A Proven System to Get Referral Business | Small Business

By MichaelWalsh
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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.

Most experts state that the best time to get referrals is after you have proven yourself to a customer. While this sort of works, it doesn't even come close to being an effective way. If you've tried it, you know what I'm saying.

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:

Your brain is programmed to pay attention to what's immediately of consequence. What just happened is already starting to fade. When you are in the middle of doing a task you can hold all the details in mind to a very exacting degree. A couple days after you have finished, many of those details have faded, because you are on to the next important things.

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.

How to Use a Customer's RAS to Refer Business

I've already shown that waiting to ask for a referral is less useful... they've gotten their result and you are spontaneously forgotten.

Here's how to do it:

When you're talking to your customer for the first time... you can say something like, "Mrs. Jones, I only will take you on as a client if I am absolutely convinced that I can over-deliver exactly what you need.

One of the big reasons I do that is because I get more of my business by referral.

My business uses referrals to spread the word. And to make sure that happens I keep working until you are happy.

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.

Just like you, we won't do business with them unless we see a clear win for them. However, we will promise you: We will treat anyone you send our way with just as much courtesy, professionalism and respect as we treat you with and of course you would never send anyone to us unless you were satisfied with the levels of courtesy, professionalism and respect we provide, would you? Of course not!

I only have one request: If we work together, may I periodically check with you to see if you are thrilled yet?"

So if this makes sense, I'll be checking to make sure that you are happy with my service."

If you ask in this way, you will notice your referrals increasing. Without their having to work at it, your customer's RAS will be compelled to find friends that will benefit from working with you.

About the Author

If you are looking to grow your small business, make sure you examine Michael Walsh's excellent free report on business growth secrets and for lots of proven information go to small business management.

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