In business.

One of the easiest ways, to get new business is by referrals.

I love them when they come.

How do you get more of these, and why are they so important?

All great questions.

We are talking about referrals today because within my Thriving women

community, they asked me to present them in the resource that would help them

get better at referrals.

And so within the thriving women community, when they ask for things and

it makes sense and I know it's gonna move the dial in their business, we deliver.

you're curious about thriving women community, there is

a link in the show notes.

Go check that out.

not her real name.

Anyway, Shauna runs a $1.8 million business and Shauna.

never done a sales call in her life.

it pains

all about sales and I'm all about results.

But what Shauna has done is something very strategic.

She has corralled her advocates, her fans, about 10 of them, she's calling

them her board of directors, and she catches up with them frequently.

That is her sales plan.

They connect, they catch up, they talk about what each other's doing, and

they send referrals to each other.

is it.

She has a very successful business.

Based on that, I don't think we are meant to be in business solo.

Lonely all the time.

think as human beings, we are made to be in community with other people, with

people who can lift you up, cheerlead you, strengthen your own work advocate

and referers aren't just the connections, they're champions of your work.

They see the value that you bring and they bring meaningful

relationships into your life.

If they know exactly what you do.

You need to set your furs up for success.

I want you to have a beautiful, engaged network of people who support your

growth, who bring you opportunities, who introduce you to other people,

and And I want you to feel confident that your referrals will keep flowing.

But it's not by luck.

It's through the strength of relationships.

And so I'm gonna ask you a couple of questions about your

referral network and what you're actually doing to nurture that.

You see, I send a lot of referrals out into the universe.

Sometimes I get looped back in about what's happened.

Sometimes I hear nothing, sometimes there's great gratitude

for each of those referrals.

It's important to be grateful when people are referred to you.

It's important for you to be clear when you refer others in

about what it is that you'd like.

There's nothing worse that when I send a client over to a referral and I hear

nothing, then the client says, oh yeah, we started working together three months ago.

Would it be nice to know that?

Like, close your loop.

Be professional, right?

If someone's handing you referrals, make sure you're closing the loop, please.

Top referrers are absolutely invaluable in your business.

They are the champions who advocate for you.

They introduce you to potential clients.

they help you grow.

They help you with.

Business growth.

a strong referral network can open doors in media in speaking all the things,

But it doesn't happen on autopilot.

You actually need to understand and plan for your relationships,

your referral relationships.

Right.

What we know about research is that.

The research consistently shows that referred customers tend to be more

loyal and have a higher lifetime value.

According to Nelson, or Nielsen, 92% of consumers trust recommendations

from people they know more than any other form of advertising.

Additionally, a study from the Wharton School of Business found that referred

customers are 18% more likely to stay with the company long term.

It is really worth getting this sorted.

And you need a plan.

You need a plan to make sure that you are nurturing your referral network.

Now, you might say to me, "I don't have any referrers." I don't

think that that would be What we actually need to do is Step one:

identify your key referrers just.

Make a list for me while you're listening to me.

Make a list of the top 10 people who consistently send you work.

It might be just be small bits, it might be conversations.

And if you don't know, you've got some work to do, my friend.

Because when someone gets on a call with you, you should be saying to

them, how did you find out about us?

I'm nine years in and I still say, how did you find out about us?

More recently, I have had a. Random things like, oh, chat, GPT told me to call you.

I'm like, oh, that's so random.

Okay, cool.

Thank you.

Chat.

I'm not sure how you would reward a referer like chat GPT, but

anyway, don't worry about that.

So what I want you to do is I want you to go right, who am I?

The top 10 people who consistently send me work?

And if you don't know, go to your current clients and say how did you find me?

How did you find me?

What does it look like?

You need to note what their businesses are and you need to

note why they're referring you.

It's really important to understand who your top 10 referrers are.

Of course you can extrapolate this out, but let's just start with 10

to keep it super simple, right?

You need to then figure out what type of referrals do they usually send?

Are they good?

Are they bad?

Because sometimes they're not very good and they're not very good because

people don't really know what you do.

They just know you're a nice person, so therefore you just have

to do a little bit more education.

What is it that you know about their business and their personal interests?

If someone is referring work to you and you are not referring, work

back to them, that's not very fair.

Let's make it win-win, right?

How do you be a really good referrer and accept really good referrals?

So step two, we wanna set up a system.

We need a system for this, right?

It's either a simple spreadsheet.

kind of CRM that you've got, but we need to track where your referrals come from.

There are so many people who go, oh yeah, I dunno where they came from.

Well find out, find out where they came from because then you can go

back and one, show some gratitude and thank the person that sent them.

And you can also make sure, you know, to nurture that relationship, you

need to set reminders to follow up.

You need to check in.

If I send a referral on, I always wanna know what happens at the end.

be professional and tell the person that sent them what's actually happened.

So the question for me for you is, how will you track referrals?

Will you do it on a spreadsheet?

Will you do it in notes in your phone?

Will you use a CRM system?

Whatever it is.

And then how often will you check in?

So you've got your list of 10 referrers.

know your business well, you know their business well.

How often will you connect with them, whether that's a

text message or a coffee, or.

A meal, whatever it is.

I've got one client who sends me a lot of referrals I don't send her

hampers of food or any of that stuff, but what I do do is I take her to

random comedy shows or I take her to book launches that I think she'd like,

or she loves the comedy festival.

So we'll go and do a comedy festival.

it.

That's nurturing a relationship right now.

I have to think outside the square on that because that's a

whole lot of calendar management.

But is it worth it?

You bet your bottom dollar, it's worth it.

And I don't just do it for that.

She's actually a really lovely person.

I love hanging out with her anyway, right?

So there's that as well.

So, relationships, relationships, relationships.

Even with your referrers.

So step three, we wanna create a bit of a personalised touchpoint plan.

So every quarter, choose one of a few ways to keep in touch.

You either send a thoughtful gift, make a personal call, have lunch

with them, share a resource that they might need, feature them

publicly, put them on your email list.

There's so many things, sorry, not put them on your email list,

but highlight them in your email.

That you send every week, right?

Like do a spotlight on them.

People love that.

It just takes a little bit of thought.

So what is your personalised touchpoint plan?

And yes, you do it with your 10 people and then you'd see how you go.

What's the best way to show appreciation to each of your referrers?

Because appreciation is where it's at.

You need to have some gratitude and also what feel most aligned with your

own brand and your own personality.

So you need to kind of figure out what's going to.

feel good for you.

then step four, providing value beyond business.

So looking for ways to support your referrers outside of direct referrals.

Introduce them to them, to new clients.

Introduce them to, to partners or resources, a media opportunity.

Invite them to exclusive events.

Invite 'em to mastermind.

Offer behind the scenes insights or VIP access.

There's so many ways to say thank you and to provide value beyond business.

what value can you offer your referrers beyond just thanking

them, basically, like, be better.

Don't just go, thanks.

And then how can you help their business grow?

So if someone is constantly sending you they obviously think you're

pretty good at your job, right?

How about you go back and go, what can I do for you?

about you are on the lookout and you do business development for them that

you can send them clients as well.

That's a beautiful relationship.

Number five.

Step five.

You wanna build a community of referrers.

So you need to almost consider that group of 10, what will you do with them?

For me, I would take them for dinner once a quarter.

I'd get them together.

I'd introduce them to each other.

'cause you never know, and for me, it's about creating community.

Right?

So how will you build a community Of your referrers, would your referrers

benefit from some kind of networking in a specific space or Would they

benefit from a private introduction, someone that they have wanted to meet

and can't get a hold of someone that would drive their business forward?

And how can you facilitate more connections between

you and your referrers?

Number six.

Step six is my favorite.

It's called Surprise and Delight.

If you've listened to this podcast, you would know I'm very much around

how do we surprise and delight all the people in our world?

So that's about going above the expectation.

It's about unexpected recognition.

It's about handwritten notes or knowing that they love.

Coated chocolate.

So you send them a bunch of coated chocolate.

It's just knowing who they are.

It's getting to know the personalities and the style of the person, and how can you

add that little element in the surprise and delight for each of your referrers

'cause people like to feel appreciated.

Basically that when it comes down to it.

And then step seven is keeping it reciprocal.

Wherever possible, refer business back to them, promote their work.

Ask them, how can I support you right back?

How can I support you in a way that feels natural and generous

to me and works for you?

And then my final step, which is the creme de la creme, you gotta make it a habit.

It's gotta show up in the diary.

You've gotta block time out every single month to go, here are my top 10 referrers.

Here's what I'm going to do with them.

We wanna systematize so that this.

It sinks in as a habit and a process as a reminder to you at some point in

the month, take a look at your top 10 referrers and do something with it.

So you might look at your top 10 referrers and you might've spoken

to five of them in the last week.

Great.

What about the other five?

What do you need to do?

Make sure you've got a system and a process that works for you.

So What have we discussed today?

Number one, you have to identify your top referrers.

Number two, you need to set up a system for recognition.

Number three, you need to create some kind of personalised touchpoint

plan that you can stick to.

Number four, you need to provide value beyond business.

Number five, build a community of referrers, however that looks for you.

For me, it's lovely dinners.

Step six.

We wanna surprise and delight.

We wanna just have that element of surprise all over the place.

And number seven, we wanna keep it reciprocal.

gotta be win-win.

And our final step should be about creating a habit, a system, a

process that keeps it front of mind.

it for today.

Hopefully that helps you work out what your referral system is.

One thing I didn't talk about is delivery.

When you get a referral, you better deliver well, because if you

don't, it breaks the relationship.

So deliver.

Well, the second thing I didn't even get to talk about today, we'll have

to do it in another episode, is my take on affiliates versus referrals.

Not even gonna start that conversation, but let's just say we keep the focus

on referrals today, and I'll talk about affiliates in another episode.

And by the way, thriving women is where it.

you want a community that helps you these resources where you can actually say

to me, Emma, I need a resource on a, my goodness, thriving Women is where it's at.

Come join the community.