Most people don’t know how to orchestrate referrals. And there’s two reasons for that:

First,

most people think that asking clients for more business is begging. And it makes you appear weak or that you can’t get business on your own. But here’s the thing, Rather than looking at referrals as a favor your clients do for you  understand that the only reason people refer is because it makes THEM feel good. They want to feel like an insider. They want to feel like a trusted advisor to their friends, and raises their status in the herd.

Remember this:

Referrals are never about you. They’re about the person who is doing the referring.

And the second reason why people are bad at orchestrating referrals is… They don’t understand that all referrals happen as a result of a conversation. And in order for that referral to take place, three things need to happen.

  • Number one. Your client has to notice the conversation is about whatever it is that you do. Money… or taxes… or facebook ads… or getting in shape… and so on.
  • Number two. Your client needs to think about you.
  • Number three… they have to introduce you to the person they’re in conversation with.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Referrals do happen spontaneously all the time. The problem is, you don’t have control over what happens next. Think about it. How often do you meet somebody and they say, ” _Oh yeah, I tell everybody about you… ” or, “ Hey, did Bob call you? He was looking for a financial advisor and I told him to contact you…_ ”

How often do these things happen to you but people never show up at you door?

The reality is, for every referral that you do get, there’s probably five or seven more that never happen. And therefore, once you understand WHY referrals happen, and HOW they happen… then it becomes all about engineering situations where they can happen more often.

Look at it this way: At the end of the day, orchestrating referrals is all about creating opportunities where…

You make people feel good about themselves.

Need more tips on orchestrating referrals? head over to the podcast.