Potential client is asking for 2 references of past work..how to handle it?

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So I meet with a small gym/personal trainer business last week and they got back to me that they would like to work with me. However, their office manager has requested 2 references from businesses I have worked for so they can ask them how the work has been going, and why they like using you for their web work as well as SEO work.

Now here is the situation. I've had a couple clients I've worked for that they are no longer with me due to them moving in other directions beyond SEO. The last client was a pain to deal with and they cancelled their service with us complaining not enough was been done for them (although we got them plenty of leads, but their conversion sucked) and they complained all the time. Another client was a friend of mine that used our service for about a year, we got them ranking for his keywords on the front page, but it seem like it wasn't converting as well for them so they decided to put SEO on the back burner and try other things.

Right now I'm working on a web design/SEO for my sister-in-law for her new business so that one is currently active. We also did a web design for this other company only (no SEO) and they were satisfied with their end product.

So should I have them try to contact my friend and sister-in-law for references or should I try to do in it in another way about we don't like to disclose any client information and see what they say?
#offline marketing #client #handle #past #potential #references #workhow
  • Me? I would make sure the references are expecting the call, and give their contact information. Put your friend's name first.
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  • I personally would tell them that you respect your client time and privacy ( you don't want them comparing prices!) but there is no need for references since....I work with my clients until they are 100% satisfied.
    • [1] reply
    • They had meetings with 2 others after mine and made a decision to go with me. The actual owner (who I met with in the first place) is I think has no issue, but it is the office manager that is pushing it. So I believe they have been comparing prices as well so I guess that is notthe issue here to not disclose references.

      I have been reading other threads about this and many seem to think that we should not disclose our client information when asked. To say there is a non-disclosure agreement in place with each client.

      Is that still a good way to address this whole reference issue?
      • [2] replies
  • I'd not bother using this one as a reference.

    By the way, if you're going to do the respect-my-clients-privacy thing, you're going to need written testimonials. Maybe you can get them to write up something, and then have copies of that to provide to others.
  • Is it a good idea to possibly use one of the web design outsourcers here and use their portfolio and present to client them as my web design partner and show samples of their work since I will be needing them to do a redesign of client's site anyways.

    Anyone know if any of WF outsourcers are open to sharing their portfolio to represent as reference? I wonder if I can ask the SEO service people I outsource my work to if are willing to do something similar.
    • [1] reply
    • It would scare me to leave my reputation up to someone else. You have a bunch of kids on Fiverr. HOW I get the job done is my business. A general contractor does not share his subs with the client. That is WHY he is hired.
  • Use a Fiverr provider or someone from this forum (warriors for hire). There should be a WSO providing this service
    • [1] reply
    • So someone in the WFH section should be able to help me out and present their portfolio of a few sites and I can present to the client these I suppose. But I am guessing this client might want to speak to the actual end client for which these sites were made and/or SEO done which might be difficult to pull off with one of the outsourcers here. Showing sites and referencing work is one thing, but trying to get individual reference numbers and contacts will be hard if my client wants that.

      What is weird is the owner referenced the office manager as requesting this and he even questioned in the email if it was even possible to get that. He seems fine with moving forward, but for some reason the OM is injecting doubt here.
  • The first thing that comes to mind for me is that there is someone in the business who has more influence on the owner than you do.

    This office manager could be a pain in your ass. I would schedule another appointment with the manager and find out the real issue. Don't rely on the owner to sell them. You have found who really has the power.

    The big problem is that the manager sees your product as just a commodity they can get anywhere. You need to differentiate yourself. They need to know they can only get something they need from you.

    So, provide a reference, and throw in something that only you can provide them. I don't know what that is because I don't know you and it is a little late in the process. Next time you should differentiate right from the beginning.

    If you would have said no right away, the owner would have aligned with you and the manager would have lost their control of the situation.
    • [1] reply
    • Well when I had my meeting with the owner last week he asked me if I go on your site will be able to see testimonials and I responded "that we don't have those and we don't disclose client info for ones we have worked or are working currently. We have a confidentially agreement in place with our clients." He just nodded OK and we moved on from it. It was not an issue at that time.

      But you are right in that it seems this OM is having more power than the owner here and trying to be a big pain in the butt right from the beginning. You would think that once the owner was OK with it (I only had emailed him and give him my pricing) that there would no need for that.

      From the email I got from him it seems he is fine to go move forward with how he said "if it is even possible?" and also at the end of the email he mentioned that he is looking forward to working with me. So it seems that he is on board, but this OM seems to be the sticking point.

      If I can just respond back with some sort of statement that would put her in her place and make the referral a non issue that would be great. Just don't know if I should respond with the whole confidentially thing like others have mentioned in other threads or just give them a url link to the last web redesign we actually did (since it has our website in the footer) and mention that we don't normally disclose our clients sites/info, but here is a sample of what we did for a recent client. I just want to give them something so it can satisfy them and move on with the actual client.

      Any other feedback?
  • How about something like this?

    "I have given your employee's request some thought. I normally would not do this because I don't like to bother my clients by asking you to sell for me. Here is another client I am especially friendly with so I don't mind too much.

    I hope this will satisfy their concerns so we can get started! I am looking forward to this project and a long relationship with your business.

    Can we move forward with your service? "

    You might want to tighten the language up a bit. The main point is to do enough to satisfy the owner and shut up the manager. Notice how I worded it referring to the owner as already being your client and also creating some distance between the manager. Also notice I reminded the owner that he is boss and they are an employee. Pull the owner onto your team and make it almost seem ridiculous. You can get back some of the power you lost over the project.

    Be very careful with this approach. He trusts this person to some degree so handle it like you are telling him something bad about his mother!

    You are going to want to manage this employee closely in the future. They WILL try to push their way in again.
    • [1] reply
    • Thanks for that information. It helps me a lot.

      So should I use "employee" or "office manager" when referencing the OM in that statement? I guess employee would give that impact of who is the owner and who is employee..just hope it is NOT the wife that is the OM..LOL.

      In that line where you say I should state "I don't like bothering my clients..." I think it should say "by asking THEM to sell for me" instead of "by asking YOU to sell for me" correct? Think it is a typo.

      In the line where I mention here is a recent client I should just list their url for them to check out and not give any contact info correct? Now that might work for the web design part, but since we did no SEO work for them I wonder if they come back to see a reference of a SEO work I have done for a client or if this will shut them up and we can begin work?
      • [2] replies
  • Ask the owner and OM, 'when you become my clients, do you really want to be continually interupted by all my future prospects seeking your personal testimonials about my services? Well neither do my current clients, with all the extra business they are winning due to partnering with me, they dont have the spare time to respond to such individual requests, Im sure you can understand that!'

    at the same time obtain written and if possible MP3/ video testimonials from them including stats that show the differences your services have made, but the first paragrapgh should solve you immediate issue.
    • [1] reply
    • Do you think that might be too forward or it is OK to say?

      Also the part about "with all the extra business they are winning due to partnering with me isn't that too much to be promising them and if things don't work out it might come back to bite me?
  • Many times its not what you say, but how you say it. OM was probably just delaying decision and are testimonials actually critical to getting the biz? Can't you handle it the same way you did w/ the owner?

    There's nothing wrong with saying you are just starting out and willing to work hard to build their/your successes either. People like helping people.
  • I've found that if a customer has confidence in me, they don't bother about references. This is from another field though, not offline IM (I'm talking about the building business which I've worked in and which I know a little bit about). I've found that the same customer might ask me for references and I know they didn't ask someone else for references.

    I just assume their senses/antennae picked up that I wouldn't in their eyes be fully up to the job.

    I also find that if I make a good confident impression on the customer, they don't in fact care about niceties they might have mentioned over the phone before meeting me.

    It's too late to tell them that 'you're just getting going and so on but you're competent' but I just feel irritated at their insistence and if I were you I'd be prepared to leave this one. There's nothing like being able to walk away. Sorry if that comes across as 'too cavalier' but customers do admire as well a devil may care attitude to whether you'll have them or not. You deal with them politely and so on, but you just aren't stressed if they take up your offer or if they don't. My 2 cents worth...
  • In a nutshell if they insist on references they don't "feel" you

    Here is a great article from Business Insider about this topic.
    People Prefer Confidence Over Actual Expertise - Business Insider
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • Nice article.
      • [1] reply
  • For future reference just tell them that reference lists are always the hand picked nothing went wrong clients. If all you want to hear about is how awesome I am I'll just tell you now for myself.

    What you really want to know is what happens when I make a mistake, right? What do you think happens when I make a mistake? Well, I own up to my mistakes and I make it right by my clients and that's really the measure of my businesses character.

    Then ask for the check.
    • [ 2 ] Thanks
    • [2] replies
    • Like that alot. Straight and to the point and really the truth.
    • Well, ask them if they are willing to provide references to your future clients, which will mean the OM having to deal with that.
  • Inside almost any business you have the boss...and then someone the boss trusts. These people can tank a deal very, very fast. In the future, make certain that all the decision makers are there. If you hear the owner referring to someone (anyone) else, like the wife or husband, manager, or cousins uncle, that is where you should stop and ask about this person and the role they play.

    Before you go further, you try and get that person in the room. Otherwise, you are usually wasting your time.

    Another lesson:

    Don't let yourself be in this situation. You spent a lot of time worrying about this client. That is a VERY clear signal to me that your sales funnel is empty.

    You need to be actively prospecting more so you are not in this situation. Spend 80% prospecting, 20% fulfilling.
    • [2] replies
    • Agreed, additionally I would have stopped the presentation the moment I heard the owner saying they needed to refer to the office manager.

      I would have told them to get the office manager into the meeting while I'm present. If they say the manager can't be there then politely say, that's ok. I'll be happy to return when you can both be present to make this decision.

      Two things most likely happen here.

      The owner says OK, lets do that and have another meeting, or the owner comes to the conclusion that you perceive them as not being able to make a decision about their own business without some another persons help. (Kind of like asking for your spouses permission to wipe your a$$ while still sitting on the toilet.)

      Sometimes their own sense of self worth and ego kicks in and they decide they can make this decision on their own and if that happens it's usually a sale every single time.

      • [1] reply
    • I guess you are right and that I am putting way too much time into this one prospect and not out there more trying to drum more prospects. I have to start doing what you said and keep the pipeline full so in a prospect like this one is an issue I can just move on to the next prospect.
      • [1] reply
  • Does seem to make sense according to the scenario I proposed in post #24. Maybe I hit it right? It happens now and then. Did you get back to them to offer up case studies? See what happens next.
  • Another thought...do NOT throw this contact away.

    Go get some other clients, and then come back to them. Get some case studies "I helped this business earn more revenue" and send it.

    Keep all of your lost sales on a list. If it got to the point where you pitched, then they are a prospect. Follow up with them on a semi-regular basis to talk about new services and see how things are going.

    Put in your mind that you will eventually sell them SOMETHING. Before long, you will have a warm list of leads to work. Once you get a few hundred on there, this can become a significant source of ongoing income.
  • Rus,

    I agree that presentations should be with all DM's and that this is likely to
    be an excuse. Maybe OM should have been present (if not) at the first meeting
    and has hesitancy because he or she was not involved from the get go and
    is looking for a way to support their recommendation to the boss.

    So a take away would be for offliners to ask who decides and if the team can be there from the start, "In my experience, I've found it goes better when..." It might also subtly remind owners to bring all DMs in so there is buy in from the get go and re-selling is not needed.

    Dan
  • If you use an outsourcer reference be sure to include that you are dba (doing business as) the company that got the credit with your outsourcer. At this time I usually also give them my other businesses/websites so as to bore them with details they don't really want... This strategy works as long as the reference is really a Good one.
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    Potential client is asking for 2 references of past work..how to handle it?

    So I meet with a small gym/personal trainer business last week and they got back to me that they would like to work with me. However, their office manager has requested 2 references from businesses I have worked for so they can ask them how the work has been going, and why they like using you for their web work as well as SEO work. Now here is the situation. I've had a couple clients I've worked for that they are no longer with me due to them moving in other directions beyond SEO. The last client was a pain to deal with and they cancelled their service with us complaining not enough was been done for them (although we got them plenty of leads, but their conversion sucked) and they complained all the time. Another client was a friend of mine that used our service for about a year, we got them ranking for his keywords on the front page, but it seem like it wasn't converting as well for them so they decided to put SEO on the back burner and try other things.