What's your Referral Score?
As you begin your journey towards achieving your Annual Income Goal, it’s crucial to understand precisely where you are starting from and what gaps you might have in your current referral business practices.
This tool has been designed to identify quick and easy improvements to your business processes that can drive referrals for years to come.
Let’s look specifically at the top ten actions that drive referrals and see how you measure up. As you review each practice, write down your self-assessed score on each of these daily practices. This will give you your baseline Referral Score and identify simple yet powerful opportunities for improvement.
#1 PLANNING YOUR SUCCESS
Every successful business owner has a detailed business plan for how they will achieve their goals and objectives. However, when it comes to referrals, this doesn’t often hold true.
We’re amazed how few professionals actually have a written plan that details exactly what they are going to do this week, this month, and this year to grow their referral business.
Considering the fact that over 65% of new business comes by
referral, you are leaving money on the table if you don’t have a
written plan and system to drive referrals for your business.
Your plan should include your goals for the month, quarter, and year along with a detailed promotional plan and communication calendar, so you plan out your key off ers and campaigns throughout the year.
How do you score when it comes to having a detailed business development and referral plan?
Rate yourself on a scale of 0-10, where 0 indicates you have no plan at all and 10 means you have a detailed action plan with written goals, promotions, and a communication calendar.
#2 SERVING YOUR CLIENTS
When it comes to business, nothing matters more than serving your clients!
Providing exceptional service to each and every client, customer, patient, guest, and community member should be the reason you do what you do. The money is simply the reward for a job well done!
The more exceptionally you serve your clients, the more referrals will flow your way. As people see how much you care about their success and satisfaction, they will naturally be more inclined to refer others to you.
On a scale of 0-10, how well do you score when it comes to serving your clients? Write down your score to practice #2 now.
#3 ENGAGING PEOPLE CONSISTENTLY
The most successful professionals ensure they engage and connect with their most important relationships consistently.
As you invest time and energy in building strong relationships, you increase the number of people who know, like, and trust you enough to refer you to the people in their lives. The key is to engage them consistently while focusing on the things that
matter most TO THEM.
After all, people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. The more consistently you engage others personally and meaningfully, the more consistently they will recommend and refer you to their friends, family, colleagues, and social sphere.
So how do you score when it comes to connecting with and engaging people? Are you skillful at following up and building
strong relationships, or do people rarely hear from you after they’ve met you for the first time?
Write down your score, with 0 being awful and 10 being masterful.
#4 ASKING FOR REFERRALS
We’re often amazed how few professionals actually ask their clients for referrals. Most people in business understand that referrals drive their success, but often they feel awkward and uncomfortable asking for them. That’s probably because they’ve never been taught when and how to ask for referrals in a way that makes your clients feel comfortable and happy to help.
We are going to teach you to master “The Art of the Ask”
in Chapter 8. For now, be sure to write down your score of
how consistent you are at asking for referrals from both
your clients and professional colleagues.
#5 TRACKING YOUR REFERRALS
The most successful professionals always measure and track their results, especially when it comes to referrals!
We’re surprised how few people actually understand where their business comes from. After all, if you aren’t tracking and measuring where each and every client comes from, how can you expect to maximize your results?
Business experts teach, “What gets measured, gets maximized,” and that is absolutely true. By tracking your referrals, you focus your mind on the #1 driver of your business success.
The information you gather allows you to concentrate your valuable time and energy on your most productive and profitable relationships.
Okay, it’s time to score how good you are at tracking the referrals you give and receive. Go ahead and write down your score now.
#6 THANKING PEOPLE WHO GIVE REFERRALS
Thanking people is a critical practice that can dramatically impact your success… if you do it consistently. Every time you receive a referral, you should be thanking the person who made the recommendation or introduction. Not only does this help them feel good because you’ve recognized them, but it also demonstrates your professionalism, which reinforces their feeling that recommending you was the right move to make.
Thanking referrers will dramatically boost their confidence in recommending you and improve the probability they send you
more referrals in the future.
Please understand, this is one of the fastest and easiest ways to grow your referral business, so make sure you thank people each and every time they give you a new referral.
So how do you rate when it comes to consistently thanking people who give you referrals?
#7 UPDATING PEOPLE WHO GIVE REFERRALS
Updating people who give you referrals is another important practice that builds trust. People are highly appreciative when you call, text, DM, or email a quick update, letting them know if you were able to help their client, friend, or loved one.
This is especially true when the person giving you the referral
is another professional. After all, they’ve entrusted their own
personal credibility and relationship with their client to you. Following up with a quick update gives you a natural and
comfortable opportunity to ask if they know anyone else who
would benefit from your service.
If you’ve never even thought about updating people after they refer people to you, you may need to write down a score of 0
on this practice. On the other hand, maybe you are awesome at letting people know what’s going on with the people they refer to you. If so, then write down a 10. Just be sure to write down your number so you can see your overall Referral Score.
#8 REWARDING PEOPLE WHO GIVE REFERRALS
Rewarding your referral sources is another excellent business practice and catalyst for referrals, whether you incentivize people or simply surprise them with a gift when they refer you.
Some professionals design and promote a formal Raving Rewards program where clients and promotional partners are incentivized through cash, prizes, or free services when they introduce prospects or customers to your business.
We love Raving Rewards programs because they help create a culture of referrals. Plus, when designed properly, these programs automatically ask for referrals on your behalf without you ever having to leave your comfort zone.
On the other hand, simply surprising people with a gift card for coffee, the movies, or a nice local restaurant is a generous gesture people will not soon forget.
Just be sure to research and follow the regulations and restrictions for your industry, so you are always in complete compliance.
So how good you are at rewarding people who give you referrals. Are you a 0, a 10, or somewhere in between?
#9 RECOGNIZING PEOPLE WHO GIVE REFERRALS
Most people love to be publicly recognized for doing good work and helping others. In fact, our frail human ego has a very strong desire and need for recognition, especially in today’s social media obsessed world of likes, shares, tweets, and follows.
That’s why many businesses grow rapidly once they start publicly celebrating and recognizing people who promote and refer them. Whether it be in the public areas of the business or through a newsletter, website or social media accounts, the social proof and credibility built by recognizing your referrers works quickly and effectively.
How about you? How well do you score when it comes to celebrating and recognizing the people who recommend and refer
you? Write down your score so we can move to the final referral practice that drives your wealth.
#10 PROMOTING YOURSELF AND YOUR SERVICES
Nearly 90% of business success comes down to your marketing
and lead generation. After all, if you have enough sales and revenue coming in the door, most other problems can be solved. On the other hand, if you don’t have a consistent flow of new clients, leads, and sales opportunities for your business, you don’t really have much of a business, do you?
After coaching, consulting, and working with thousands of businesses worldwide, we’ve found where most people fail is in their selfpromotion and marketing efforts. Rather than
attending events, networking, mailing out offers, or running ads online and off, many people simply do unprofitable “busy-work” that never gets them any closer to their Annual Income Goal. Whether that be because they are too busy, too shy, or just don’t know-how, they simply don’t invest enough time or money attracting new business opportunities.
How do you rate yourself in the marketing and promotion side of your business?
If you are one of those people who always find a reason not to invest your time or money promoting yourself and your services, you may need to give yourself a 1, 2, or 3 on this practice. If you are a super promoter who always stays top-of-mind with your clients, customers, fans, and followers, you should write down a 9 or a 10. Most people score between 3 and 5 on this one, so don’t feel bad if you didn’t score well on this important practice.
We’re Here to Help
If you’re feeling a bit stretched, stressed, or overwhelmed right now, we totally understand. Don’t worry! We are committed to teaching you all you need to know to build a thriving business.
You’ll be retaking this test at the end of the month, so just focus on putting these practices to work in your business, and you’ll see your referrals and income start to rise.