals (3?) from every client? Wouldn't that many referrals completely overwhelm you with work?

I think referrals from just 50% of clients would be more than enough to supply and incredible amount of ongoing work.

Sometimes there is a large gap between Jay Abraham theory and the practice of it. In practice that is just too many referrals IMO.

Millard, what are the specific free services that you provide to these high-profile businesses? Are there particular ones that tend to make a big and quick impact on their bottomline (since you've mentioned that the letters of endorsement have headlines about how you've helped boost their profits)?

Paul

well done MWGrubb58... i like the way you market your business. giving free services somehow looks like a waste of time/money but it does work for long-term business.

I couldn't agree more, and being proactive about taking this little step in asking for referrals could literally mean thousands of extra dollars in profits for you. Sometimes, simple little actions you take in the offline world can have very profitable outcomes.

Paul

Wow, what a great full of value thread. Thank you very much for sharing this Millard. It is very generous and selfless of you. One of my indicators of something of genius, is if it hits you between the eyes as something that is self apparent, after it is taught or explained to you. Your method sure does that. It is very powerful.

One element that seems to be downplayed here, except for small mentions, that SHOULDN'T be, as it is very major - is the fact that using this method, ...almost Completely cuts out a majority of the $$ and also hours of time in stress and work, that Many people and businesses would otherwise spend, in looking for their next customers and new prospects. And thats with those $$ and hours even then, not guaranteeing any new work. However, with THIS method, it's a logical rolling process. Not only saving you that expenditure of $$ and time, but actually Delivering you the new clients you would have targeted as ideal prospects anyway, giving you more sales and income in a contining cycle. Pretty impressive. I'm a marketeer and this method is Gold. Thanks again Millard, one of the best value threads that I have read.

Ha! I guess you have to talk to Jay Abraham about this. He is the one I first heard about this technique from. In my contracts, it is explicitly mentioned that only AFTER the clients is HAPPY, and only AFTER the work is to their satisfaction that the clients THEN refers their friends.

There is another twist to this as well... You do not wait to get a list from a client, you discuss the best people who could benefit.

If you went to a chiropractor that pushed just the right place to relieve you terrible back pain... you'd tell everyone right?

If you do good work for a client and they make wonderful profits, it's the same thing.

Thanks for your comments.

Millard