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Solopreneur Money


Aug 23, 2021

Small business owners spend so much money on marketing their businesses, but the most powerful way to grow a business is through referrals. John Barron has a powerful plan to help you develop referrals which is why I have invited him back onto the Solopreneur Money podcast. 

If you listened to episode 50 you heard John talk about the sales continuum and you learned how to implement an effective process that turns leads into paying clients.

Today John is here to teach you how to grow your business through the referral engine. The referral engine is an ingenious plan that utilizes the way we naturally refer people to businesses. 

You know the best clients come from referrals, so make sure to press play to hear how to increase your customer base by creating a referral system. 

You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in...

  • When to ask for a referral [2:32]
  • 3 reasons someone wouldn’t refer people to you [5:28]
  • Referral engine success stories [13:39] 
  • The money questions [17:01] 

When should you ask for a referral?

Business owners often wonder when the best time to ask a customer for a referral is. The answer is never. You might be shaking your head in surprise. Never? Well then, how are you supposed to get new clients?

Just because you shouldn’t directly ask for referrals doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go out of your way to encourage people to recommend your business; it means you should understand the referral relationship.

Why we shouldn’t ask clients for referrals

If asking clients for a referral feels weird and uncomfortable that’s because it is weird and uncomfortable! And it’s weird and uncomfortable because of the nature of referrals. You don’t want to put yourself or someone else through the awkwardness of directly asking for a referral.

That doesn’t mean that people don’t enjoy referring their friends and family members to fabulous companies; everyone loves to recommend a fantastic company to a friend. However, it is important to understand that people don’t recommend businesses to their friends to help the business; they do it to help their friends.

To understand how the referral engine works it is important to understand why someone wouldn’t refer potential clients to a business.

3 reasons someone wouldn’t refer potential clients to your business

  1. People often don’t recognize an opportunity for you. They don’t know your target market.
  2. People don't know how to talk about you; they may not know why you are so great at what you do. They don’t know all the services that you provide.
  3. There is a risk that comes with referring someone to a business. The referrer puts their reputation on the line. 

How to get these obstacles out of the way

The first two obstacles to overcome are educational. You can overcome these by simply educating your network about what you do and who you serve. One way to do that is by writing a letter--not an email, a physical letter. Listen in to hear what you should include in this letter. You’ll be blown away by how simple this plan is. It is easy to implement and effective. 

Every person you meet is either a potential client or a potential referral. Learn how to utilize your network to get your referral engine started. 



Resources & People Mentioned

Connect with John Barron

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