Niche Marketing

Business referrals are one of the tried and true (but sometimes frustrating) ways to grow your small business. A few years ago I learned a fact about how the brain works that when I applied it, exploded my referral business. Below, I’m going to quickly outline it for you so you can start using it today.

When and how do you bring up the whole conversation of referrals?

The first meeting is the best time in the relationship to let people know how you work. To build your business with referrals, you advise people right away that referrals are how you do business. Here’s why:

You have a center in your brain called the reticular activated system (RAS). This system is the attention center of the brain. It also functions to automatically filter out all of the various noises and distractions in life that are not important right now, so that you can focus on areas that are important.

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.

You prime the pump by talking about referrals right away.

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.

“Mr. Customer, I’m confident that if we start together, eventually you will be pleased with the results you get. I don’t take on new business if I can’t deliver a great result and provide what they need.

If I make absolutely sure that I do a great job, you will be more likely to refer your friends to my services.

I make sure, up front, that the fit is good and I can hit it out of the park.

Once that takes place, I’m betting that you will want to tell you friends and associates about my service. Which is great! I’m going to make sure that you are so excited and pleased with your results that you can’t wait to tell other people about me.

Part of the value that I provide is that I offer very good pricing on my services. So I don’t offer cash or prizes in return for referrals, just a firm commtment that I’ll provide you with the best service at a great price.

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.

Of course, I will only work with them if I know that I can give them great results as well. No matter what, I will deal with them in a professional and caring way. I would only expect that you would send me someone if you have been dealt with professionally and with care. Right?

By planting seeds in this manner (or in your own style), you will increase your effectiveness in gaining referrals. Your customer’s RAS will automatically and most importantly, without their having to remember, respond by bringing to their attention the colleagues that will benefit from working with you.

You will end up getting and keeping more customers at a profit.

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